Hey guys,

When I'm driving my truck I am constantly thinking what it is doing and if its doing it properly or not.

The truck will not start cold without the help of a tiny smidgen of a mist of ether. Even with that it fires right over.

The glow plugs do not work.

With the block heater plugged in I don't need the ether.

Once I get it running in the morning she's fine the rest of the day whether I leave it sit for an hour or eight hours.

Anything over half throttle gives you a big turd cloud of smoke, doesn't make any more power, and you can hear the engine working hard.

Cranking in the morning gives lots of white smoke until the engine fires.

The PO installed the hypermax kit and said the pump was turned up 1.5 flats. he also said it was a couple turns of the fuel screw which in my reading means way too much since a flat is about 60 degrees of a rotation correct?

Sooooo, do I have too much fuel and could the pump possibly be retarded causing my no morning start issue?

 

No morning start issue could be a very small amount of air intrusion mixed with no glow plugs because as you stated it starts fine when plugged in these things need glow plugs to help them start

 

Even at 70 degrees ambient temp they need glow plugs? And when she's plugged in if it were air intrusion wouldn't she still stumble for a bit?

And with the air intrusion and using ether she would still stumble til the pressure got built back up right? How long does it take to replace the air with fuel when cranking?

Not saying this aint the cause, just saying

 

your excessive black smoke under throttle tells me the pump is turned up too much and/or the timing is wrong. we know that turning up the fuel changes timing, so i would bet both issues are together.

your hard starting would probably be totally fixed by getting your glow plugs working.
air intrusion will start-stall-crank forever-start. i don't think thats your issue, at least not your main issue

 

Ok cool.

Well I am pretty sure I'm going to turn the fuel back a bit and see how she behaves.

Is it ok to bump up the timing a little bit by ear? I cant afford the tools to do it properly right now, but they are on the list.

What am I listening for? She is pretty quiet for a diesel right now

 

How much boost are you seeing? Im having a hard time believing your over fueling with a stock pump. Also, is that a later model IP with a torque screw? That may be what the OP was referring to as "a couple turns"

Kinda quiet and no white smoke is roughly what you want timing wise, to get closer than that you need a light.

Figure out whats wrong with the glow plugs and fix. That will cure the starting problem.

Look for exhaust leaks pre-turbo and also for boost leaks.

 

I don't have a boost or egt gauge yet so I couldn't tell ya unfortunately.

I'll have to research the differences in IP because I dont know what they are or what to look at.

Quiet and no white smoke at idle is what she does now.

Glow plugs, I know, I know

What will boost and exhaust leaks cause? Other than no power issues Im assuming.

She will turd cloud like your typical cummins engine at full throttle if the rpms aren't in the higher range. Maybe thats normal though? I don't know but I don't think so either, seems excessive. Real thick black smoke

 

Boost guage would really help right here to see if youre over fueling or under boosting. Exhaust leaks or boost leaks means the turbo isnt giving the engine all the air it should which leads to smoke. 10 lbs should clear up 1.5 flats no problem, which is well within what that turbo is rated for let alone pushing it.

Im going to stay with my assumption that youre not getting enough air, rather than over fueling.

 

Hmm, very good point. I keep forgetting I have a turbo diesel now lol.

Its non intercooled so if there is a leak it shouldn't be too much of an issue to find.

So stock IP's are difficult to overfuel?

 

To say the least. Under nominal circumstances they will provide more fuel than a stock type turbo can support. Usuaully this translates into high egts when pulling heavy loads or whenever the engine is under strain. Even then however you should not have the smoke that you are describing.

My pump sucks, but its maxxed out and im out of fuel at 12-15lbs (a guess as i found my boost guage to be fubard, just reads low)

Does your pump have an external fuel curve adjustment?

 

I use to live in idaho (5000+ feet elevation) and I had very similar problems. I advanced my pimp timing by 9 degrees and it all went away. Except when under load at WOT I smoke a good bit so my pump is probably turned up to high for my none gated banks. But my truck runs pretty good. Now I'm in Phoenix and its like I'm driving a whole new truck more power! So try timing the pump and I'd bet your problems let up a good bit.

 

retarded timing will make an IDI very quiet. You should have a decent amount of "rattle" without any bottom end knock. I would bump up the timing about a dime and see how she reacts.

 

Update:

I replaced the glow plugs and controller. I had 1 Beru, 1 Champion, 2 autolites, and 4 bosch. All of them are shot, the Beru is the only one that didn't have any signs of physical damage (swelling/bubbling). I found the glow plug controller to be disabled by the previous owner which leaves me to believe that it had failed. I kept it to bench test it later (original International stamped part too btw).

She started fine monday morning, as good as a warm engine

I still think my timing needs adjusted but I figure my smoke issue was probably more my driving characteristics and learning how to operate the truck properly.

Thanks a ton guys!

 

Does anyone have a picture of the torque screw vs non torque screw pumps? I can't find a decent pic

 

video here;
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ning-info.html