white smoke

[jsa]

Hi there fellas.I have white smoke at start up for about 30 seconds when van has sat for more than 24 hours.Glow plugs cycle and truck does not start hard.Dealer says sais everything is fine,but I dont think so my 95 never did that.Oh truck has 82 thousand on the clock. 1999 G3500

[gwaidman]

jsa, Im not too sure here, maybe some of the other members will pipe up, but, I think that white smoke is 'unburnt, diesel fuel. Black smoke would be an over-fueled sign. White smoke could also be engine coolant. Possible head gasket failure? Check your oil and radiator. Any cream colored muck on the dipstick or filler cap would be water in the oil system, and oil in the rad is pretty easy to spot. Hope this is of some use to you.

[C.K. Piquup]

Pure white,like a cumulus cloud and lighter than air,burnt water(steam/head gasket or crack).Light grey,smells like fuel,unburnt fuel,could be not pre-heating properly(glow-plugs/fuel heater).Blueish grey,burnt oil,after sitting,probably valve seals.Black smoke,mucho fuel,stuck open injector(hear a knock?)or possibly problem w/turbo system(low boost).Just some basic general info,hope it helps.

[kowsoc]

I think you have one or more bad glow plugs. smile.gif

[DennisG01]

What temperatures are you currently experiencing? I had asked a local diesel garage that has been dealing with diesels (both C/K size and MUCH larger) for 30+ years this same question. His response was that "in the cold weather, all bets are off". Meaning if it goes away after the engine has warmed up, don't worry about it. Maybe someone else can verify/nullify this statement, but it seemed to make sense to me.

[jsa]

THanks for the help fellas. Dipstick is clean,looks like oil only.AS far as coolant Dealer just put a brand new radiator in truck,so I hope they would of seen any possible head gasket problems.I got warranty on engine until april so I guess I have to do some research

[jsa]

also I am 2nd owner of truck,so I had the dealer do warranty search of what was done to truck.It had glow plug module replaced at 50kand also at 48k it said BTH glow plugs replaced.Not sure what that means