WOW do I need help!timing or injectors?

[cash]

I wonder what you diesel guys think about this?
I know the answer would be told if I had the means to set the dynamic timing but I don’t and won’t for a while so I want to do the best I can with what I have. Bet most of you have been there.
Here it is, I rebuilt this 7.3 idi na and have sense put 2000 or so miles on it I took the injectors in to this local shop they pop tested cleaned and set 6 of them at 1500psi the other two they replaced with new Delphi. Said Delphi on the package and made in Mexico on the injector.There coed BB
Anyhow the thing smokes bad, runs rough and white smoke at cold start. Once it gets up to running temp it clears up. Runs ok. It never smoked like that before.
I think some may say you got air in the return lines, so I’ll tell you now. In the morning the filter is full and I have had a clear plastic line on the return from the filter and never seen any air. Still think its air? Tell me and I can put a Holly Blue on for a while.
Back to the story. Then I changed the injectors put in a set of Bosch used from a 6.9, still smokes at cold start.
So I advanced the timing more as far as the bolt slots would allow and the thing has more power than it ever had and no smoke, not even black, once it warms up. It is quieter with these Bosch injectors also. I will have to wait till morning to see what it does on a cold start now.
I thought if I had the timing close that.
1. It should blow some black under load.
2. Rattle pretty good
3. Not over heat

Note: static timing mark is off less than 1/8”but remember it is as far advanced as the bolt slots will allow (this pump did not come on this motor so static timing marks don’t mean much, I guess?)
Compression tested good.
Would a week IP make white smoke on cold start?
What do you think of setting the injectors at 1500 psi?
Should I try another IP or maybe drill out the bolt slots on this one to advance it more? I think it needs advanced a little more.

 

[typ4]

First off the injectors should be at least 1800. New spec is 1950 nonturbo . Until you get that sorted out Not much else matters, if it starts ok and doesnt smoke white when warm you are definately heading in the right direction.

 

[icanfixall]

At 1450 you replace injecters. As posted above have the injecters set for 1950 and then watch your timing again. The low pop setting is really advancing the timing. I'm not sure why you are turned so far towards the passenger fender trying to make the upmp advanced. It shouldn't take that much movement of the pump unless its suspect...

 

[Diesel JD]

First off the shop that set your pop pressure at 1500 did you no favors, IMO, they owe you a refund unless they told you this was a very suboptimal solution and you agreed cause you were short on cash. Second, often these pumps don't move much but usually enough to get the static timing close enough to run half decent and not damage the engine. You may have to loosen the lines a bit to get any more travel. Its still a lot of advance and you must be careful not to go too far since you don't have a timing meter to know how far you have gone with it already. First you can eat glow plugs then you can damage pistons and have very poor fuel mileage and hard start warm condition. Another possibility since you said you built this engine and have changed the IP is that you may have made the IP gear jump timing. Have you ever had the pump gear housing off? If so, making the gear jump even by one tooth will make getting a correct timing set difficult or impossible no matter how far you advance or retard pump timing. When I was very new to IDIs, I had to change head gaskets and fuel injection system within the first 5000 miles of owning my 86. This was an excellent learning experience but I could never get the timing quite right until I took the truck to a pump shop where they set the timing dynamically and found the gear had jumped 2 teeth during the course of my work. I too had advanced the pump as far as it would go and it still ran crappy. The current pump is static timed but probably close. Be careful I sure know how it is to have to seek suboptimal solutions due to being cash poor.

 

[Agnem]

I wonder what you diesel guys think about this?
I know the answer would be told if I had the means to set the dynamic timing.

Seems to me that right now you have a bad combination.

1) - Unknown Timing
2) - Unknown injector quality

There is no getting out of that dilema without testing. You need to have the injectors tested, and you need to have your pump timed. You can hem and haw all you want, but everything else is a complete waste of time.

 

[cash]

You can hem and haw all you want, but everything else is a complete waste of time.

shuks man hate to think I was wasting everyone’s time here but I am learning. And that is never a waste.
As I stated in the original post I did have the injectors tested and cleaned and set.
And what I learned thanks to the replies I would have wasted time and money having the timing set with those Injectors set like they were 6 at 1500 and 2 new at 1800+ thanks for the help guys
and yes to my surprise this morning the cold start the truck did not smoke.
guess I just got lucky

 

[Agnem]

Sorry. I Didn't mean it that way. If you like shooting in the dark, and can learn from it, then by all means. I'd just really encourage you to purse the truth. A guess is just random chance left to fate.