Smoke color, Is this normal?

[Darkbloodmon]

Recently installed an AFE Saturn 4S turbo back exhaust system after not having a fully piped system since owner ship of the truck due to a shoddy exhaust job that fell apart from the previous owners.

I've been flying blind on using smoke color to diag. any running issues and just been going of my nose and ears. Previous exhaust rusted off right at the end of the muffler leaving about 5ft of pipe missing. Muffler ended right at the beginning of the bed, and the underside of the bed was covered in soot mostly from the previous turbo not pushing enough air as the shaft wobbled in the housing.

I wanted to know what's normal for my 03. It has new BBI stage .1 injectors, a ceramic coated HE341 (newly rebuilt) from the manifold to the hot side, and a Fass fuel system. My CP3 is weeping diesel a good bit but it's the last component of the fuel system that's original from the factory with 230K.

1. Cold start, not plugged in, ambient temp 45*. Good puff of white smoke but clears up at idle no haze

2. Cold start, running, ambient temp 45* , revving the throttle to 1500 in short bursts, black smoke clears up at idle no haze. (I know revving while cold isn't advised, I run Amsoil 5W-40)

3. Warm start after coming out of a store, ambient was 52*, coolant temp was around 160*, white smoke clears up at idle no haze. Revving it to 1500 and its a gray color clearing up back at idle

4. Running at op temp, ambient is 52*, sitting at a red light and revving to 1500, black smoke and it clears up at idle.

I haven't gotten any observations while driving since my eyes are on the road watching out for crazies, any input would be appreciated from your own experiences.

 

[Ozymandias]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Sounds good to me.

Thank you, this'll be my baseline then.

 

[promisedland]

Those inj are 90hp over stock, are you running stock tuning?

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Those inj are 90hp over stock, are you running stock tuning?

I'm running Stage 0.1, near stock as you can get.

 

[Tuesdak]

Cold start, running, ambient temp 45* , revving the throttle to 1500 in short bursts, black smoke clears up at idle no haze. (I know revving while cold isn't advised, I run Amsoil 5W-40)

No reason to tempt fate by doing something close to a SNAP emissions test on a cold engine. At least warm it up first. No-Load snapping the throttle is simply looking for things TO snap. Flex plates crack, other parts are stressed with no load, and cold thick oil isn't flowing well. And other than an emissions test there is no reason to rev an unloaded diesel up. Really why do you care about smoke on an unloaded engine again: you shouldn't.

Put it in gear and use your mirror to check smoke. Then worry about it and clean it up if it smokes at all. A very light haze isn't bad.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

No reason to tempt fate by doing something close to a SNAP emissions test on a cold engine. At least warm it up first. No-Load snapping the throttle is simply looking for things TO snap. Flex plates crack, other parts are stressed with no load, and cold thick oil isn't flowing well. And other than an emissions test there is no reason to rev an unloaded diesel up. Really why do you care about smoke on an unloaded engine again: you shouldn't.

Put it in gear and use your mirror to check smoke. Then worry about it and clean it up if it smokes at all. A very light haze isn't bad.

I knew someone was going to bite and chime in on that. The point of revving it was to establish a baseline of what to expect given normal operating conditions and ambient temperature. I wanted to know what to expect when it's cold, warm, and hot now that I have a functioning exhaust system. 5W-40 is the lightest and fastest flowing oil you can use in these trucks. It's a H.O. 6MT, I'm not redlining it at negative 9*. I care about smoke because it can be used to identify the running condition of the engine loaded or unloaded. It's a Cummins with Amsoil, Amsoil Filters, and an Amsoil bypass filter if it can't handle a few blips to 1500 cold it ain't worth the amount of money I've poured into it. It's an emissions test to make sure the new BBI injectors and the re-blueprinted HE341 I installed are working correctly.

 

[promisedland]

Ok, I thought stage 1.

