Archived Buning oil....Need to use truck...

[AndrewKing]

HI All,



My truck is smoking but I need to use my truck and don't want to risk messing something up... .



Here is a brief summary of what happened.....



I recently went to look at a 1997 truck in a near by city.



I called the owner before I went there to make sure he still had it..... it was apparently being test driven by another interested party at the time, but the other person decided against the truck so I went to look at it.



The truck was still slightly warm when I arrived (I did want to see it start from a cold start after sitting ideally for a minimum of 12 hours but that wasn't going to happen unless I waited overnight... which I wasn't really prepared to do).



Anyways, the truck has about 254000 miles and supposedly had the head gasket replaced (in conversation it came up that the reason for the head being off turned out to be a misdiagnosis... . it was later found that oil was getting into the coolant via an engine oil cooler ? ( Oh, I forgot to mention the truck is a 1997 Freightliner MT 45 step van (like a UPS truck) (FWIW - the truck has a 5. 9 , 245K miles, 4 sp allison auto, I think a 4. 10 rear (18K GVW), 18 feet behind the driver seat, wide body w/ roll up rear door and lift gate, and got 10. 5 MPG over the 80 miles I drove it home (that's mostly highway MPG... . AARG BUT still better than a gasser I guess... ).



The truck started fine and ran fine when I test drove it (about 35 to 40 minutes)... . Getting back I didn't see a lot of blow by or anything too abnormal so I ended up getting the truck.



I drove the truck back and parked near my home.



The next day, I had my friend stand by the tail pipe to see if it smoked when I started it up in the AM..... I cranked it up and it fired right away and ran great... . There was a slight "puff" of blue (I think it was) smoke tho... . not a lot but enough to be a little noticeable... . it cleared up very quickly tho (within one or two seconds... just a slight puff and a little bit (may be a second or two? but any puff of blue made my heart sink since I had just gotten the truck).



I let it run about 15 seconds and decided to pull away gradually (the smoke was all cleared up while idling after the initial "puff").....



Much to my disappointment, after I pulled away and started giving it some throttle, the truck started smoking again (through the tailpipe) ... . This time continuously... . Looked to me in the rear view mirror to be kinda bluish again hard to say 100% since I was trying to keep my eyes on the road but it did look bluish to me...



This continued for about 1/2 mile then it magically cleared up... . no misses, no stumbling during the entire time... ran fine except for the smoke screen until I reached the hospital (I'd guess about 1/2 mile but I may drive it in the AM to see how far it actually is).



What problem does this sound like to you?... . I can understand the initial puff maybe being caused by oil leak past valve guides or something BUT it did clear up practically immediately and was non existent during 15 sec of idling... . so why the smoke screen for about 1/2 mile afterwards (while giving a little throttle to drive)?



I really don't want to be driving the truck far for fear of something blowing up BUT I did drive it a lot during the test drive and about 80 miles home w/o a smoke screen.



If it is valve guides, how does one figure out which one it is or is it typically all done at the same time?... Could it somehow be sucking oil from somewhere else during the initial drive while giving throttle?



Thanks in advance for any and all help.



Andrew

 

[Sticks]

There is a truck that was constantly run hard, and never let cool down for shut down.

Bad turbo bearings, piston rings, maybe valves.

Look around your exhaust manifold to see if there is oil buildup under any of the ports.

I'd do a compression and cylinder leakage test (would have done that before I bought it) to see if you have a cylinder that is bypassing the rings pretty bad.

 

[CKelley1]

it is not going to hurt the truck to run it. use it for about a month to get a better feel of things before starting to diagnose

 

[mwilson]

Agree with CKelley, run it a while to see what you have.

I would change the oil and filter right now to eliminate any issues with old oil. Chuck a couple of gallons of spare oil behind the driver's seat and drive on. Check the oil several times a day until you get a handle on consumption and then you will have a better idea of what you are dealing with.

If it burns a little oil it is not the end of the world as long as the turbo is not the culprit.

Mike.

 

[BigPapa]

I agree with Mike.

 

[mwilson]

Also the 12 valves tend to smoke blueish for a little distance when cold.

Both my '97 and Seth's '97 will do it.

The '06 will also do it to a lesser degree if you apply fuel when it is stone cold.

That is unburned fuel as a rule.



Mike.

 

[mwilson]

Andrew,

Also be aware that you need to find the serial number and manufacturer of the body for future parts needs. Many times the heater parts, dash controls and so on are installed by the body company, not Freightliner. It may be Morgan, Olsen, Boyertown or others.



Send me the last 6 numbers of the chassis VIN and I will print out the chassis build record and send it to you if you would like. Then you will know right up front if you need to go to Freightliner or the body builder for parts that you may need in the future.



You can either put the VIN on here or e-mail it to me at -- email address removed -- and I will get it to you.



Mike.

 

[JJPage]

There is a truck that was constantly run hard, and never let cool down for shut down.



Bad turbo bearings

This is what I would examine first. Journal bearings could be allowing oil into the exhaust, it could also be travelling in the opposite direction, into your intake. I would check for any axial play in the turbo shaft.

 

[ata]

Don't worry about it. A mechanical injected 12 valve with 245000 miles is going to do that cold. Just wait until you get it up above 4000 ft and below 32 degrees. Your going to think it can't hold enough oil to go that first mile or two. But it's mostly unburnt fuel.

 

[AndrewKing]

Hi guys,

Just got back from working and rushed to get online to see some possible solutions... .

I appreciate all the input and advice..... I'll try digesting it when I'm more awake and less brain dead... been a long day.

Thanks for everything so far... . I'll check out the truck more tomorrow... . A buddy of mine is going to come w/ me... he is pretty good mechanically but he did admit it was more w/ gassers than diesels... . I guess 1 and 1/2 heads is better than one! HA

Andrew

 

[SierraRam]

I would think that once it is warmed up the clearance tighten up, after all it does have some miles on it. I would just keep an eye on the oil level to see how much you are actually consuming. I had a 1991 12v with similar mileage, did the same thing but ran great. It would use a quart between 500 mile oil changes. I wish I still had it.

 

[AndrewKing]

Hi All,

I went out to the truck today and started thinking about putting some shelves in... . I'll have to do some demolition first though since the truck was a laundry truck in its former life and it had a lot of piping and overhead rails to hang clothes from... . I look at it as a headache just asking to happen since the pipes hang low for me.

I did have a chance to look at the vin... . The last 6 digits is 810242... . I'm not sure if that is for the chassis specifically or for the truck itself but it was the last 6 digits.

The sticker on the truck also said Supreme Corp of Goshen Indiana

The tag also said 12,000 lb rear axle capacity and 6000 front axle capacity for a total rating of 18000..... Being that the mileage was only about 10 MPG or so, I'm sure it is geared pretty low (I have no idea what other than probably 4. 10 or lower in the researching I did online)... . that plus no overdrive equals dismal mileage (on the flip side it is still 3 to 4 MPG better than the gas truck)!

I think the advice about trying the truck is good... . The truck was OK all the time I drove it plus the 80 miles home so she should be OK (except for the temporary smoke screen).

Thanks again!

Andrew

 

[mwilson]

3. 31 Ratio,

the AT-545 must be a direct transmission.



E-mail me and I will send that spec list for you to have.



Mike.

 

[mweiman]

A great source for parts for those step vans is millsupply.com. Lots of body parts, exhaust, heater parts, etc.

Matt