White Smoke

[AC Bingel]

I get a large puff of white smoke upon start up. I had my glow plugs changed and it still smokes. The guy that installed my glow plugs said he thought my starter did not turn over fast enough. Is it possible for a starter to turn over fine but be going bad? I went to have the starter tested but could not figure out how to keep the truck from starting. The starter needs to turn over for about 8 seconds whithout starting the motor so it can be tested. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[ucdavis]

1) to turn engine over w/out start, there's a two-wire connector on a vertical solenoid on the IP; that is the fuel shut off solenoid (FSO). Unplug that & fuel can't flow to IP (that's what PCM uses to kill engine. Now you can turn over engine w/out start. Remember to plug it back in later ;)
2) check glow plug controller (black bakalite gizmo on top rear of engine, driver's side w/two large terminals & large diameter red wire going to one). This should audibly click when you turn key on, & voltage across terminals should drop from batt volts to ~10.7V. That's the glow plug current drawing. If this isn't drawing properly you may have trouble getting GP's to heat up & controller &/or connections are suspect.
3) starter could cause trouble w/slow crank but this usually doesn't last too long B4 starter is causing obvious trouble. More likely is poor batt condition or cables/connections.

[AC Bingel]

Thanks for the help. The glow plug controller is working fine. I found the wire to disable the fuel pump. I am going to have my starter tested later this week. I think that is going to be the problem.

[AC Bingel]

I replaced the starter and my truck starts much faster with very little smoke. I guess the old starter was starting to wear out. Thanks again for the help.