White Smoke, Cold Start Up

[DaveRodgers]

Started doing this Saturday morning and now everytime the truck sits for anything more then 5-6 hrs. Engine also stumbles for 1-2 seconds before it idles like normal. Not a large amount of white but a fair amount.

Friday night, I filled up at the same place i always buy fuel from and never had a problem in 5+ years from there.

Had Smarty on level 1 and went to stock mode, still did it this afternoon.

No codes thrown.

I thought it might be the fuel heater because it was cold enough, I thought, this morning that it should have cycled and didn't. Fuse is not blown. That theory went out the window this afternoon after the truck sat for 9 hours with air temps in the mid 70's at work and puffed a cloud and stumbled like it has.

From work I drove 5 minutes to our shop, shut it off, truck was no where near warm or near normal operating temps. Restarted a few seconds later and a little puff and stumble. Went inside, came back out popped the hood and drained the filter housing about 50%. Cycled the key a couple of times and 1-2 minutes later started it up. Big puff, big stumble and turned to normal idle.

On the way home, I thru in 20 gallons from another fuel stop that goes thru alot and a bottle of Power Service just because and in case it was a bad load of Friday fuel I got. I'll be back in the morning to see if the this fixed it or not. Hopes are not high.

No power loss and seems to run just fine otherwise.



Sorry for the long winded explanation but I wanted to give everyone as much info as I know.

What's the thoughts on this one???

And no, the fuel and rail pressure gauges are not hooked up yet. There just there for decoration right now.

 

[RKinkead]

It sounds like a sticking injector that's leaking down when the engine is off. Fuel drips into the piston bowl. You get white smoke and rough idle until it burns off. Try adding some 2-stroke oil to your fuel and see if it improves. If that doesn't fix it and your truck is under warranty, take it to the dealer.

 

[DennyDay]

White smoke is a sign of unburned fuel - - - Believe RKinkead is right on the money



Denny

 

[JCasper]

UhOh Dave, Looks like you might be going to the *******.

 

[DaveRodgers]

UhOh Dave, Looks like you might be going to the *******.

Did it again this morning after the Power Service add.

:{

Yup, made the phone call. It gets dropped off today for them to fire it up in the morning.

 

[JCasper]

Did it again this morning after the Power Service add.

:{

Yup, made the phone call. It gets dropped off today for them to fire it up in the morning.

There goes your summer. I hope they don't keep it too long.



Maybe you should just buy some new injectors and have Byron help you put them in. :-laf

 

[DaveRodgers]

There goes your summer. I hope they don't keep it too long.



Maybe you should just buy some new injectors and have Byron help you put them in. :-laf

Well, at least it happened now instead of 3 weeks from now when I was right before or mid-trip to Wyoming.



Believe me, that thought has seriously crossed my mind about a set of honed injectors over the last couple days.

If they bring up the 4 words "your warranty is void" then it's a no brainer.

No fight here with them on that subject.

 

[JCasper]

If they bring up the 4 words "your warranty is void" then it's a no brainer.

No fight here with them on that subject.

Exactly, you can't fight that one.

 

[GShail]

before u get too carried away be sure and check the tightness of the transfer tubes. when i had a white smoke problem it was from 2 loose transfer tubes

 

[smitty3500]

I experience the same white smoke and rough idle for about 20 seconds on start up at times. Seems to only occur when the truck does sit for a long overnight period. I am going to not worry about it to much until it gets worse or more often. I am right around 50k on the truck so I will not stress it to much. Runs like a beast and does not miss a beat when towing.

 

[1965LONEWOLF]

It sounds like a sticking injector that's leaking down when the engine is off. Fuel drips into the piston bowl. You get white smoke and rough idle until it burns off. Try adding some 2-stroke oil to your fuel and see if it improves. If that doesn't fix it and your truck is under warranty, take it to the dealer.

HOW MUCH DO YOU ADD TO 35 GALLONS ?

 

[RKinkead]

HOW MUCH DO YOU ADD TO 35 GALLONS ?

Some people say to add 1quart for 35 gallons. That works well on my truck, though I notice I get good results adding just 16 ounces.



If that doesn't help unstick the injector, let the dealer replace them under warranty and continue using a lubricity additive thereafter so that it doesn't happen again.



My engine runs better with the 2-stroke oil than with any other additive I've tried.



