2003.5 F-350 6.0 Pouring White Smoke

[byronkentgraham]

Yeah I'm one of those lucky bastards who picked up a 2003 diesel not long after they came out.

So Monday I was driving to town, hit the throttle noticed a some black smoke. Didn't think much of it. Didn't happen again for the rest of the 25 minute drive.

Went to town had supper, started the truck no problem, moved it from the back parking lot to the front to pick up some buddies. Noticed a little bit of white smoke, figured it was from the truck being cold. Ran to a convenience store for smokes and when I was had it parked i noticed A LOT coming out when I was idling, it wasn't just coming out and disappearing it was hanging. I was parked for 5 minutes and it formed a good trail of smoke. Parked it for a bit then went to start it up but battery was dead(It was parked for maybe 10 minutes I think one of the batteries is no good.) Drove it home and if I idled or hit the throttle it would really smoke. If I was doing highway speed there was next to no smoke.

There has been no loss of power, starts hard though. I checked the coolant and it's not even below the minimum line.

My biggest concern is am i going to destroy something if I keep driving it? It has been parked for 2 days and I've been driving my Chev, want to get back driving the diesel. We have done injectors before, but when the injectors went there was a huge loss in power. Truck is totally stock not even egr deletes or head bolts done.

There is no engine light on either.

[Tuscany]

Sounds like weak batteries are killing your ficm. Get two matching new batteries in the truck ASAP and then monitor your ficm voltage. Do you have a monitor in the truck now? If not let me know and I can get you fixed up with one.

Bryan @ Stealth Automotive

[byronkentgraham]

Originally Posted by Tuscany

Sounds like weak batteries are killing your ficm. Get two matching new batteries in the truck ASAP and then monitor your ficm voltage. Do you have a monitor in the truck now? If not let me know and I can get you fixed up with one.

Bryan @ Stealth Automotive

I don't have any aftermarket gauges or monitors in it yet.

A weak battery can cause it to smoke like that?

What's a monitor cost with shipping? I'm in Brooks, Alberta

[Tuscany]

Pm sent!!!

[mhatlen]

^^^X2 a monitor for the truck is a must have item. Talked a buddy into picking u a scanguage for his 2003 and monitor truck especially when pulling his horses. Sure enough he was at 35 degrees delta on oil cooler, truck is going to mechanic Friday to have oil cooler and egr cooler replaced.
The early year trucks throw no cel on delta temps above 15 degrees and you won't know there's a problem until it's too late. Surely Tuscany will set you up with a good monitor for truck. (MUST HAVE ITEM)
With that being said; take a look at your oil level and look closely to make sure it's not overfilled from diesel. Sounds to me like you have a injector holding open and that can cause big problems. Does it feel like the starter has a hard time turning over engine especially very first moment when cranked?
If injector is hanging open it can flood the cylinder with fuel and hydrolocking when cranking over. Dependant upon how much fuel is flowing out of injector will determine how badly it will blow white smoke.
The fact that the white smoke does not dissipate tells me it's fuel and surely you can smell the diesel.

Can be a very serious issue if it's a leaking injector dependant on how bad, take ficm values as well as voltage readings and move forward from there.

[byronkentgraham]

Going to replace batteries today, and see if that helps do i need to have the ficm replaced or flashed if that's the problem?

[byronkentgraham]

So starte it up to move it to the shop today, and the smoke has turned to a blackish grey. I that makes a difference.

[byronkentgraham]

Looks like it's an injector. Going to have it checked out next Thursday. Guess I'm stuck driving a Chev until then.

[Tuscany]

Before you send it to the shop and have a misdiagnosis check the FICM volts with the new batteries. If your having "injector" issues you always start troubleshooting at the charging system e.g; batteries, alternators and FICM then you check the injectors.

[chris0000]

Mine was making white smoke really bad and it was the EGR cooler. But, I was also losing about a gallon of coolant every 100 miles.