ok. Serious problem.

[ricerocket86]

just bought a 96 dodge with a 5.9l cummins 12 valve. No tranny in it but I fired it up to see how it runs. Seems to idle fine and steady. but when you give it gas as soon as it hits about 2000-2500 rpms it starts popping and backfiring. Blows white smoke real bad. If you stay on it it will go to 3000rpms but pops alot. I replaced the oil, filter and fuel filter and it still does it. Fuel looks good as well. Turbo looks good, no shaft play. The guy I bought it from said he drove it everyday till the trans went out. He pulled it out and its been sitting for 6 months. Im a powerstroke specialist, so I know very little about the cummins. Any suggestions?

 

[towcat]

1)bad injectors.....very likely
2)bad pump.....not very likely though

 

[ricerocket86]

Any way to test the injectors? This truck "supposably" ran fine before parked. So how do u diagnose injectors?

 

[towcat]

pull them all and get them pop tested.

 

[ricerocket86]

Im guessing thats something I cant do myself? I dont know of any shop around my area that knows cummins motors.

 

[Whit]

injectors on the 12 valvers are pretty reliable, not ruling it out but my guess here would be the timing slipped, the timing gear fits on a taper fit with no key at all so chances of slipping are there


to check the injectors go out there tomorrow with a cold motor and fire it up , have someone hold it at like 1600 rpm and then measure the temp on the exhaust manifold at every cylender, keep going back and forth with the temp gun as the truck warms up .........if an injector aint firin then that cylender will be colder

 

[ricerocket86]

Good idea. Will do first thing tomorrow. I called a buddy of mine who has the same truck as mine and he also mentioned the timing may slipped. But he's in Florida and cant help me. How do I check that? The truck is at my house and isnt drivable so my only option is to fix it myself. I need to learn about it anyways so this will be a good start. So how do I check the timing?

 

[Whit]

its really not that hard to do if you have the tools. You can buy a timing kit from pure diesel power which includes the gear puller, dial indicator and the DV socket. the only other thing you would need is the enine barring tool which they also sell. The stock timing on your truck should be 12- 12.5*you have to remover the dv holder and the dv to get to the plunger. whatever the lift of the plunger is at tdc is what your timing is set at ..................here is some specifics

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1994/18-10-94a.htm

 

[ricerocket86]

yeah, I was doing some research and came across this link in one of your post from a while back. Looks like alot of work and looks alittle complicated to a newbee. Im wondering if it would just be cheaper to take it to a shop and have them check it rather than buying the tools and doing it myself. Im just worried its gonna be something alot worse and end up costing me an arm and a leg to fix. lol

 

[ricerocket86]

ok, so I called Garmons Diesel performance over here in Griffin and talked to Jeff Garmon about my problem. He told me its def the timing that slipped. He said sitting there without the tranny in its gonna pop and cut out under throttle, but when I put the tranny in and drive it, it will run fine. He said when it starts building boost it will retard the timing and I wont notice it. So I guess now my nest step is getting the tranny in and getting it over to him so he can adjust the timing. Only gonna cost me $60 compared to the $234 I was gonna spend for the special tools to do it myself.

 

[BigRigTech]

First I would verify that the cam timing pin and pump pin are lined up at #1 TDC on the compression stroke. If the pump is timed correctly internally then the gear slipping can be corrected easily by pinning the pump, popping the pump gear off, pinning the engine and re-torquing the gear to 144ftlbs. We do it this way at the Freightshaker dealership I work for. I have yet to see anyone pull the DV valve and go through all that....

The first and most important thing with any diesel is to look for air in the fuel, air in the fuel will make the engine run rough and smoke at startup. I've yet to see a 5.9 that doesn't bellow grey/white smoke on a cold start if you give it more than say 1500rpm.

 

[82F100SWB]

My 92 definitely could sue a bit little bit more timing, when it's cold, it will pop and bang and blow white smoke under light/no load conditions, but, it does seem to be normal for them. Give it a bit of load and bring up the EGT's, and all is fine. Odds are that 96 is the same.

 

[ricerocket86]

yep. When its in park or nuetral it will pop, cut out, and blow white smoke like crazy. But when you drive it and start building boost it retards the timing and you would never know it. Aint hurting it so Im in no hurry to have the timing set. The only thing that suxs is Im not getting the slightest bit of black smoke, even under a full load. So Im gonna take out the fuel plate and fuel arm, put in a bigger set of injectors, and set the timing and see what that does for me = )

 

[Whit]

IMHO running platless is a big mistake, and its very ******* the drive train, you will pay big in the end

 

[ricerocket86]

uh oh. Details? I was told it didnt hurt anything. More power but as long as u dont abuse it it would be fine. Am I wrong?