Just got my truck, drove it to work Friday - about 12 miles. Drove fine to work, some stumble and rough idle but assumed it was due to sitting for several years and needing to work out kinks. When I started to come home, it was blowing tons of white smoke and went through about 20 gallons before running out. Dumped in a 2.5 gallon can to make it to gas station, when I pulled in, you could see the trail of gas from the exhaust and a big puddle under exhaust exit when I stopped. Driving home from the gas station it had no power, blowing smoke and running really rough. It's a CA truck with about 190k. 1992 F250 with a 460. It had been sitting for two plus years when I got it. So, it's obvious I have gas getting into cylinders. I can smell gas in the oil as well. Question is, where to start troubleshooting. I don't have any lights. I don't want to drive it to Advance to have it checked. Do they loan code readers? Would CA truck have different emissions controls to check out? I'm planning to get a vacuum gauge and check for leaks as well as pulling plugs and seeing what they have to say. Looks like MAP sensor is a common issue with this age truck. Thanks!

 

I am kind of thinking something with fuel injectors... I dont even think a stuck/bad regulator would cause it to be that bad as I was driving my truck for a few years without it hooked up.... Maybe stuck injector(s)?

 

You may have injectors stuck open from either varnish contamination or an electrical short. Check the fuel pressure regulator as suggested and also the vapor canister connection at the throttlebody for raw fuel, if this system is flooded with fuel then you have stuck check valves in one or both tanks... which wouldn't be surprising on a truck that has been sitting up.

 

Thanks - where is the fuel pressure regulator? Both tanks were doing the same thing. I ran one dry, then switched to the other. Where is the check valve in the tank?

 

You better not run it anymore before you fix it & be sure to change oil & filter, fuel don't lube bearings very well. good way to wash them out & have much deeper issues.
Craig

 

Pulled plugs tonight and two were black and really smelled like gas. The others looked okay but had a faint smell of gas. Would two stuck open injectors allow that much gas to dump through? Going to change oil and run it to check vacuum, should give me an idea on if that's an issue. thoughts?

 

Went through it tonight. new plugs, oil change, etc. When I pulled the vacuum hose of the top of the fuel pressure regulator a bunch of gas poured out. What would that indicate?

It won't even consider starting though. My father in law was looking at it Friday. I don't think he disconnected anything. I have the battery on the charger but the lights and such work so I don't really think that's the problem.

Difficult to diagnose what's wrong now if it won't even start!

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

You have a bad fuel pressure regulator. A very common failure mode.

 

This^^^^^^^^

 

thanks - i had a feeling. Have a new one. Need to get it to start first. Won't even try to crank. Don't know what's changed since I got it home last week.

 

Why not replace the regulator first? If the regulator is junk it might not be maintaining enough fuel pressure for the engine to start.

 

Edit: sorry I just noticed it won't even crank... I'm just gonna shut up and get off of here for the night. Too tired to pay attention to details lol...

 

Started fine today in park. Replaced the fuel pressure regulator. If I blew in the vacuum side, it came out large fuel port. Replacement didn't do that. I assume that was a tremendous part of my gas consumption and smoking.

however, once I started it, still blew white/grey smoke and seemed to be blowing water out the exhaust. No obvious smell. Oil looks good, coolant looks good, temperature stayed normal. Only ran for about 10 minutes and pulled one of the plugs. It was brand new and when I took it out was very grey. Not quite as bad as the top one but close.

I'm thinking I still have a vacuum leak or another issue and it's running rich. hence, the smoke from exhaust and grey plugs. Am I on the right track or something else? I'm thinking I'll go ahead and replace MAP sensor and throttle position sensor. Not that expensive and preventative for a truck with almost 190k.

 

My friends dad has same truck same problem he ended up replacing all sorts of parts finally replacing all oxygen sensors and his problem seemed to stop havnt talked to him since not sure if the problem came back or not

 

Unless you are getting codes for the sensors, save your money. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Get the old fuel issue out of the way before you go in another direction. It will take some driving to get all of the un-spent fuel out of the exhaust system and stop smoking, and you got to hope the O2 sensors and cats will be OK. Run a can of Seafoam or Techron through each tank, mix it with Lucas fuel injector cleaner as that will lubricate the injectors.