I just started smoking. Big'ol puff, too.

[Randee of the Redwoods]

During the second quart of "fuel additive"(read: 5-30 oil), My truck ahs developed a big puff of white smoke on cold startup. Sometimes it's not too big, sometimes it's huge as I watch it waft through the air and kill God's creatures. At first I thought it was from the oil I poured in the tank as I didn't shake the truck to mix it. I thought it just flooded the pickup and fuel filter, therefore starting on oil, but it's been now over 200 miles and it still does it, and this only started with the onset of cold weather. It only puffs once a day(cold morning startup) and MAYBE once in the afternoon depending on how long it sits during work and the weather. I can't tell if it's coolant or fuel. I refilled the overflow once a few weeks ago and all seems ok, no overheating or anything. I also haven't seen the coolant light since I topped off. BUT, here's my question. Bill Heath has hinted that maybe the noise in my Ebay truck engine is a bad injector. He seems to think one of them may be "lazy" causing a dribbling problem. Once I cold started the motor and happened to be around the back when the waft of smoke hit me I recall smelling lighter fluid, which is a good thing(indicating excess fuel). Can that white smoke be excess fuel from a dribbling injector? I have no record and no way of knowing if the injectors were ever changed, so, at 184k+ miles, it can't hurt so I'm planning on it. By now(after 400 miles), all that oil that may have been sucked up the fuel pickup should have been flushed out by now, but I still have the smoke. No ses light, no rough idle, no nothing. And it will usually only do it once a day. Ideas? Could it be that the ol' Ebay truck just needs a new set of squirters?

[ 12-02-2003, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: Randee of the Redwoods ]

[gmctd]

You probably do need injectors with that mileage, Randee, but all these Diesels puff when colder than 70deg.
On a hot day, may be glow plugs or bad injection pressure.
Colder the temps, bigger the puff.
That's the simple answer...but I'm stickin' to it.

[Jim P]

Mine smoked real bad when it had a bad glow plug but it would do it for 30 seconds or so depending on how cold it was.

[Jolie]

Ours smokes on start up, enough to where I worry the EPA is gonna come down on us. Only does it when cold, so I try not to worry and think what else is the truck up to and how much is this going to cost.

Then again ours also stalls on start up and has to be revved to keep going.....yes, I ignore that too. Its fine once its warm. I'm guessing the old girl just don't like the Alaskan winters......neither do I for that matter.

*watching the temperature drop.....-35 and counting* :eek:

[rjschoolcraft]

Glowplugs! ;)

[ALSAIL]

Check the fuel intake system for leaks. If air gets in it needs to purge before the truck will run smoothly. When the inj. pump sucks air it will smoke. Once the air is gone the truck runs fine.

[kowsoc]

You most likely have one or more bad glow plugs.
I always cycle my plugs twice on a cold start. Starts much faster with no smoke. I turn the key on for one full glow cycle, off for 10 seconds or so, then on for the second cycle and start. The engine also maintains a slow idle with this method. After a minute or so I bump the throttle and the fast idle is back.

[Johnny B.]

This summer while in Wyoming my truck began to run rough. I thought that it was bad fuel since the glow plugs appeared to work fine and didn't want to even consider the injectors. I dumped some Power Service 911 in the red bottle in my tank and boy did it smoke, it was also hard to start and didn't want to stay running after starting.

I burned the tank down as much as possible and continued to have the excessive smoke, you could almost see the oil run on whatever the smoke touched. When I got home the problem appeared to correct it self.

I didn't do anything to correct the problem after the 911. My thought is that I got a bad tank of fuel and the 911 caused the smoke. A friend who works on big trucks said that I most likely had air in my fuel line, but I couln't figure how or why.

[eazly]

I had that problem once. I tested my glow plugs and found one bad one. There is a method to check glow plugs using a ohm meter. I forgot the details, but I think that is where your problem is. GOOD LUCK ;)

[Randee of the Redwoods]

Yea. Come to think of it, it does have a somewhat lumpy idle just on cold startup, but I thought that was just the cold weather. Seems I may need plugs as well as injectors????????????????? I'll pick up a set of the quick heat jobs I've been hearing about or a set of the Lucas/CAV ones from the R&R guide. Looks like a long weekend coming up. We started with cutting off the stripped turbo nut to swap in the GM8. Now we're up to cutting off the stripped turbo nut, changing injectors and changing plugs. I hope I can find the money for all this soon. Twould be nice to be able to do this all at the same time over the last week of the year while I'm on vacation(gonna be coooooooold, too).

[BuffaloGuy]

Got the same smoke problem. I've got all new glow plugs, glow controller and the injectors are supposed to be new as of 20,000 miles ago.

I'm thinking it's a bad injector too but only when it is cold. Once it gets a little heat going it smooths right out and runs just fine.

Is it possible that an injector can be bad only when cold? If so, how do you find which one? I sure don't want to replace all the injectors if only one is bad!
Ken

[rjschoolcraft]

My uncle found a bad injector nozzle on my dad's 4020 John Deere by feeling each cylinder individually right after a cold start. The cylinders that were firing began to heat up, while the one that wasn't stayed cool longer. Maybe that would work on your engine?

I'd sooner think that one of the "new" glow plugs was not working than one injector not working only when it's cold.