HELP! Lots of WHITE Smoke and no explanation

[Blkdawdg]

I went to start my truck this morning and it was hard to start. When I finally did get it started, white smoke was billowing out of the tailpipe. It idles a little rough but still runs fine. I've added fifteen more gallons of diesel, changed the fuel filter, checked the air filter, and put diesel fuel conditioner in the fuel and none of this has fixed the problem.



Also, where the turbo meets the exhaust manifold, there is some sort of liquid that resembles oil seeping out and I don't know why.



Any ideas? I'm stranded because I don't want to drive the truck now, until I get this fixed

 

[work2muchplay2little]

I would speculate that you have a leaking turbo bearing seal and are burning the oil. There have been reports of run-away engines with this sort of thing since the engine can run on the oil and the fuel shut off won't cut off the supply. I'd pull the first boost tube fitting off the turbo compressor and look for oil, if found, well, gonna have to get a new turbo - good excuse to call Piers or KWIKKURT

 

[Bob Wagner]

white smoke and hard to start

sounds like the lift pump went tits up

 

[Blkdawdg]

Are you talking about the fitting on the top of the turbo where it gets oil from? If not then could you clarify.



I don't think that the lift pump went belly up because I drained the fuel filter housing and it refilled it fast. It a BG220HR.

 

[Archive]

Work too much is probably right. White smoke is coming from oil being burned. Unfortunately, especially since the lift pump would be an easy fix, the problem is likely to be in the turbo. When the bearing/s goes bad, oil can pass from the turbo into the exhaust where it is mostly burned and produces your tell tale white smoke.

 

[F-15I Ra'am]

I hope I'm wrong but sounds like a blown head gasket. Have you checked the oil for signs of coolant contamination?I think theres been a problem with some eth's blowing head gaskets!

 

[Blkdawdg]

Why would a problem with the turbo, make the engine idle a little wierd?

 

[Jvann]

white smoke

I believe you're doing the right thing by not driving the truck. I learned the hard way. My white smoke occurred when engine was cold and lasted a couple of minutes then cleared up. Also when it was smoking the engine had very low power. This happened several times and not on every cold start. Dealer didn't have an answer for it. Eventually the problem made itself easy to find. Dead injection pump in the middle of a very busy intersection! Not fun to say the least. Lift pump was OK and still is. I certainly hope this isn't your problem but I wanted to let you know about it. LOL

 

[R.ebel]

Smoke colors

Guys, white smoke is unburnt fuel. Blue smoke is engine oil.

 

[Archive]

I can't answer why the idle would be effected. What I can say is that in tons of over the road diesels and smaller turbo charged aps, white smoke was always due to turbo failure. However, it seems to me that if you were getting coolant or oil into the combustion chamber, you would end up with a similar situation. I don't know what they look like on the inside, but maybe something is wrong in the injector pump, and it's allowing other fluids in to the chamber with the fuel.

 

[Deezul1]

If its a coolant leak the exhaust will usually smell sweet, oil smoke is blue gray, unburnt fuel is white. If its a turbo problem it should be covered under the 100,000 mile warranty I believe.

Good Luck

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

blackdog, I'd take a sniff of your exhaust and maybe you can tell whether it is diesel or oil. If it's diesel it will smell really rich and strong, if it's oil it'll be really stinky Well that is really descriptive, huh? Another way to put it, compare the smell of an old Navistar 6. 9L firing up on a cold day to a Ford Pinto with wasted oil rings



Anyway my gut feeling says injection pump but hopefully that is not your problem. Whatever it is you should avoid driving it any more than you have to, if you're running enough raw fuel to make smoke like that you are going to have considerable cylinder washdown. If your turbo is going you're running the risk of a runaway engine ( and turning the key off will have no affect on it).



If it's knocking or if one cylinder is running rough, it could be a bad injector.



When Evan Beck's injection pump went out on his '98, I noticed it was making white smoke right after a dyno run and the engine was good and hot. This was a few days before it went out. First symptoms were hard to start and white smoke but it ran good IF he got it started, but then it totally TU'd a couple days later. I think the smoke is caused by fuel going into the cylinder at the wrong time and just "smolders. "



Vaughn

 

[WAYNE]

I'd say it's the turbo , might as well upgrade.

 

[C1B1DIESEL]

I would say that the white smoke is unburnt diesel, and the rough idle is poss from over fueling of a cylinder or more,

loosen up one fuel line at a time and retighten before checking the next one and see which one does not make the idle worse. if only one does not change the engine idle poss injector. if loosening all of them 1 at a time does not change the idle.



Then there is the poss.



starting aid is malfunctioning Check for the correct operation of the starting aid.



Coolant temperature sensor is malfunctioning



Intake manifold temperature sensor is malfunctioning



Injector is malfunctioning



Coolant is leaking into the combustion chamber



Fuel lift pump is malfunctioning



Fuel injection pump is malfunctioning



Internal engine damage Analyze the oil and inspect the filters to locate an area of probable damage.



My . 02

 

[GDouglas]

We had a Cummins L-10 with a bad seal in the turbo on the exhaust side which was putting out white smoke out the pipe. I think that if an oil leak is on the intake side and it goes through the combustion process, then it comes out the exhaust the familiar blue color. The one I have witnessed myself (above) was definitely on the exhaust side of the turbo and put out white smoke like a bad head gasket.



Maybe try taking your elbow off the back of the turbo for a good look at the turbine wheel. HTH.

 

[WeirCummin]

Eric,

There's alot of good suggestions here. I think you need to get your sig. up and let everyone know that your truck is highly modified. Did this start after your last injectors swap ?

 

[mstephenson]

My injector pump went out ~75K. It was running o. k. , but with white smoke (fuel). Then it started sputtering badly (on a trip of course). I pulled off and shut the engine off and it wouldn't start again after that.



If you drive it, maybe it should be somewhere to get a new pump.



Michele St.

 

[Southbound]

White smoke

Did you relocate your blow-by-tube? My truck started smoking alot when I relocated my blow-by tube to the center of my truck ... ... some how I put a kink in the hose while routing it to the center. Basically it was the kink in the hose that caused the truck to smoke??????? After fixing the kink I didnt have anymore problems with smoke. Sounds crazy but it is true. Good luck and keep us posted on your findings.



Southbound

 

[DennyDay]

White Smoke

Sounds like an injector is hung open, or a blown seal in the injector pump. The rough idle is one indicator, and the white smoke is another. I don't believe it is oil.

Denny

 

[work2muchplay2little]

OK, Blkdawdg what did you find out? Hope it's fixed and not too expensive