 

[Tuesdak]

You are outrunning the turbo asking for sudden RPM increases. Turbo's need a load to "help" put air into the engine. Sudden engine RPM jumps with no load don't let a turbo spin up fast enough and help clear smoke rather they are a restriction in this instance. SNAP emissions tests are supposed to wait till the engine is at full RPM and then measure smoke. (If the initial smoke puff getting up to RPM doesn't coat the reader and void the test.) Thus my suggestion to worry about smoke when in gear where the turbo can light up and help. Rev matching to change gears can be done smoothly and is an area you can watch for smoke.

Loaded in gear is a fair test of your new turbo.

My 2003 with stage 1 BBi's was visually smoke free with a custom tune. I did have to be careful not to get under the turbo's RPM range. Another low power tune I got eliminated that concern, but, what fun was that...

You are not being fair to your engine trying this cold. Even the strict emissions testing doesn't ask this of a cold engine: they make you go warm it up before testing.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

You are outrunning the turbo asking for sudden RPM increases. Turbo's need a load to "help" put air into the engine. Sudden engine RPM jumps with no load don't let a turbo spin up fast enough and help clear smoke rather they are a restriction in this instance. SNAP emissions tests are supposed to wait till the engine is at full RPM and then measure smoke. (If the initial smoke puff getting up to RPM doesn't coat the reader and void the test.) Thus my suggestion to worry about smoke when in gear where the turbo can light up and help. Rev matching to change gears can be done smoothly and is an area you can watch for smoke.

Loaded in gear is a fair test of your new turbo.

My 2003 with stage 1 BBi's was visually smoke free with a custom tune. I did have to be careful not to get under the turbo's RPM range. Another low power tune I got eliminated that concern, but, what fun was that...

You are not being fair to your engine trying this cold. Even the strict emissions testing doesn't ask this of a cold engine: they make you go warm it up before testing.

I wanted to know, and I found out. It's not a formal emissions test. I just wanted to know what normal was given my conditions, so that I have something to compare too when something does goes wrong.

You mentioned getting under the turbo's RPM range, can you elaborate on that and explain how to identify your range? I understand there is a spectrum of operating efficiency for the turbo and that will vary depending on setup. I'm still having issues in 6th gear with turbo bark though this is on another thread.

 

[Tuesdak]

Big stage 3 turbo. Lug engine below 1500 RPM and it would smoke. Thus under the turbo's ability to boost at that RPM... Smoke cleans up at a higher RPM.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Big stage 3 turbo. Lug engine below 1500 RPM and it would smoke. Thus under the turbo's ability to boost at that RPM... Smoke cleans up at a higher RPM.

That's understandable, larger wheel to spin on a larger turbo takes more rpms. It there away to find or calculate the ideal operation range of a turbo besides the feel or sound?

 

[Tuesdak]

Boost gauge. I would start at 1200 RPM, give it some throttle in say 5th gear and see where the boost starts coming off "0". Then do the same thing with heavy throttle and see if there is any smoke and where it clears up. With a factory tune and close to factory turbo smoke should not be a concern for you.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Boost gauge. I would start at 1200 RPM, give it some throttle in say 5th gear and see where the boost starts coming off "0". Then do the same thing with heavy throttle and see if there is any smoke and where it clears up. With a factory tune and close to factory turbo smoke should not be a concern for you.

The smoke isn't a concern now that I know it's normal, I was asking about it for my other issue with bark in 6th. It's on a separate thread so I won't get into it here. I do need gauges, still waiting on a follow up from MM3 if they have PID readout support at the OBDII for the 03 model year so I don't have to run a million wires across the engine. There's a separate thread on that as well. What ever the case I'll start taking notes of pressures when I have the ability to.

 

[bcbender]

I do need gauges, still waiting on a follow up from MM3 if they have PID readout support at the OBDII for the 03 model year

If its an 03, I am selling my TST R49 (03-04.5) that has EGT, Boost, and a few other features... Its listed in the classifieds....taking offers, Id like to see it go to someone who could use it..