Interestingly, only my CTD had had issues with the ULSD fuel. Our two VW TDIs (2004 Passat and 2001 Beetle) have had no issues with it... so far anyway.

 

[OT-OF-HERE!!]

I had this problem,...

The injector/injectors are screwed? They will need to be replaced. You can pour all the whatever in your tank you want and it won't fix it,. . been there,. . done that. The problem is getting the injector/injectors isolated. It took me three trips to the dealer and they were fighting with STAR all the while to get the authorization needed. The injector didn't just screw up. Your problem actually is the factory 10micron filter. It is WAY to pourous and lets too much c. . p through and that is your real problem. Change out that filter NOW or BEFORE!! You need a 2 or 3 micron filter. And be sure it is an absolute filter. Both FASS and Glacier Diesel carry them... I'm sure others do also. You will screw up a new injector if you don't change this filter,... FACT!!!

 

[CDonaldson]

I had the white smoke at startup also. I added Power cleaner to the fuel several tankfuls of fuel. Changed from the 10-micron to the 7-micron fuel filter when they came out which was before the white smoke stuff started. Ended up at the dealer with my concerns, they had a flash for white smoke, so they flashed my truck and called it fixed. White smoke still persisted after the flash AND I lost fuel mileage-3-4mpg's. I checked the transfer tubes, they were tight. I then installed the GDP 2-micron filter when it came out. Dumped a quart of PS in with the next couple of fillups, still had white smoke on occasion, but it was not very often, all but gone. I now use the PS with every tankful. The past couple days our overnight temps have been falling into the fuel 'heater' range, and I do give it time to cycle properly, white smoke came back on startup both mornings. I am not having it on startup later in the day when the temps are higher. Jut a puff, but it's back on cold outside temp startup in the morning.



CD

 

[OT-OF-HERE!!]

White smoke

I had the white smoke at startup also. I added Power cleaner to the fuel several tankfuls of fuel. Changed from the 10-micron to the 7-micron fuel filter when they came out which was before the white smoke stuff started. Ended up at the dealer with my concerns, they had a flash for white smoke, so they flashed my truck and called it fixed. White smoke still persisted after the flash AND I lost fuel mileage-3-4mpg's. I checked the transfer tubes, they were tight. I then installed the GDP 2-micron filter when it came out. Dumped a quart of PS in with the next couple of fillups, still had white smoke on occasion, but it was not very often, all but gone. I now use the PS with every tankful. The past couple days our overnight temps have been falling into the fuel 'heater' range, and I do give it time to cycle properly, white smoke came back on startup both mornings. I am not having it on startup later in the day when the temps are higher. Jut a puff, but it's back on cold outside temp startup in the morning.



CD

I promise you that you can putz around with this issue but until you change the sticks and have a 2 or 3 micron filter in there then you're just treading water because you float has a hole in it. Our c... ppy fuel around here and I'd bet just about everywhere requires that type of filtration,,..... the 2 or 3 micron will NOT hurt your performance,... but a faulty injector/injectors will!! I change my filters on the six month interval and also drain any moisture at that time and put in a heavy dose of Power Service every other fill up(Tks Walmart for the best price I can find) and I have had zero injector problems since doing so. Before that I replaced 7,... yes 7 injectors in 5k miles. Star didn't like it but to bad,... if they had filtered the truck right to begin with then it wouldn't have happened either. My $. 02.

 

[RKinkead]

After my experiences with injector issues, I'm more convinced that the failing injectors have to do with the lack of lubricity in the fuel than with the filtration... though the stock filtration should be better. I'm going to add a 2 micron filter to my truck.



With my second set of injectors, when one began to stick, I immediately added some 2-stroke oil to the fuel and it unstuck. I've continued adding 2-stroke oil at each fillup and haven't had another injector issue since.



That's why I recommended adding some 2-stroke oil to see if the injector would un-stick. Obviously if an injector is too badly damaged this won't help, but trying it won't hurt anything.

 

[OT-OF-HERE!!]

Can you say Bosch????

Bosch engineers went to lunch with the Industrial Injection folks about a year ago and Brady and Brett were kind enough to post on their findings re: Why are there so many darn injector problems!!!! The answer was two fold,... high pressure fluctuation and what I said earlier about filtration. I found Bosch to be right about this issue.

 

[pwr2tow]

Baldwin fuel filter #7977 is a 5 micron absolute and direct replacement for the 3rd gen trucks.