Got a 2010, 6.4. that has dpf and egr deleted. This is probably a stupid question because I know without the dpf its gonna blow some black smoke if I romp down on it or accelerate with a load. Today I noticed it blowing a little puff of black smoke when taking off from a stop. Not a huge cloud, just a little puff. But it seems to do it every time. I haven't noticed it before. I don't know if it's just started doing it or if I just haven't noticed it before now. Is it normal or should I be concerned? I just pulled my 30 ft travel trailer a little over 100 miles a few days ago. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it or not.

 

What tuner?

Is it black? Gray? Or white?

For the most part it's normal.

If you have an H&S tuner, the "low boost fuel" setting will determine how much smoke. 1 is virtually none and 5 is lots of smoke.

 

I don't have a tuner. I live a couple of miles from Mike Butler at 5 Star Tuning. They did the delete and I just had them to flash the truck for me. The tune is a lower hp setting, around 150 hp if I remember what he told me correctly. The smoke is not white. I would call it more black than gray. Hard to say since there's not that much of it. Truck seems to be running normal though. I have just never noticed the little puff of smoke before. I'm not taking off fast when it does it. Just normal acceleration from a stop light.

 

was curious, so went to their site......the only diesel they show a tune for is the 6.7.......from all the pictures they seem to be mostly a gasser tuner bunch. so I wonder what they used to tune your truck....yours is a 6.4 right?
I've seen a 6.4 with an xrt pro tuner on tow setting give a 10th of a second puff of black diesel smoke with quick 1/2 throttle application.

 

Yeah, they don't do a lot with diesels. Mostly ecoboost and 6.2. I used to have a 6.2 gasser that they tuned which is how I knew about them. At the time they deleted my truck (about a year ago) they didn't even have anything for the 6.7. I guess they have moved away from the 6.4's. I also noticed the last time I was on their site that the 6.4 was no longer listed. SCT is the programmer that they sell though. I drove the truck this morning to take my son to school and didn't notice any smoke at all. I guess it's nothing to worry about. I tend to be a worry wart at times.

 

Smoke COULD be related to the Cetane rating of your diesel. These trucks require at least a 45. Unfortunately, the national minimum is 40. Most stations offer the minimum. Stations like BP & Shell are the only ones that disclose their rating of 45 or higher.

 

That's something I hadn't thought about. I did buy this last tank of fuel at a station I don't normally use while I was out of town.

 

I didn't put Cetane Boost by Opti Lube in this tank as a trial and it seems like I can roll a little more coal than usual. Even with my low boost on 5.

 

I would not tow with a 150hp tune on the truck. General census is oem power for towing. Black smoke means not enough air or boost. As long as it stops once boost comes up you are ok. It does take a second or so for the turbos to spool up. Now if it keeps smoking then you have issues.

 

Never see any smoke other than starting from a dead stop. Then it's only a little puff for a second. I may be wrong about the 150hp. Can't remember for certain. I do remember him saying I should be fine if I wouldn't be pulling over 10k lbs. My camper is usually the heaviest thing I pull. It's probably around 7k fully loaded.

 

Yep, even on an oem power setting if i push down even 1/3 peddle travel from a stop it will smoke a little for a second before the turbo comes up. If it goes away it is ok. Ford use to say on the 6.0 no sustained smoke everything is working fine. The best way to drive these trucks is light on the throttle until you have boost and drive normally after that. Roll onto the throttle and roll off the throttle and it will not smoke any.