Rollin coal, but I don't wanna be!

[tonto]

Afternoon folks. Today I noticed the truck shooting black smoke as the turbo spools. It does this when the engine is cold and warm. No codes thrown, battery and FICM voltage are where they should. Can one check the FICM voltage with key on engine off?

Truck is not tuned, all mods listed below. Thanks in advance!

[a2elvis]

EGR valve stuck in the open position...

[jesilvas]

Or possibly stuck turbo vanes/bad VGT solenoid. That would be insufficient air for the fuel injected.

[colo_dually]

My first guess its the turbo not delivering enough air. You shouldn't be seeing any smoke under stock programming as you describe. Here's what I would check. First, operating boost levels and any loss of power. Second, check you intake, IC pipes, and boots for leakage. Third, under WOT how much pressure are you building (should see about 26-28#). Get back to us on the findings, you may be experiencing a bad solenoid or a sticking unison ring.

As for you FICM voltage, you already have the Edge Insight listed in your mods. You can go out put the key in run, and wait for the Edge to start up and display. Key thing there is how the voltage reacts when you start the truck. <45v is the sign of FICM failure. I don't think you're issue is with the FICM.

[tonto]

Thanks for the help guys!
I went out and looked at the boots. The attatched picture is what I found. Would that be the culprit?
I dont want to think its the EGR valve because it was cleaned just over 20000KMs ago, but I guess stranger things have happened so I should at least look.

Should I replace both boots while I'm there? Also, what do the IC pipes look like?
And wouldnt a bad VGT solenoid throw a code? There are moments where I could build 26-28 psi of boost but lately has been getting harder and harder without spazzing out past 3k RPMs.

Sorry for the twenty questions but much like my apprenticing days I thrive on the knowledge!

[jesilvas]

That boot kinda looks blown/torn, so that could be it if it's leaking boost.

[tonto]

Right, I forgot to describe the pic. The defined white line running across the boot is a tear, about 1/3 the circumference of the boot. Is it safe to drive moderately like this for the weekend?

[jesilvas]

I guess you COULD if you watch your exhaust temps since you'll be kinda over fueling.

[cartmanea]

If you have stock programming, I would lean towards EGR. The stock programming uses fule proportional to boost, so it shouldn't smoke if the turbo is stuck or boots are blown since then it won't allow too much fuel in. When my turbo was stuck it didn't smoke at all, even if I went WOT.