Hello my 1994 f350 7.3 turbo IDI lately has been bucking,farting and smoking alot at start up. on the bottom of my fuel filter there is a round **** with a drain line. is that the water separator and does the truck need to be running if I drain it . I'm guessing it could be water cause she runs good once warmed up.
thanks for any help

 

I kind of doubt it's water or it'd run bad all the time.
But no, you drain it with the engine off. A good idea anyway if you don't know when it was done last.

Does it (the rough running) clear up within seconds or minutes of starting?

 

it makes a mess when you drain it. if you don't have the hose do hicky on the filter, I would drain it on a warm engine, an only about 4 oz's, as it will need to start and idle to fill the filter back up. it will only run about 30 seconds on the fuel in the line to the ip. if it is running rough on cold starts, it is gp's one or two are burnt out. if you change more than one thing you won't know what fixed it. look for a bad wire, when you check your gp's one may have fallen off. run's fine when warm so its not injectors or valves, or ip only happens when cold, has to be gp's

 

she runs rough for 10-15 min. also when I'm going downhill and i give enough acceleration to keep rpms smooth it emits smoke back off and no smoke give more fuel no smoke only when i keep rpms just above drag( excuse my jargon but not many words in my vocab). i only have had the truck about a year so I dont know what other owner did. i did replace all gp in july,with new solinoid/timer, i do remember it being hard starting in summer even after gp so i bumped idle rpm up to about 900 and no problem since cold weather oh and also there seems to be diesel fluid on the filter housing could lack of pressure be causing problems. also does the water sep **** hold the cannister on if so how tight are you suppose to go (can i brake anything I mean) going to change as it was changed jan 2013

 

very low pressure in the fuel system near the filter head, on top of the filter head is a electrical connection, for a small fuel heater, it has a O ring seal in it, this can develop a tiny leak or drip, and can let air into fuel system and cause hard starting. the little **** on the bottom is a water drain, the filter screws on just like a oil filter. no need to over tighten the filter.

 

I'd guess that your IP timing is retarded and/or your cold advance circuit is not working. I just adjusted my timing from about 8* ATDC (lumi) to 4.5* ATDC (in other words, I advanced my timing about 3.5 degrees) and notice significantly easier cold starts with much less smoke. In both instances, the engine ran pretty well but EGT's were quite a bit higher for a given load at 8* which lit the turbo easier vs. at 4.5* the engine seems much more content to do the work without even putting much demand on the turbo.

Full disclosure: not too many folks time their IP's via the lumi method any more and the numbers referenced are part of my trial and error to find what is working best on my particular engine. I don't have enough miles on my the 4.5* ATDC timing to really define how much better it is, but I gotta say it is closer to 'good' than 8*!

My advice? check your IP timing with a meter and see where you are at.