Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) white smoke

[Wyomingcowboy]

Well I finally got my marine injectors today and will begin the install tomorrow after school. Just discovered we have a smoke machine leak detector that I think I'm gonna try before I fire it up.

I am more than hesitant to say that I'm confident I haven't melted a piston or something but I really want to make this as quick of a job as I can..... just hopin and prayin that this will be the fix.

One more quick recap - I lost most of the oil out the breather tube (hopefully that's where it all came from) due to excessive fuel pressurizing the crankcase and causing serious blowby at interstate speeds. Oil filter had minimal aluminum in there..... Any other look probable ideas or quick and EASY tests to perform before I install new injectors, fill 'er up with new oil and try again?

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

well I spent about 4-5 hours installing injectors and putting it all back together tonight. I had to crack the injector lines while turning it over to get it to fire and I only got 1, 3, 4, 5 cracked as I could not reach 2 or 6. It makes noise and rattles like you might expect if it was only running on 4 cylinders.

Should I have to crack all fuel lines at the head to get them to run right, or will the air in those lines work itself out with the others firing?

I still have white smoke (although not nearly as bad) and when I pulled the oil fill cap I had a good deal of blowby.

Does this indicate piston damage to anyone else? I am still holding out hope I can crack those other two lines and make it run right. Got any ither ideas?

I pulled the turbo and visually inspected it... no problems. Just white smoke and blowby.

Never had blowby like that before... . I can see the puffs coming out the fill hole. I have heard of issies with white smoke and injectors before though...



They are marine injectors BTW

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

A few more weird items..... the egt's were at 400 which is easily higher than normal without driving anywhere and just idling. And there was no fuel on the dipstick.....

 

[AllianceDiesel]

you only need to crack 1,3,4 injector lines once you do that it will bleed the other lines, it shouldn't take long before the truck should idle fine



the blowby is your major problem, im pulling the head on a truck tomorrow with the same conditions (3rd gen) its blowing white smoke and has blowby, we will see what happens

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

What are some possible reasons for blowby that would have just occured all at once? Anybody have a list of directions for head removal? I hear it's a 10 hr. job?

 

[blacksheepdiesel]

Because you had so much fuel in the oil everything that depends on lubrication was hurt, including the pistons on the cylinder walls. If scratches were made in the cylinder wall they will be vertical which would lead to oil getting past the rings which means smoke and also combustion gases being forced by the rings resulting in more blowby.

Godspeed,
Trent

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

Do I need to remove the VP for a head removal?

How important is it to keep all the valves, rockers, lifters, etc. in the proper order?

Would a manual from Geno's tell me all this stuff? I guess I need to look in AllData at school and see if the info is in there... ...

 

[blacksheepdiesel]

WyBoy,

No need to remove VP but I would procure plastic caps to put on the outlets and inlet to keep dirt out, also for the injector lines. I put the crossover tubes and injectors in separate marked sandwich baggies. I would reinstall all valve train components in the order removed.

Have you thought about new head bolts or studs?

Godspeed,
Trent

 

[AllianceDiesel]

I always keep everything in order no matter what, it just makes it easier to put back in and nothing will be out of adjustment.



Here is another site where I post, If I knew an easier way to upload pictures here I would, but this truck had blow by, blowing white smoke and was running rough, you can see in one of the pictures the scored cylinder.



Pulling the head is a major ordeal, if you don't know what your doing you can really mess stuff up, make sure you have some sort of way to pick the head up when you have it all ready to pull it is really heavy and you don't want to scratch the head when you are pulling it.



Engine swap pics| Dodge Truck World Topic

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

How about a compression test?

How do I test for compression? Perhaps I should start there before I begin to pull the head..... Any other way to check for piston/cylinder damage without pulling the head?

 

[AllianceDiesel]

you need the special tool to do it

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

and how much is that?

 

[AllianceDiesel]

don't know, i got mine from the dealership when I was working there, it magically found its way home with me one day, when they were shutting the doors

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

Any idea how much one would cost, or where I could buy one?

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

take a look at this:

Diesel Engine Compression Tester Set

Would this work?

 

[PRout]

How about a cheap Harbor Freight infra-red thermometer gun to check for temp differences on the exhaust ports?

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

I'm sure that would tell me which one is not firing, but I'm looking for piston damage. I guess pulling the head is the only way to really know for sure, huh?

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

Last chance saloon here guys... ... I am getting little replies here and my local contact has apparently gone hunting so I guess that means no-one disagrees that I need to pull the head????



If you have any other ideas please speak out now!!!!

 

[blacksheepdiesel]

WyBoy,

To make sure I am up to speed:

1. You have started the engine and it is running smoothly since new injectors, correct?
2. There is white smoke when?
3. You have excessive blow by now?
4. How far/much have you driven the truck since getting it running again?

I will base my answer depending on yours.

Godspeed,
Trent

 

[Wyomingcowboy]

1. I have started it but it IS NOT running smoothly. I have not bled all injectors, either, but from what I have read on here the others should have bled the air out by now.

2. There is white smoke at all times

3. I do have excessive blowby now

4. I have not driven it anywhere. I have idled it sparingly hoping to bleed any more out of the fuel system, but have not driven it anywhere. It is obviously not firing on all cylinders.