excessive smoke

[jjmoore]

new to me 1993 K3500 200,000 miles F engine 6.5 turbo. smokes huge clouds on startup. after it warms up smoke deminishes. it is not black smoke. more of a white grayesh. drives real good, has power and turbo works.
when it starts up, it seems to have a miss, but smooths out after warms up. when driving I can see smoke from the tail pipe on quick acceleration. not black smoke, more of a white smoke. engine does not use coolant or overheat. I am thinking rings or a worn piston that enlarges due to heat and then seals to raise compression and stops the missing. rings that heat up and expand to stop the oil consumption.. I also wonder if the turbo could be sending oily air to the cylinders and then when it heats up slows done oil to turbo air? I hear of these engines running at 300,000 miles. is this whaT i am to deal with for the next 100,000 miles. I have a 87, 6.2 K10 suburban with 200,000 miles and it and it doesnt smoke.

[DmaxMaverick]

Sounds like bad injector(s) and/or glow plugs. Do a compression test to eliminate your concern with the rings.

[Robyn]

X2


Most likely cause of all the smoke is a set of worn out injectors and very possibly some bad glow plugs.

If the engine cranks evenly without obvious variations in its cranking the issue is probably not compression.

If you listen carefully during cranking (dont let the plugs warm up. the engine should crank with an even za,za,za,za,za,za sound though all 8 cylinders coming up on compression.

A notable difference in the cadence as the engine rolls over is reason to suspect a compression problem, otherwise the issue is in the injectors and plugs.

The Miss is due to one cylinder with a seriously bad injector combined with a failed glow plug.

As the injectors wear out, the POP pressure (pressure when they open) falls off and the nozzles wear out. This entire scenario ends up translating to injectors that PEEEEEEEEE a stream of fuel instead of a nice cone of fine mist.

The mileage you listed is certainly way beyond normal life limits on the injectors.

I would yank out the injectors on the LH side and get them tested.

They will likely show up as poor to worse.

If this is the case, get them rebuilt by a reputable shop.

Now your Injection pump is a high miler too, so have the shop set the injectors to POP at around 1800 PSI, this will give good results without overtaxing the used Injector pump.

Once the injectors are delivering a nice fine mist of fuel the smoke will go away and the startups will greatly improve.

You should also consider some fresh glow plugs too.

Most auto supply houses sell the 60G plugs for these as the older 11G plugs are no longer produced.

The 60G will work fine, you may have to hit the cycle twice in really cold weather as the 60G take a tad longer to heat up.

There is also the possibility that the injector pump is tired too.
Also as the timing chain wears the timing will retard.

If you can afford it, I would remove the Injectors and the Pump and have them both checked out.

Good luck and keep us posted

Missy

[DmaxMaverick]

With 200K+ on the injectors, I wouldn't suggest spending any money on testing them. If a test is part of the expense of a rebuild, then test them. Otherwise, it's a waste of time and money. Have them rebuilt, exchange them for remans, or new. If you don't know the history of the plugs (original or what they were replaced with), replace them as well. Keep it simple.

[jjmoore]

I did install new 60G glow plugs and 4 rebuilt injectors on the Left side( because it was easy to do, other side has turbo) and advanced I/P to max adjustment ( it was aready advanced about 3/16 , so now it wont go any further.) now it doesnt smoke.. idaho diesel technology in lewiston Idaho,, rebuilds pumps . he said my pump is worn out and will only last another 10,000 miles untill it smokes again (white smoke on start up then goes away when warm)

[argo]

There is also the issue of timing chain stretch. If your chain is original, it most likely has stretched and lost several degrees. Pull your oil fill tube and rotate the engine to 0* on the timing marker. slowly rotate the engine backwards until you see the injection pump gear just start to move. Then look at your balancer and see what it is reading. If it has rotated 4-5 degrees or more before beginning to move, it is most likely in need of replacement. This not only retards the cam, but it also retards the pump.

[DmaxMaverick]

I did install new 60G glow plugs and 4 rebuilt injectors on the Left side( because it was easy to do, other side has turbo) and advanced I/P to max adjustment ( it was aready advanced about 3/16 , so now it wont go any further.) now it doesnt smoke.. idaho diesel technology in lewiston Idaho,, rebuilds pumps . he said my pump is worn out and will only last another 10,000 miles untill it smokes again (white smoke on start up then goes away when warm)

This is hogwash. While it may be entirely true, he has NO WAY of knowing that. Either they pass or fail. The gray area between pass and fail is a hare's breath. If it's worn out, and causing smoke because it's worn out, nothing you do will prevent it from causing smoke. Period.

4 new injectors and 4 old injectors will cause smoke, however. A cold glow plug system will cause smoke (such as using 60G plugs on an otherwise OEM system in the winter).