1993 7.3IDI Turbo white smoke after IP, injector replacement

[BEAR_METAL]

Howdy y'all. So I accidentally turned my IDI into a fog machine...

She had a bad lift pump that I didn't catch until it started misfiring and dumping oil out the side of the crankcase, I replaced it with an electric pump (duralift ftw) and some good diesel rated fuel hose. Special thanks DesertBen44 for the writeup.

Anyway after replacing the lift pump she still ran pretty rough but I attributed it to the injection pump having to work too hard and getting worn out. SO I decided to replace the pump and injectors, ended up buying a reman pump from pensacola (I live in FL so figured quick shipping yada yada) and remanned injectors. Replaced everything over a weekend (what an absolute pain in the ass), and static timed it.

When bleeding the lines, it took probably a solid 5-7 minutes of cranking (not all at once obviously) to prime all of the lines with them cracked about 1/4 to 1/2 turn. Tightened everything down to spec, and turned her over. After cranking for about 10-15 seconds I heard a loud pop/bang after which I stopped cranking. Went to crank again, she took quite some time before she caught, and when she did, died immediately after. Started up again and it caught, ran but very rough, and the exhaust was white as snow. When revved, it would fill the entire area I was working in with a white fog. Definitely worse than before. Not one to give up easily, I played with the pump timing and found it made little difference, with the cold advance making no difference either. I settled on a little retarded (scribe line on pump is about 1/48" to the driver's side compared to the scribe line on the gear housing) but there really wasn't much difference when I had it advanced either.

The engine now very visibly shakes at idle (was previously at around 750rpm, now idles at around 500-600), and can be felt in the cab. The idle tensioner (replaced less than a month ago with the belt as well, definitely the right size belt as I could barely get it on) rocks back and forth at idle and when you turn the wheel the power steering pump will squeal like a stuck pig unless it's revved to 1500rpm. The engine stops shaking at 1500rpm and runs smooth as butter, but still sounds wrong. I can't hear the turbo spool either even if I take it out to 2500rpm and there is a very noticeable lack of power. Oh and after letting it get to operating temperature, the oil pressure drops to 0 at idle (according to the gauge), but picks right back up if you give it any gas (put it at 750rpm and it returns to normal).

I don't know if it's the pump/injectors I bought from pensacola, but I'm trying to rule out other things first. There's no oil in the coolant, and no bubbles in the radiator when it's at temperature. The oil has been changed within 300 miles, and the coolant is less than a month old (I do make sure to use SCA's).

 

[79jasper]

Turn the idle up, then go from there.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Thewespaul]

The community has had very bad luck with Pensacola, I personally have had two pumps from them not work propeperly and pulled the top cover off to find it full of crud, seemed like they repainted a junkyard ip and sold it as a reman.

That being said, how did you change the pump? Did you remove it from the gear cover or did you take the whole gear cover off with the pump? White smoke can be attributed to very bad timing, so try advancing it some. Do you have knocking sound at all? Could be you have some injectors sticking open.

 

[franklin2]

If the white smoke smells like diesel fuel, then you have one or more cylinders not firing/burning the fuel correctly.

 

[BEAR_METAL]

If the white smoke smells like diesel fuel, then you have one or more cylinders not firing/burning the fuel correctly.

It definitely doesn't smell like antifreeze or oil.

The community has had very bad luck with Pensacola, I personally have had two pumps from them not work propeperly and pulled the top cover off to find it full of crud, seemed like they repainted a junkyard ip and sold it as a reman.

That being said, how did you change the pump? Did you remove it from the gear cover or did you take the whole gear cover off with the pump? White smoke can be attributed to very bad timing, so try advancing it some. Do you have knocking sound at all? Could be you have some injectors sticking open.

The reviews of pensacola seem to be scattered. Some say they are perfectly fine, others have had nothing but issues. I would think that customer volume is worth more to them than screwing over a couple of people, but you never know. I did not pull off the gear cover, I left the cover on and pulled the pump off of the studs (getting the injector lines out with the turbo on... really don't want to have to do that again). How much should I try advancing it? I tried the width of a dime advanced (pump scribe mark is to the passenger's side compared to the mark on the gear housing) last time, should I try two this time? Is there any risk of running it should I advance it too far (and if so how far is too far?). It doesn't have the traditional pingy knocking noise but there is a certain hollow sound to the engine. Not quite the hiss that a cracked head makes (at least from what I've heard), but almost like the video below except it's constant (on that one it seems to come and go) and not quite as loud.

