ok, to begin, this is my first diesel and I haven't had it 2 months yet. The other day I noticed that it has started burning oil, kinda like an old engine with leaky valve seals; blue smoke on startup, then lasts for a while until all is burned out of cylinder(s). Usually gone around 4-5 shift, within a few minutes.

Also, while smoking, it seems like the engine runs rough, like a misfire. I assume this is because of the oil in the cylinder(s) is causing the fuel not to be burned completely, or am I on the wrong track here?? I have NOT checked HPOP reservoir yet (tomorrow morning), engine was about 1/2 qt. low last week, I refilled and problem has not changed/gotten slightly worse. On a related note, since I am new to the diesel, how do you check HPOP level????

Another problem that arose the next day, I started smelling diesel fuel outside the truck when parked, and inside when idling/at a stoplight. Also have been noticing a few spots on the ground, ranging from quarter size to several inches in diameter. Not sure if it might be related or not.

This truck is my new daily driver and I really don't have a whole lot of $$ to stick into it this early in the game, but I can't afford to be without it, either. Thanks for any and all help you guys can get me. I know if I can find an answer anywhere, it'll be here.

 

Flip the oil filler cap over and set it atop the oil filler neck, to check blowby, there shouldn't be any pressure.

You might have bad injector orings, causing oil to leak into the cylinders as well, thus the early morning smoke(Evidenced by Black Fuel Filter). Does the exhaust burn your eyes, smell like fuel?

You might check the valley of the motor for fuel leaks, could be the clamp has rubbed through the passenger's side fuel line, it is a pretty good leak though. See Ken's pics in this post https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post11663563

 

Thanks Alan, all stuff I will try to check tomorrow morning. I don't know about the exhaust smell, it's a ZF6 with no parking barke, so I don't normally get to get out while it's running. Hopefully I'll have more info after tomorrow morning.

 

Don't forget to check fuel drain valve on fuel bowl. that is another pretty common fuel leak as well.

 

sounds to me like you just have one of those E99 riddled with gremlins...i'll be more than happy to take it off your hands......i miss my FORD...

IMHO, and i know somebody will correct me if i'm wrong here, but couldn't the UVCH cause some of these same symptoms???

 

I'll correct you, but not because you're wrong (as in, TRYING to be wrong). I only clicked on this thread because I KNEW somebody would mention valve cover harness problems.

The short and sweet of it is the way the injectors work and the failure modes that injector wiring would have.

Open or shorted valve cover harness wiring can ONLY cause a misfire without fuel smoke. The OP didn't specifically mention a strong unburned fuel smell from the tailpipe, but the bluish smoke and misfire until the truck is under load MAY point to some mechanical condition. If a fuel injector wiring circuit goes open (main failure of valve cover harness wiring), then the injector simply will not inject fuel. It's hard to get fuel smoke from a non-working injector. The other concern would be a short in an injector circuit. In this case, there would have to be sufficient current to keep the injector energized (BIG short, but the IDM would shut off that bank of cylinders anyway). If somehow the injector circuit remained shorted, the injector would make ONE injection event and then stay "on". Since we're not talking about common-rail (gas or diesel), the injector will not continue to spray fuel as long as the solenoid is energized. It spews it's load and it's done.

White/bluish smoke and a misfire on a cold engine leads me down a few different paths, but valve cover harness issues isn't one of those paths.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I've got the problem narrowed down: injector cups/sleeves. One of my coworkers and I noticed that the leaking was getting pretty rapid, so we started looking around while the engine was running. Sure enough, a small crack in the top of the degas bottle. Yep, fuel in coolant. So now I'll be starting another thread about that. Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

glad to hear you got it narrowed down Brad...good luck in the repairs...