Blue Smoke at start up

[JCasper]

I seem to have an excessive amount of blue smoke at cold start up. It seems to be worse at the end of the day when I leave work and it has been sitting for 10 hours. The truck now has 25,000 miles on it. It always had some smoke when you would start it but never as much as I am seeing now. I ran Delo 400 until I hit 20k then switched over to amsoil at that point. The smoke has only been this bad for about the last 2,000 miles. I was just wondering if this is normal with these trucks or might I have something wrong.

 

[SamBrown]

I always get white/blue smoke on cold starts even in 40/50 degree days. I own the 98 24 valve with 70,000 miles and have been running stanadyne diesel additive. Even in my owners manual they say white smoke is normal on cold starts. smoke usually gone after about one minute. I feel it is a normal thing. Check out the manual for your motor

1998 2500 QC 24 valve 70,000

 

[JCasper]

I also run Stanadyne P. F. in my truck. I feel that it runs smoother at start up with it. I will check my manual and see what it says. Thanks

 

[JVolpe]

I know that most will smoke on cold start up and in cold outside conditions it is worse. However, when mine started this after 7500 miles and got worse over time I thought something was wrong, because it was different from normal. Mine only did the blue/white smoke after sitting for 8-12 hours. It only last a short time and after the engine was up to running temp it did not happen.



Mine was a leaking injector. Dealer diagnosed #6 injector leaking after shut down. Replaced the #6 injector and the blue/white smoke on cold startups went away.



Just my experience. I have seen a number of posts about leaking injectors especially on 600 engines.

 

[JCasper]

I will see if I can get my dealer to check the injectors. Mine does exactly what you describe.

 

[DPhillips]

Jvolpe,



once again you have provided me with great information. I will be taking my truck in Wednesday for the same thing. Did the dealer tell you anything about contacting STAR before being able to check the injectors? Mine told me they had to do that before checking the injectors and then tossed in how great the injectors are and the usual problem is the pump or something. I stopped listening to him because of me blood pressure.



Will let you know what happens.



Thank You again.

 

[JVolpe]

My dealer did have to contact STAR on what tests to run and so forth, tests ran the first day were not conclusive. The dealer kept the truck overnight and confirmed to STAR that the smoke on cold startup was not normal. Star instructed the dealer to remove the exhaust manifold, let the truck sit for 8 hours and then start. The cylinder that was smoking should be the leaking injector. #6 cylinder was where all the blue/white smoke came from. STAR ok'd the injector replacement. It is a PITA, and some dealers seem to be better at dealing with STAR than others. I consider my sevice department to be excellent, they seem to work for me and not against me. Some others have not been so lucky.

 

[JCasper]

Thanks for the posts, I am going to take my truck in on Monday. They said they can run some tests, but if they can not find anything they would have to let it sit so that they can fire it up and repeat the smoking problem. I am going to take some pictures of the smoke tomorrow so that I can bring them with me.

 

[claymike]

Well that is the same thing mine is doing except now it even does it after sitting two hours on a 70 degree day. Not only do I get the blue smoke but now I have a miss at idle until the truck gets warm.

 

[JVolpe]

claymike,



Mine also did the rough idle until warmed up, and in Houston there is no cold weather.

 

[JCasper]

Well that is the same thing mine is doing except now it even does it after sitting two hours on a 70 degree day. Not only do I get the blue smoke but now I have a miss at idle until the truck gets warm.

Hey, I noticed you are in Portland, OR. I live in St. Helens, what dealer do you normally use. I am taking mine into Timberline Dodge on Monday Morning for my blue smoke problem.

 

[rbattelle]

I thought blue smoke was caused by burning oil. Am I wrong?



-Ryan

 

[claymike]

I use Gresham Dodge, may be going to Timberline if they wont fix it. Let me know what they find on your truck



Not burning oil just raw fuel

 

[rbattelle]

If burning raw fuel creates blue smoke, what creates white smoke?



-Ryan

 

[JCasper]

If burning raw fuel creates blue smoke, what creates white smoke?



-Ryan

From what I was always told white smoke is created by condensation, blue smoke is oil. I believe that diesel fuel has enough oil in it where if there is enough raw fuel sitting in the cylinders on a cold start it will produce blue smoke.



My truck only shows blue smoke for about the first minute after starting up if it has been sitting for a few hours.

 

[rbattelle]

So how can anyone distinguish between a valve stem seal leak causing oil to drip down into the cylinder over a period of several hours and a small fuel leak?



I suppose the fuel leak would result in significantly more blue smoke than a series of small valve stem seal leaks.



-Ryan

 

[JCasper]

Dealer says nothing is wrong

Timberline Dodge called me at 5:15 tonight and said they cannot find anything wrong with my truck. When they hooked it to their computer they found that my truck is running at less then 10% load the majority of the time. They say that is causing it to load up and smoke when I start it. I think it is a line of BS but I may be wrong. I drive 32 miles on the highway each way to work so there is not very much idle time on my engine. I don't normally run it real hard, there just isn't any need to. It goes plenty good without ever getting on it too hard.

 

[claymike]

Kind of thought that is what you were going to hear. When I get back from vacation I am going to give it a try at the dealership. :{

 

[JVolpe]

I think I mentioned that it was a PITA and some dealers are better at actually looking for the problem. I did get the "too much idle time" lecture and need to load it to keep carbon down. But at least they were willing to keep the truck overnight and verify that there was a problem. Then they went back to Star and ask for next step.



I can only offer moral support and if it gets bad enough maybe they will fix it.

 

[DPhillips]

My dealer called me and stated my fuel average is good and STAR had them do the TSB for the white smoke and re calibrate the overhead. The short time I have driven since my return I have noticed a little better acceleration, still see smoke in the rearview when I "punch it" but I am driving at night and can not determine what color the smoke is. A friend of mine told me his 2nd gen does that when he is just cruising along and needs to pass another vehicle, says its normal.



I dont have any reason to doubt the work performed at this point and will wait and see what, if anything, happens. It could be just me not having owned a diesel before and not wanting a major failure to deal with.



The dealership has been very good to work with and fixed the cab lights(after the second trip in) and the door jamb rubbers on both front doors.



Now I will see if the overhead is any better the next time I fuel up.



Thanks for all the great info on this thread and forum.