allright i need help on what parts to turn to. 99 7.3 in a 250. on a cold start lots of blue and white smoke. last time i used the truck for a long drive it would start blue smoke whenever i hit the gas, after ideling a while. after at highway sppeds for a awhile i would go away. i have no fuel or oil in my coolant, i have changed the gloe plug twice and changed all 8 plugs, checked the wire harnress all were good all connections good. i repacked all the injectors a few years ago to fix the problem it helped a bit but now it is back and worse. not sure what to do next, heads or are the rings leaking.

 

I'm in the same boat - I replaced the glow plugs and glow plug relay (Did you check the glow plug relay?) in December and still have some blue & white smoke at startup. Once my truck warms up, it goes away. My truck is also a 99, but only has 81k on the clock.

It is possible that our intake air heaters have failed? How can we check this? Is the relay for the IAH the same as for the glow plugs?

 

i have accecpted the fact of a little cold start up smoke as a sacrafice to the motor gods but the smoking while warm and and tapping the gas is what really bothers me, it is starting to burn oil slowly and it it not leaking.it has 95000 miles on er when i changed from 10w 30(my winter oil) back to 15 40(my summer oil) it got a little better but didn't last.

 

Have you confirmed that the Glow Plug Relay is working correctly? Double-check that, and make sure your turbo isn't on it's way out. It can let oil into the exhaust housing causing blue smoke.

 

Okay, I was a little slow...

Is the 10W-30 oil diesel rated? Most of the stuff I see for diesels is either 5W-40 syn or 15W-40 dino/syn blend. I know there are other weights out there, but just want to make sure. Most of us switch to 5W-40 syn for improved cold starts. I switched right after I bought my truck and I love it...

 

Now, when I pull a heavy load (or follow a fellow camper towing a similar trailer with a 6.0L PSD), there is some black smoke when romping on the throttle - easy to see when getting on the express way. That is COMPLETELY normal and is just a byproduct of diesel fuel.

Have you noticed that your exhaust back pressure valve cuts in and out when warming up (when it is really cold and the parking brake is set)? I have and believe that it might be part of MY issue (maybe yours too?). The tube going to the backpressure sensor may be clogged and the sensor is not able to obtain the proper reading and therefore not able to properly fuel the engine.

See this on how to clean it (it is on my to do list): Welcome to guzzle's Exhaust Backpressure Sensor Cleaning Maintenance Web Page

 

the oil i run is diesel rated. the glow plug relay is working. my back pressure sensor is disconnecetd and plugged when i did my banks power elbow install. i was hoping that nobady would say turbo but makes sense. very expensive.

 

also the smoke i get after it is warm and running is light blue.

 

In my case, I am positive that the relay is working - it would not have started up quickly today (9 degrees with -5 windchill) if it was not.

When I replaced my glowplugs, I did not test any of them, nor did I test the harnesses, I simply replaced all 8 at the same time. The wiring had not been rubbing on anything and the plugs/harnesses were clean and intact (not burnt or melted).

 

i have an 01 7.3 looking to do some more upgarde did the power elbow help? right now i am running an edge evolution, afe intake, 4" ss exhaust with 3" down tube. no muffler. would like to get some more power with out spending a lot.

 

It's not that bad. You can rebuild your own for $100 using a kit from Ron's Turbo Service. I HIGHLY suggest gutting the EBPV out of the outlet (or buying a non-EBPV outlet), and gutting the EBPV actuator out of your pedestal (or buying a non-EBPV pedestal) while you're in there. Ron can get you all the stuff you need...

Pull the intake off the turbo and try moving the wheel in & out. If there is any movement, it's bad. A little side-to-side movement is okay, but not enough where the wheel touches the housing.

 

to answer shark, the power elbow with a 4" down pipe and 4" banks exhaust sounds nice the truck will hold overdrive longer before downshifting, not sure how much power it added but the engine runs smooth. for izzy i will look at the wheel in the morning and let yall know if it is bad how much for a rebuild, with the banks power elbow the ebpv is gone valve is gone and banks supplies a plug for the harness at the turbo.

 

allright the ebps tube was dirty and had a rust hole in it so i am changing all that stuff. the truck seems to be running better now that i am driving it more and ran a half bottle of white diesel clean in it on half a tank. but being who i am i might start buying a new turbo wheel and pull the turbo off and rebuild the bearingd install new wheel and repack the pedestal, after all is is 10 year old o-rings and i get bored.

 

Funny you should mention the diesel kleen, I just added half of a bottle yesterday as well and noticed a quieter engine in 15 miles. There was also notably less smoke at startup this morning - but it still seemed like I wasn't running on all cylinders for about the first 1/4-1/2 mile.

Let me know how the EBPV tube and turbo pedestal o-rings go - I have both of those on my to do list as well. I just got the o-rings for those and for the fuel drain valve (leaking a tiny bit of fuel here and there) as well as the HPOP orings from Diesel O-rings.

Like you said, they are all 10 years old, so it is time to do them and cheap insurance.