IDI mechanics in Minnesota

[PrettyRicky]

Hello,

I recently bought my first diesel and really love the truck, but it's been hard starting, and when it starts I get some white smoke till it warms up. Once warm it starts fine and no white smoke. I've read some threads and think it could be a number of things causing this. My question is - do any of you know of a mechanic that you trust and does good work here in Minnesota? I live right in the twin cities and could always take it to Boyer Ford, but I'm sure that's the most expensive route and I'd rather have a more personalized relationship with my mechanic.

Any information is greatly appreciated as I'd like to get it in to see if this is just injectors, a head gasket or possibly cavitation. It only has 74K original miles on it and I'd like to keep it healthy so I can enjoy the rig (it's a 1993 ambulance) for years to come.

Thanks!

 

[OLDBULL8]

Please put your truck info in your signature.
IDI mechanics are few and far between at any dealership. Just ask if they know about an IDI, if you get the Deer in the headlights stare, forget about them. Your best bet is right here.
White smoke, hard start is more than likely air intrusion in the fuel supply to the IP. Lack of fuel and air mixture to the injectors creates incomplete combustion, hence, white smoke. Check all the rubber hose lines to the filter, a common place is the Olives "seals" at each end of the steel lines from lift pump to filter and filter to IP, they get hard and let air in but don't leak fuel. How old is the filter? An Ambulance does a lot of Ideling, creates hi heat under the hood, that makes any rubber part dry out.. Is any of the return hose lines between injectors wet? Air intrusion is there then. A 1/4 of a fuel tank or less can cause air suction if the foot screen pickup has fallen off or disintegrated.

There was a guy on here from Hopkins very knowledgable, haven't seen him here for a long time tho, "Redtruck"?

Tousley Ford in White Bear might be your best bet for a mechanic, they have a division that sells a lot of IDI parts.

 

[PrettyRicky]

Good information and while I'm semi mechanically inclined I've never really worked on anything but my motorcycles. With the lack of room under the van hood I'm not very confident in my ability to be the one to accomplish the things you mentioned above. With some supervision and help I'm sure I could do some of it and may have to, but finding a mechanic I can have as my go-to guy that I trust would be nice to have in my back pocket just in case.
The fuel filter is at least over a year old. I'm not sure exactly how old as I just bought this and the guy gave me no real information on the rig. I can check and buy a new fuel filter and check some of the lines, but the lack of room to work under there seems like it'd make some of these jobs darn near impossible.

 

[PrettyRicky]

BUMP
If anyone knows of good knowledgeable mechanic I'd very much appreciate some info on who to bring my rig to.
Thanks,

 

[opusd2]

Find yourself a mechanic that works on older mechanically injected tractors. There isn't much difference in repair tactics between our engines and an International 766 or 1066 turbo. In fact well before I was wrenching on my IDI I had been wrenching on the old 560 Diesel which had pre-cups and glow plugs just like our engines. Even the little Perkins had their pop-off pressures, same principle as our engines.

I'm not saying go find yourself an old Mr. Fixit with a chain fall hanging from a tree and the carcasses of tractors and vehicles strewn across the yard, rather find someone who works on farm equipment and chances are they are more than familiar with older mechanical engines that don't have an OBD port to diagnose that little tick. Maybe check with farmers who work older diesels and see who they go to. And it helps if they are farmers who run with all of the tin one the tractors and not half assed with parts missing. That usually leads back to a farmer and a mechanic who will cut corners just to get things running.