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Turn the idle up, then go from there.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Should I have to play with the idle screw? I was under the impression that the flow rate on these pumps is pretty standard across the board.


If this engine has to come out at all it's not going back in, I'll wait until I can afford it and drop a 12 valve in it. So far I'm not a fan of the IDI.

 

[Thewespaul]

That video is showing a valvetrain knock, so I don’t think that’s what you have. Can you take a video of what your truck sounds like? I would try another dimes width, it isn’t going to hurt anything. Best thing would be to get it properly timed, but if you’re doing it by ear then you just have to experiment and find what works the best.

Another thing you can try is loosening each injector line one at a time and see if there’s one injector that makes the smoke go away

 

[79jasper]

I would think that customer volume is worth more to them than screwing over a couple of people, but you never know.
Should I have to play with the idle screw? I was under the impression that the flow rate on these pumps is pretty standard across the board.

Diesel care and performance still sells, and they don't have anything worth a crap.
I think you're confused. I'm talking about the idle screw, not the fuel screw.

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[Macrobb]

Did you remove the IP gear when installing? not sure if that was ever answered.

Check the fuel out of your fuel filter for air - air will cause all manner of weird stuff. IP is a hydraulic 'computer', doesn't work well on air.

White smoke and low power are usually retarded timing... but *massively* retarded timing, like 12 degrees off. Not something that a dime's width either way would affect at all. Last engine that had such an issue, I rotated the IP all the way towards the passenger's side(loosen the lines first), and that mostly cleared it up until I replaced the IP.

Being a tooth or two off from the IP gear to cam gear will cause this as well, hence the first question.

Edit: you'll know if you get it too advanced. It'll clatter like it's going to fall apart, and have no power. Any smoke will be black.

 

[BEAR_METAL]

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I was finally able to get a video of it running. It sounds clattery to me there like it's too far advanced but the smoke isn't black (it looks like it is in the video but it's actually not, that's the shadow on the ground). Still no power. ******* IDI.

At the end of the video I was playing with the advance lever on the side of the pump. It seemed to run better when I had the advance all the way in, and the dead cylinder sound (for lack of a better description, it sounds like a hollow thump) kind of goes away but I fear advancing it further cause it's pretty clattery as it is.

 

[icanfixall]

Did you remove the injection pump WITH the pump still attached to the housing???

 

[BEAR_METAL]

Did you remove the injection pump WITH the pump still attached to the housing???

That has been answered twice already. The answer is no, I left the gear housing on and removed the pump from the studs.

While I was working on it I did notice that one of the injectors had backed off of the threads and was sitting loose (I could move it with my fingers). Any reason this could be? When I installed them I made sure to torque to spec twice.

 

[shawn deere]

Hey there. My pickup is doing the about same thing. My electric lift pump is leaking im pretty damn sure its sucking air and mixing with the fuel. New lift pump is on the way for me.
Its the second holly red that crapped out btw, going with a dura lift this time

 

[shawn deere]

Might check tank selector valve, i think ive heard of them leaking - letting air in the fuel system before.

 

[shawn deere]

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At the end of the video I was playing with the advance lever on the side of the pump. It seemed to run better when I had the advance all the way in, and the dead cylinder sound (for lack of a better description, it sounds like a hollow thump) kind of goes away but I fear advancing it further cause it's pretty clattery as it is.

The dead cylinder sound, yesssssss. I heard that on mine. It sounds like a hole is missing right? I crack all 8 injector lines with it running not a single one seemed at fault. Every injector seems to be missing a little bit randomly. Ill check back in when i get the new lift pump and air intrusion nailed on mine, but sounds like we got the same problem man.

 

[icanfixall]

Thanks for responding that you DID NOT remove the housing with the pump.. My best guess is your injectors and injection pump are the problem. Pensacola is not a shop or business any here will recommend because of the "stuff" they sell. Way too many members here have had issues with their product. Some had gone thru 3 pumps before they got a "good one". In all honesty you really need to time this engine for a best idea of how they actually run when the timing is correct. Those lines really are a silly map with no directions telling where you are.. Mel who owns Conestoga Diesel Injection of Pa has only once installed a pump on our engines and it was timed correctly at 8.5 degrees advance. He has explained when our pumps are rebuilt there is nothing that can be done to keep the pump timing as it was. These are not like the big block chevys where you can install a distributor and get the same timing or VERY close. When shopping for a shop that can time our engines NEVER allow someone to tell you its not important how we time these engines or tell you "they time by ear". Most on this forum know using the timing best results are using the pulse timing method. Then using the timing light. Then using the luminosity probe timing. then timing by ear being the worst.