Blow by questions.... Am I being paranoid?

[burrfree]

Today, I towed my 26 ft. cabin cruiser boat for a little over 2 hours. When I got home and backed it in the driveway, I noticed that when I had to juice it a bit to go up the driveway, I could see a bit of grey smoke coming from the exhaust. My boat is a pretty heavy rig at approximately 10K lbs. So, being the paranoid person that I am, I let it idle for a few minutes, took it for a ride without the boat, idled it some more, and then shut it off. A while later, I went out and started it up and took off the oil cap. To my surprise, I did see a small stream of smoke. It wasn't heavy, but it was definitely there. My truck just hit 130K on the clock.

It seems to run really good, decent power and getting around 15.5 with no load. I put my gauges in a couple of days ago and noticed that it would only hit 15psi of boost. This morning it was hitting about 17psi. Then after towing for 2 hours, it was only hitting 14-15psi. I haven't run since coming back. Any ideas why I get the fluctuations?

Another question is that whenever it's idling I can hear more diesel knock on the drivers side. To my ears, I can hear it pretty good on the outside of the truck on the drivers side. It reminds me of a rod knock but it's not and I can only hear it at idle. Is there a pump or something on the driver's side that I'm hearing or is this normal? I once had a 5.0 mustang that had injectors that ticked pretty loudly and made me think it was a lifter tick.

Anyway, is this pretty normal stuff for an older 7.3, or do I have one that needs a rebuild. I saw somebody mention re-doing injectors... what's that about and how expensive is that to have done? Could that be one of my issues?

[08pwrstrokr6.4]

from what i have read on here it maybe injectors but ive never had the pleaseure to know personally maybe a tech will chime in

[Dietoremain]

the smoke out the exhaust im not sure about, if its white its probably unburnt fuel, as long as you're not losing coolant i wouldnt worry.

the puff of smoke is fine, my crankcase vents to atmosphere my truck smokes plenty lol.. its normal..as long as your oil caps not blowing off when the caps sittin on it you're fine.

boost sounds like normal levels for a stock truck...

the drivers side noise is the #8 injector i dont quite understand totallyy but it doesnt get the fuel as fast as the others so it can be noisy.. a crossover line will fix this, someonee else can chime in with more info.

you're trucks not even broken in! psh im about to hit 163k.

[Heartbeatracing]

I had a 95 that got 18mpg and had 350,xxx when I sold it.... its still running around town

[burrfree]

Thanks for the info everyone...

I drove her this morning and she was hitting 16 psi on the boost. When I checked the oil cap, it stayed on but probably would have vibrated off eventually. I feel much better.

I'd like to learn more about this number 8 injector and cross over line. Also, what's involved in rebuilding injectors?

[bigred_stroker]

You can order a fuel cross over kit and a High Pressure oil crossover line. I want to say that I bought mine through ITP, but I could be wrong. It makes the truck much more responsive at the peddal and it helps the injectors get better fuel and oil. It is one of those things that should have been done at the factory as far as I am concerned. Basically, the oil and the fuel just comes to a dead stop at the back of the heads. These kits allow the oil to flow evenly to all the injectors so that the front are not getting better treatment then the back and the fuel doesnt stop dead and flows back into the fuel return. If you have the money you could do a regulated return rather than just the cross connect. Someone will chime in if I am wrong in explaining any of this.

[twildman]

I wouldn't worry about it to much. The stream of smoke coming out the oil cap is fine as long as its not ALOT and not puffing, if its a steady stream your ok.

[roccodart440]

Originally Posted by Dietoremain

the puff of smoke is fine, my crankcase vents to atmosphere my truck smokes plenty lol.. its normal..as long as your oil caps not blowing off when the caps sittin on it you're fine.

.

Same here. Very noticable in the cold weather.

[Deezing]

Originally Posted by Dietoremain

if its white its probably unburnt fuel, as long as you're not losing coolant i wouldnt worry.

Wait? Doesn't coolant burn as white? Unburnt fuel should be a black, and oil burning should be a blueish-gray color, right?

[blderman]

Originally Posted by Deezing

Wait? Doesn't coolant burn as white? Unburnt fuel should be a black, and oil burning should be a blueish-gray color, right?

No, white smoke is caused from the engine temperatures not being hot enough to completely burn the fuel. On a cold morning my truck will fog my 4 acre field with white smoke....ok not really, but there's a lot of smoke when it cold. Black smoke is caused from excess fueling.