miss and smoke

[stubbygrinder]

early 99 psd 200,000 miles starts great hot or cold!! uses no oil to speak of and no coolant, fresh oil and fuel filter, NO water in fuel, all new injectors, ipr, icp cps, replaced one at a time with no change ! this truck fills the yard with white smoke in the morning and then clears up.. when it reaches about 185 deg it has an intermittent miss at idle only and will smoke grey blue then run smooth as glass.... it has been doing this for 5 months,it has plenty of power ! it will only smoke when the miss starts at idle only. is there an air leak some where ? could my hpop be the problem?:

[mschn99]

Originally Posted by stubbygrinder

early 99 psd 200,000 miles starts great hot or cold!! uses no oil to speak of and no coolant, fresh oil and fuel filter, NO water in fuel, all new injectors, ipr, icp cps, replaced one at a time with no change ! this truck fills the yard with white smoke in the morning and then clears up.. when it reaches about 185 deg it has an intermittent miss at idle only and will smoke grey blue then run smooth as glass.... it has been doing this for 5 months,it has plenty of power ! it will only smoke when the miss starts at idle only. is there an air leak some where ? could my hpop be the problem?:

did you replace the under valve cover harnesses when you did all that???? also......when you replaced the injectors.....did you make sure to get all the o rings and seals on right, along with properly torquing them to seat the copper washer properly in the injector sleave.......and lastly.....was there any trouble turning the motor over after you replaced one of the injectors....like maybe it could have just slightly bent a rod from hydrolocking????....oh.....and have you checked for any codes????......it definatley will not be the high pressure pump with a miss and smoke....especially just at idle.....the white smoke is extra fuel....which could be an injector not getting proper signal (under valve cover harness problem possibly)....or it could be a glow plug issue....but that would not affect it warm.........Marc

[stubbygrinder]

thanks 4 the reply marc ! Injector install went smooth..missed before and after install.. my problem has been very intermittent untill now, It will miss 3 or 4 times in a day like when I come to a stop light at the end of a off ramp, it will run so smooth unless I have to sit there for a minute or two then it will start the miss and blue grey rich diesel smoke, when I take off it clears up.. sometimes it will miss just once and it will puff at the same time then idle great!

[Lone Ranger]

Marc sounds like, in fact no doubt is, a much better Mechanic than I am.... However, at 54, having been a backyard mechanic for 40 years, I have run into the " diesel white smoke filling the yard, eventually clearing as it warmed up" routine before... In my case, it was low compression. The other reason for white smoke (which is unburned diesel as Marc has told you) is incomplete combustion, due to low compression like worn rings... Then when it warms up a bit, the white smoke gradually decreases like in mine, as things warm up and expand a bit and the compression goes up....

It is a bit of work, but if you are sure about your fuel delivery system being correct, I would do a compression test... COLD... If it is low, you have a worn engine as in my case, and you put up with it or rebuild it, or sell it on as I did.
In my case it ran on for a long long time, was only a pain in #### during the warm up period and a bit embarassing...

Regards from da Ranger in Oz...

[mschn99]

i agree with the ranger on this one....it sounds to me like you have a little blow by.......which would indicate either you have rings that arent sealing properly, or maybe a valvetrain problem like bad valve stem seals or something along that nature....you probably should take it in and have it checked....but it sounds to me like its motor time.....or time to sell her....dont let someone off the internet make the final decision though.....there may be one tiny piece of info i didnt get....or you didnt notice....that could lead to a totally different final diagnosis, have someone who knows their stuff actually check it out in person...........Marc

[stubbygrinder]

Hey thanks guys!! Yea, that motor has some blow by for sure!
As for the intermittent miss and smoke I found the problem and Im almost certain its MY fault !! My problem started to get worse AFTER I changed the oil and I cant remember if it said Rotella, or Rotella T, 15-40
there from wall-mart, dont recall a T, anyway my buddy says his truck runs like mine if he waits too long to change the oil, He thinks the oil is foaming, so I dump it ! "only 400 miles on it" and filler back up with Mobil Delvac 1300 15-40... the truck tried to miss a little at the first stop light, but hasnt done it sence and it has been 300 miles already and has alot more power and NO smoke when warm! Just from a oil change, amazing!

[mschn99]

ahhhh......the good old foamin oil trick....lol......your lucky it ran at all.........Marc