Pull the downpipe off the turbo.
Start the truck. If the smoke stops then you know it's oil it the exhaust.
If it still smokes then dig in again

 

I think I've found my problem. My 7.3 appears to be "making" oil. That, paired with my other symptoms would suggest that my Fuel Injector O rings are bad/torn/not sealing, wouldn't it? I've looked into this a bit, and it would explain my blue haze following me around, and the oil level rising. Does anyone have a good way to confirm my issue? Someone on another forum said something about putting drops of oil on a paper, and waiting to see if it separates. Would that work in this case?
Thanks, guys.


Edit- I'm gonna pull my fuel filter out of the bowl. If I had mixing between fuel/oil the filter would be dark, and the fuel in the bowl would be "cola colored" apparently? Can anyone confirm this for me?

 

My brothers 2000 7.3 was "making oil", and when I asked about it, I couldn't find an answer. I don't think the injector O-rings will cause this. My brothers problem was injectors. They had around 265K on them, and if the temps dropped to 40 degrees it wouldn't start on just the working glow plugs. I installed a good used set of injectors, and it stopped "making oil", and the starting issue was resolved. The O-rings look good on the old injectors. I will add that it never smoked blue though.

 

Fuel pump.

I've seen two fuel pumps start leaking from the bottom around the plunger

The only other thing it could be is oil cooler leaking but you'd notice a water/oil mix or oil/water mix

 

Might be a stupid question- how would the fuel be getting in to the crankcase from the pump? My pump leaking would definitely explain the ocean of diesel fuel in the valley, though...

 

Fuel pump sits in the top of the engine and rides on the cam.

 

Would the pump explain my constant blue smoke?

 

No it would not. The fuel filter should be black if oil is getting in the fuel. As for "making fuel", I don't know if fuel could get into the oil through the o-rings. Any signs of oil in the degas bottle?

 

This was mine on a 70* day after sitting about 4hrs
My issue was injectors

 

So, after a bit of a goat rodeo getting the parts I needed, I have my new pump in. Do I need to do something special to "prime" it, or should I just fill the bowl, and fire it?

Also, thank you for bringing up the pump, Mike. I wouldn't have thought of that.


Edit- No oil in the degas bottle that I can see, and not oil in the fuel bowl. That would suggest that my orings, and cups are in good condition, right?

 

Correct!!!

 

Perfect. I'll try to get everything else put back in tonight around my classes. Thanks for the info, John. Appreciate it.

 

So, that appears to be oil.... I have no idea why. Both manifolds are like that.

 

You can have bad o-rings with no oil in the fuel bowl and no fuel in the evaporation tank.

If the upper o-ring is leaking, then high pressure oil will push by it and out onto the head resulting in less pressure firing the injector. If the lower o-ring is leaking, then fuel can leak down and potentially into the cylinder if the copper crush ring is bad. It can also allow your truck to run funny.

But I don't think either of these would cause you to have blue smoke.

 

Thanks, Lemon. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like I have a couple of new injectors in my future.


Does anyone have any guesses how my manifolds could be so caked, but none of it reaches the turbo? Any way that it could somehow be fuel, with a bunch of oil gunk mixed in that's just leaking on to them?


Edit- What is the sensor that threads vertically into the top of the HPOP reservoir? It's further back of the two. I'm not sure what it is, but I can tell you with certainty that I need to replace it now....