just to update things.

installed the new glow plugs and that didnt do anything for the smoke. put in some diesel kleen as i was out of howes and have not ordered opti lube yet. smoke does not seem to be an issue now.

im not sure what to make out of that. im still not happy but at least im not embarrassed by smoke for several starts now. tonight it was down to 40F.

compression tester has arrived so ill be doing that check as soon as i can.
if anybody near houston pa need to do a check and doesnt want to buy one give me a holler. most likely ill only use it once.

i thought this was weird, maybe its just me... i called up a ford dealer to see what it would cost to get it timed. the guy told me that they would not time it until they diagnosed it. i wasnt asking them to fix anything just to time it. called another dealer and got a quote of 150 if they still had the tools. i thought that was high but didnt know what their rate actually was. the tech said that if it was running than it really couldnt be that far out and was probably a waste to do.

im checking into big truck shops to do it if i still think a need for it. seems like a logical place since auto shops dont really muck with this stuff?

 

YouTube - ‪1989 ford 7.3 "idi" diesel engine dually pick up truck rustytruckranch@yahoo.com can hear run‬‏

i found a video of a truck that has the whisking sound that im talking about. its most obvious from around 1:15 to 1:30 of the video. its rhythmic through the exhaust. its absent in any other diesel ive listened to in person.