Long road trip...new problem-white smoke

[cpdenton]

So, I took my truck on a long trip to a job that is about 100 miles away. Ran great for the first 60 miles or so, then I noticed what felt like a small miss or surge. I checked the mirror and noticed every time it stuttered, a light puff of white smoke came out. It continued to get worse. It puffs white smoke every time I shift gears(manual). It smokes when decelerating going down a hill an such. I noticed it is starting to smoke when idling now.

Last night I did do e ATF trick in the fuel filter, run it until it sounds different, let it sit overnight thing. It also seems to not do it when the truck is cold. The longer it runs the more smoke and stuttering.

The truck does not seem to be down on power. I pulled a 8 or 9 percent grade on the way home that is about a mile and a half long, at the top I was still in OD going 60 mph without burying the throttle.

I think it has a drippy injector or two. Anything else I should look for. I have a set of rebuilds from conestoga diesel, but I was hoping to save them for an engine rebuild, that will include a bull moose pump and a banks turbo, but I may have to use them now.

 

[RLDSL]

How long is it that youve owned that thing? does the fuel tank go down to E or does it poop out at 1/4 tank?
Have you ever drained the tanks completely?
Do you run fuel additive regularly , if so , what?

 

[cpdenton]

I have owned this truck since last may, but it wasn't on the road until July. I have put about 8000 miles on it since I got the zf swapped in. It has always had a light haze when idling, but nothing like what it is doing now.

The fuel tanks can a have run down to 1/8 or so without any problems. I don't think the shower heads are broken, but I have never let a tank just go until it runs put because I have been afraid with the mechanical lift pump I would be dead on the road and unable to get it primed if it ran out.

I have used diesel kleen, but I have to admit, not religiously in every tank.i have been meaning to go to the Marco and get that stuff you told me about, but I have now forgot the name.

 

[RLDSL]

I have owned this truck since last may, but it wasn't on the road until July. I have put about 8000 miles on it since I got the zf swapped in. It has always had a light haze when idling, but nothing like what it is doing now.

The fuel tanks can a have run down to 1/8 or so without any problems. I don't think the shower heads are broken, but I have never let a tank just go until it runs put because I have been afraid with the mechanical lift pump I would be dead on the road and unable to get it primed if it ran out.

I have used diesel kleen, but I have to admit, not religiously in every tank.i have been meaning to go to the Marco and get that stuff you told me about, but I have now forgot the name.

All of which leads me to wonder if you have water in your fuel. Especially considering teh amount of flood stage rain weve been having lately, it is VERY common around here for storage tanks to get contaminated

 

[Hydro-idi]

Good point RLDSL. I didn't even think of the possibility of there being water in the fuel. If it is water in fuel, I would recommend using a red bottle of Iso-HEET in each tank. That stuff works well and safe for diesels.

 

[cpdenton]

Robert-

You suggested the other day that my symptoms may be due to water in fuel. I stopped by mapco today and grabbed a bottle of howe's fuel additive. Says it will take care of water. Is this the stuff you suggested to me at your house that night?

 

[RLDSL]

Robert-

You suggested the other day that my symptoms may be due to water in fuel. I stopped by mapco today and grabbed a bottle of howe's fuel additive. Says it will take care of water. Is this the stuff you suggested to me at your house that night?

You can handle water in two ways. Howes will settle water to the bottom of the tank and will also make certain that it settles in the bottom of teh water separator in your fuel filter instead of mixing with the fuel so that way any that gets pullled up you can drain out about once a week. till the problem is gone. You should drop your tanks and suck your tanks bone dry about once a year. ( or use drain plugs if they have them) to remove built up water and trash.
If you attempt to use any of the power service or heat type products , what they do is to get the water to go into suspension with the fuel to where it will not settle out, making it impossible for your filter to use its separotar section to drain off any water and instead forcing your engine to ingest all of teh water. It is one way of dealing with it, but it will make your truck buck and jump horribly if there is a bunch of water in there and may put you on the side of the road
If you already have signs of water, its safer to go with the howes and open up your filter drain frequently until the water issue has cleared
If the contamination level is just too horrible, then the last option is to pump off the fuel in teh thing and get rid of it ( I had to pull into a truckstop and have my bi bed tank pumped off once due to a bad batch .... that hurt$$$

 

[Agnem]

As long as you are running a filter that filters water, you shouldn't be having an "actual" issue with water. If you have a 6.9, and bypassed your factory water separator, then that would be a huge concern. If you have a factory 7.3 then your factory filter will protect you from water and you should drain your filter into a glass and let it settle to confirm if you actually have a water contamination issue.

 

[RLDSL]

As long as you are running a filter that filters water, you shouldn't be having an "actual" issue with water. If you have a 6.9, and bypassed your factory water separator, then that would be a huge concern. If you have a factory 7.3 then your factory filter will protect you from water and you should drain your filter into a glass and let it settle to confirm if you actually have a water contamination issue.

Hey Mel, there's a reason that they like to spec those big add on Racor fuel seperators on big trucks.... its because the little water drain sections in filters really dont work if running at highway speed, they basically work when you are doing a lot of idling , but when going down the road, the stuff stays in suspension pretty darn well and goes right through.
THats why the big drop bowl add on seperators with varrying turbulator setups to get the fuel to break loose from the water so it can drop out.
THis is why with a regular filter type setup with a water drain, it is not uncommon to see, the white smoke while on a long trip ( heck on big trucks it happes too if you forget to dump the bowl on the big seperator , they will start passing water too and you get the same thing, and its time to pull in and drain )

 

[cpdenton]

I put in some fuel treatment the other day, and made sure my separator was drained out until only fuel came out, which was almost immediately. It has been pretty consistent about smoking very little at startup, and getting heavier and heavier until it develops a miss at highway speeds. I think Monday will be the day to install my rebuilt injectors from conestoga diesel, and the return line kit just to eliminate the drippy injector theory. It has a very heavy smell of unburnt fuel after it is warm and idling....to the point that I could smell it on my clothes after I went in the house( I went around and stood in the smoke to get a good whiff of what it smelled like)

On another note. It is not burning any oil more than normal, and the coolant level is right where it always has been.

 

[Hydro-idi]

This does sound like one or more of your injectors are leaking. Let us know how it runs after you install the misters. There will be plenty of us to help you out in the process of changing them out if you are in need of assistance.

 

[cpdenton]

Thanks hydro. I live about 3 miles from RLDSL, so if it gets serious, I might be able to talk him into backing me up.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Good deal. It is always nice knowing that other OB members are willing to help each other out. Can't imagine anybody else does that on those other "******* contest" forums lol.

 

[cpdenton]

Update....

I installed the rebuilt conestoga diesel injectors today, along with the return line kit.

Seemed to clear things up a bit until the engine warmed up. I went and put new fuel in the front tank, which seemed to clear it back up some. I am going to run this new fuel and see what the results are. I also am going to check the timing in a couple of weeks when RLDSL has a little time on his hands. With the new injectors, it seems to be a little retarded because it gets quiet under throttle and seems a little underpowered. Could injectors popping at the right pressure have retarded the timing some?

 

[79jasper]

Simple answer: Yes, definitely.