I'm new here, but not new to diesels. I just bought my second F250 7.3 a few months ago, a 1988 4x4 ext. cab XL. It has an ATS turbo on it; that's how it was when I bought it. Unknown mileage, showing 68K, and with the play in the steering and such, I figure it's most likely 268K. All was well until a few days ago. I've noticed the last week or so, it's been smoking at idle, appears to be a light bluish color, but it was still running fine. Day before yesterday I started it after it had sat for about 24 hours or so. I've never seen anything belch that much white smoke in my life. It eventually cleared up (some), and turned back to a light bluish color again, but this time it was 10 times worse at idle than it has been in the past week. And, the engine sounded like it had a slight skip in it; otherwise sounded ok.

Anywho, I'm quite concerned, especially since I've only had the thing a few months. The truck was stolen, and after recovered, the rightful owner didn't want it back. It sat for about 6 months without being started, until he finally agreed to sell it. The odometer is broken, but just guessing, I probably haven't put 600 miles on it since I got it. It is mostly used in the cow pastures on our 302 acres here, and seldom even sees the road. I haven't done any towing with it, or put any undue stress on the engine. (In other words, I haven't abused it any whatsoever since I got it). It needs a fuel filter, which I'm going to replace after I finish writing this. As far as power, it's hard to say, since it seldom gets over 5 or 10 mph... After the bad episode day before yesterday with all the smoking, I haven't started it since.

I looked through pages and pages of the forum before writing this, and didn't see anything described quite like what's happened to mine. Any ideas or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

 

Update: Started the truck for the first time a little while ago, and didn't have that horrifying white smoke episode this time. Got it warmed up so it would be easier to start after I changed the fuel filter. Got that done, added a little Marvel Mystery Oil to the fuel filter, and a half quart in the crankcase. We'll see what happens now. Still have that faint trail of blue smoke at idle though.

 

I would guess that the blue smoke on startup is bAd valve guides and the white is a bad injector or two.

 

Try some fuel injector cleaner additive..and when ideling for long periods it will smoke..romp on her now and again she will thank u for it...

 

^ good advice also I've heard a bottle of ATF in the tanks works to free up fuel proems

 

Thanks for the advice. It's most appreciated. I got the fuel filter replaced this afternoon, and with all the crud in it, it certainly looked like it was due. I used some Marvel Mystery Oil in the filter when I started it back up, and I've put a can of Seafoam additive in the back fuel tank. I've used it before, with some old Mercedes diesel cars I have, and it seems to work pretty good. I used it a few hours this afternoon, and it seemed to do just fine. No problems. Maybe I was just being a hypochondriac, I dunno. When I saw that hellacious white smoke cloud the other day, I just knew I'd blown a head gasket or something. Scared the crap out of me. Dipstick shows no signs of water (thank God), so I guess we're ok. And speedwrench72, I do spend a lot of time in this truck when I hardly get over 1200 RPM! Using it in the cow pastures, I do more idling than anything, lol! I've "blown it out" a few times, and yes, I'm sure she appreciates that!
Thanks again for all the comments. I really appreciate all the input. So far, so good, so we'll keep ticking along and see what happens. Thanks once again!!