Diesel + Cold weather =

[Chadnutz]

On previous cold mornings my truck would burn some oil for about 5-10 seconds after I started it up. This morning I let it warm up for almost 10 minutes, but it still smoked for a minute down the road. Is this natural for diesels? I've heard they don't like cold weather, but why would they burn oil?

Does using the block heater reduce the amount of oil burned?

and if so...

How long is a good time to have it plugged in?

[mark]

Its not engine oil its burning, its diesel fuel. It is very typical for a diesel to do this when it is first started on a cold morning. A company I used to work for had this Isuzu box van that would do this with a vengence. The whole parkinglot would be filled with white smoke by the time it was started.

Its just incomplete combustion from the engine not being warm enough to support full cumbustion of the fuel.

Newer engines do this much less due to better preheating.

Oh and don't plug in the block heater. You are in central Texas so you'll look like a dork. Opps, too late.

-Mark

[eight]

Welcome to powerstroke problems.


They aren't supposed to do that, but many do. Your glow plug controller is probably bad. It costs about $40 from ford and takes 10 minutes to replace. But usually it will go out again soon after it has once. I suggest to replace it once, and if it goes out again, just live with it.

[Chadnutz]

Can you check that controller with an OBDII computer? Around Christmas my dad is going to plug it in and we are going to check the injectors cause it shakes a little bit at idle. I can handle $40. It looks like I'm going to have to get the rear main seal fixed. Part of me wants to do it myself and part of me wants to just pay to have it fixed. My mom almost whipped out the .38 on my ass for dropping lovely diesel oil on her "6 month old" driveway. J+P charges $250 labor to change a clutch and flywheel, so hopefully they will charge $250 to just change the seal. I'll call around first. There wasn't a drop of oil in the Mr. Gatti's parking lot when the thing had been sitting for over a week, but now that I have it, it decides to leak on me. Oh well, the Mazda leaks too, but I'm going to pull the motor soon anyway. You should feel it shake when I start it up for the first time in 3 days. It blows just as much white smoke as the Ford.

[Chadnutz]

You say welcome to the world of powerstroke problems, but I saw a late 90s Dodge blowing WAY more white smoke when it started the other day.

[crawlingno5]

It looks like I'm going to have to get the rear main seal fixed.

the ford owners called that one

[eight]

I'm not sure if it will have a code. Won't hurt to check. The controller is on top of the motor. It is under that plastic cover that is over the fuel filter. It looks like a starter solenoid. I think 2 wires bolt to it and it has 1 plug.

Replacing the seal shouldn't be too hard. I replaced the flywheel in mine in about 6 hours. It isn't different than any other truck, it's just big parts.

How are you going to check the injectors? They are not normal injectors. They are operated by a combination of fuel pressure and oil pressure. It takes something like 2000 psi of fuel pressure and 50 psi of oil pressure to open them. Injectors are about $250 each too.



Dodges don't have glow plugs but stuff can go wrong with them too. Mine took almost half a second to start this morning.

[BigRedFord04]

doug's powersmoke after a "semi-cold" nite last spring break in midland...

1029

[AgDieseler]

Originally posted by mark
Oh and don't plug in the block heater. You are in central Texas so you'll look like a dork.

What!? When I plug in my block heater, my glow time is about half of normal, and it starts like it's Summertime. Also, the block heater heats your oil, and that's important on those <35 degree F days. But as Mark pointed out, we are in central Texas, and you can count the number of those cold days on one hand.

[agjeeper]

ummm, I don't believe white smoke is a good thing. Unburned diesel fuel comes out black in the exhaust, not white. I can make mine smoke black all day long when I want to, but I have never seen white smoke come out of a healthy diesel. just my thoughts.

[Chadnutz]

I read about it at www.ford-deisel.com and they talked about the white smoke and how long it cam out and stuff...

[eight]

White smoke is normal. It is diesel burning too cold. If your glow plugs were working right or you had higher compression (not that your engine is worn out, it is made that way for the turbo charging), it wouldn't do it much.

[redcagepatrol]

get a Cummins

I have never seen white smoke out of mine except for the first puff right at startup

[mark]

Originally posted by agjeeper
ummm, I don't believe white smoke is a good thing. Unburned diesel fuel comes out black in the exhaust, not white. I can make mine smoke black all day long when I want to, but I have never seen white smoke come out of a healthy diesel. just my thoughts.

Wrong!! Ha. Black smoke is actually particulate soot. White smoke is from less than optimum combustion. It only happens until the combustion chamber reaches full operating temp (ie cold start-up).

-Mark

[Chadnutz]

Scott, I'll just check my glow plug system...

Cummins = Good
Dodge = Bad

Powerstroke = Good
Ford = The Best

Sorry Landon.