Newby - black smoke, no power

[Bob F]

I bought this '90 F-250 a couple of months ago - it did not run. The previous owner has no mechanical skills whatsoever and had given up on it. A used engine (he thinks from a '93) was put in last spring and it had run fine for him for about 3 months before it quit. I have replaced all the glow plugs, put in new injectors and a rebuilt IP as well as all of the fuel return lines and caps, etc. It now starts right up. I don't have much diesel experience myself, but from what I have learned from reading on this forum, I've gotten that far. It blows quite a bit of white smoke on start up, but that clears up slowly as it warms up. Under any load at all it pours out black smoke and has very little power. I got it up to about 65 mph yesterday, but it took forever. Advancing the timing about 1/8 inch towards the passenger side seemed to help a little, but not much.

So, where do I go next? I haven't ruled out that the timing gear may be off a tooth or more, although I didn't remove the gear cover (the shade-tree mechanic who put the engine in appears to be a moron, based on the quality of workmanship I've had to redo to get this far). I haven't touched the CDR, could that cause this problem? Do I get the engine timed professionally next?

I replaced the fuel filter and air filter. No apparent obstructions on the intake side. Could the exhaust be plugged? It appears to be flowing okay.

Any suggestions as to what to do next are appreciated.

 

[Exekiel69]

For the CDR You have to check the oil level and see if it is burning any oil but I rather have it dynamically timed by someone who knows what he's doing.

 

[The Warden]

Sounds like a timing issue to me as well. I would get it timed and go from there.

Also, is the intake clear? Clean air filter? Could the moron who worked on the truck before have left a rag or something like that in the intake anywhere?

Just a thought...

 

[Agnem]

No doubt about it. Welcome to the site. I timed a truck for a fellow last weekend who claimed the same symptoms as you. He was 7 degrees retarded. He hasn't checked in yet though to say how it is doing, but I suspect it helped tremendously.

 

[subway]

yup i was the guy that got timed by Agnem, i was out yesterday but it made the difference from only being able to spin the rear in stones getting about 13 mpg to catching second gear and probubly close to 20 mpg est. (i will check this soon when the tank runs out). i would drop down into the 50's going up a slight grade on the highway with no load. i had almost no smoke though, just no power. but timing would be a great place to start from to get the truck back into shape.

thanks Agnem

 

[Bob F]

After much research, I decided the timing gear had to be off a tooth. Took it all back apart today and put the gear on right. It runs like it is supposed to now. Many thanks to everyone on this site, especially useful was Mel's write-up on injector and pump replacement and Zigg's treatise on timing. I will now find someone who can set the timing for me. Does anyone have a recommendation in the Houston/Alvin Texas area?