old smokie (ALREADY??)

[jtisdale]

1 Last June I bought my second cummins. 01. 5 HO 6 stick. I have 4300k on it now, and I have not changed oil yet. (Yes it is full) Since about 2500k I noticed at morning start up it smokes (blue) pretty heavy for a couple minutes. The outside temp at startup has been about 45-65 degrees. After I take off, it seems to stop, or at least be unnoticeable in the mirror. If I shut it off for a few hrs, the same thing happens again. It has great power and great fuel economy. I use #2 Amoco fuel and no additives. Is this normal?

2 Coming up on my first oil change I plan to run Rotella 15W40 and a fleetguard filter till about 9000k and then switch to Amsoil synthetic. Can I switch to synthetic like that or should I do it now? Thanks for your help in advance

 

[Chad Sheets]

Make a long story short, your cylinders are cold. The fuel can not burn in the burn window, or time allowed. The unburned fuel exits into the exhaust as fuel vapors which exit the tail pipe in a bluish/white haze. Nothing to worry about.



Once combustion temps get up there and the pistons and cylinder walls get some heat to them, everything burns real nice... this doesn't take long. Your truck is fine. There are other factors that contribute like fuel properties, air temps, thermostats, altitude etc. , but it all boils down to a cold combustion chamber. Hope this helps.

 

[jtisdale]

Thanks, that totally makes sense. I just dont remember my 95 smoking that bad. I realize that they are two different engines though.

 

[work2muchplay2little]

Grid heaters??

Might want to make sure your intake manifold grid heater is working, should cycle on and off after starting for a few minutes. I remember a post a few months ago where the power cable from the battery was disconnected from the factory and underneath the battery. Wouldn't put synthetic in it until well broken in, ie. 10K with frequent towing or 20K without.

 

[David Oxland]

One thing that I've noticed is that after lots of light load short runs the blue smoke thing happens on start up routinely.

Just did a 2400 mile trip running at highway speeds and for 6 hours or more each run. No more blue smoke on start up for a few days and then it started again just as you describe at startup for a few seconds.