Gents, I've replaced the water pump, thermostat, radiator,radiator hoses,glow plugs, glow plug relay, glow plug harness, valve cover gaskets, fuel pump, rebuilt fuel bowl, fuel filter...put it all back together. But....I am burning white smoke big time when I romp on the fuel pedal; while idling it is still white coming out. Looking at the tail pipe I see coolant. The truck sat for 2.5 months; I put in some fresh diesel before firing her up. I was hoping what I was seeing was some gunk that needs to be pushed out, but after 25 miles and still big plumes of white smoke when romping and seeing the coolant......yikes.....The water in fuel light is on right now, and I'll drain it when cool to see what's in there....any thoughts ??

thanks,
mark

 

the white smoke alot of times is raw diesel, but for the coolent...i'm thinking it's something in you manafold....but it could be a number of things

 

I always thought white smoke out the tailpipe meant you've blown your head gasket. If it is blown, you'll have a distended, bloated, rock hard, radiator hose, and after cooling down you'll lose all your pressure in your cooling system.

Can't do it gracefully with the whatever they call it degas bottle, the reservoir, but on radiators with a cap you would leave the cap off and let the engine warm up and look for white bubbles in the coolant.

 

Well....I'm not so sure it was antifreeze coming out of the tailpipe....I'm thinking that some of the lube spray i put on the glow plugs to help pull them out, plus some oil around there, plus some bad diesel is causing some of this. It was 20 degrees this morning and my truck fired right up after 1 cycle of glow plugs: that tells me the glow plugs and relay are good. I put a line on the anti-freeze filler bottle last eve and it has not moved. There is no loss of power, just a LOT of white smoke; especially when i romp the pedal. Could i have a wiring problem ? Could the bad fuel be causing this ? My hoses have not hardened at all as one post said.....

 

Does the white smoke go away if you get up to operating temp?

Also you should be able to detect some pressure in the cooling system just by cracking the degas bottle open (listen for a hiss). The shop manual gives the expected pressure, but probably is difficult to rig a gauge up.

If you have pressure after it sits overnight and if the white smoke is only when it is cool, then probably it is unburnt fuel or not very good quality fuel?

 

Truck started right up this morn in 20 degree temps. Blowing white smoke, but still have plenty of power.
After work, I decide to get the temp up to operating temp and drive it hard. Reach normal temp, and white smoke is blowing like crazy. I can hear a tat-tat-tat-tat when I'm romping on it, and I can't make out what that is....no loss of coolant at all....take cap off of degas bottle and I get the hiss from pressure....oil looks real dirty, but no antifreeze there. When I took out the glow plugs, on the very first one, I did remove the square block (has 4 star nuts on it) right around the glow plug, thinking it had to be removed to access the glow plug. I put this back on but I don't know what this block is.
Since the truck sat for 3 months, and I didn't drain the fuel (there were about 4 gallons in the front tank) I put in a full tank and some diesel kleen; drained the fuel bowl when I got water in fuel light. But, I don't think I've got so much dirty fuel now; it really seems like unspent fuel at this point.

 

Mark, did you let the truck sit outside for the 3 months? Maybe just a lot of condensation. Did some kids fill your muffler with water as a prank?

Since your coolant level is not moving, it is safe to say that isn't your problem. I would run the tanks empty and refill with new diesel and see if this doesn't cure the problem. I would also drain the fuel bowl and change the fuel filter.

 

Yeah, the truck sat outside for 3.5 months; front tank had about 5 gallons in it. I put in a fresh 4 gallons prior to starting it: which it did on the 3rd crank after 3.5 months of sitting !! I really would like to drain it, but I don't see a drain plug anywhere; does the tank have to be dropped ?
I really can't see where it could be a blown head gasket as I'm not losing any antifreeze nor is it oil in the antifreeze. I really suspect bad fuel or unburnt fuel. Thing smokes like crazy and I've noticed people staying back from me.
I'm really thinking of a shop to have it scanned: maybe there is an electrical or injector related issue.

 

Does it run rough?

 

Yeah, it runs a little rough but not that bad that I can't drive it. Drove it to work and back, and beyond, today and it was fine besides the smoke.

 

sounds like you just have water in the gas. plus in the winter some gas stations change the mixture of the diesel to keep it from jelling up with kerosine. in the winter months here my truck will blow out white smoke till it warms up. i was told it was because of the mixture in the winter coupled with all the moisture in th air. maybe run it down till damn near empty then filler up with new #2 and a can of seafoam and see if that makes a difference. if that doesnt work i would move to the map sensor, thats the only other thing i can think of

 

Maybe something going on with one of the cylinders then? Valve not lifting ?

 

My 97 Did that when the IPR was sticking ....Then soon ,stuck for good...

 

the 4 torx nuts on it? Are you talking about the injector??

 

Yes, I removed only 1 set of these 4 torx screws thinking this was how to access the glow plugs. Once I saw I was wrong, I put it back on. I didn't touch an injector at all though.