hey guys

I have a persistent white smoke problem and after reading many posts and searching a lot of forums i still can't figure out what is causing small amounts of white smoke to constantly come from the exhaust.

1990 F250 Custom Service Body 7.3L IDI w/E4OD
221,000 miles

Constantly smokes small amounts of white smoke when idling, when cold, when warm, when driving, and usually a big puff of white smoke at cold start. So, basically it smokes white at all times.

Never saw any black or blue smoke.

I have changed the air filter, oil and oil filter, fuel filter and replaced one o-ring on #1 injector with a Viton o-ring.

It is smoke, not coolant vapor, there is no smell of anti-freeze, etc.

the truck runs on various fuels including ATF, WVO, diesel,etc and always white smoke.

the truck idles and runs very well, no missing except at cold start.

glow-plugs-
the glow plug light "wait to start" does not come on when it is cold outside or at cold start in morning, but otherwise comes on all the time when it's supposed to.

At initial cold-start the engine seems to have hard time getting going or maybe one or two cylinders are not firing initially?
it also seems a lifter or something knocks at cold start but not when warm.

after reading so many posts it seems white smoke, other than coolant, has many different diagnoses like air in fuel, bad glow plugs, bad pump, etc.

so how do I diagnose a truck which constantly smokes a small amount of white smoke but has good idle and power?
thanks

 

Well, I don't own an IDI, but the first thing I would do is get all of the tranny fluid, and WVO out of the system, or as much as possible, and fill it with diesel fuel, along with a good fuel injector cleaner like PowerService or Stanadyne. That's just to eliminate those as possible causes for the smoke.

 

actually the first two weeks I had it all it ran on was either reg 40 cetane diesel or BP 47 cetane premium diesel and if anything it may smoke slightly more on just diesel but not sure.

it smokes no matter what, with every fuel I have used, the only difference is the various odors from the different fuels, lol.

I know one thing for sure-
on pure WVO or a mix of WVO/diesel it runs much smoother and seems to have more power and acceleration than using pure diesel, especially the "smoothness" of the engine is much better when on WVO.

 

Sounds like your timing is retarded. Do your injectors have the same color paint as the engine? If so your overdue for new injection pump and injectors. With the engine off, loosen the three nuts holding the pump and rotate it towards the passenger side about an eight of an inch. This should help, but new pump and injectors would be ideal. Injector orings should be replaced all at once not just individually, the slightest disturbance can cause an air intrusion problem.

 

actually the whole engine bay is coated in various layers of Virginia red clay!
that's why this truck only cost $1,100 on Craigslist, it was a tool truck for a lumber company and even though it's 2WD they somehow repeatedly buried it up past it's axles in a swamp or something and mud is all over everything especially underneath.
the starter has at least 2 inches of mud on it
tranny, everything coated badly
the old air filter had so much dirt in it that shaking it created a mound of fine dirt like a large anthill!

tried spraying the mud off but it has become brick basically and I'm slowly chipping away all the mud but it will take awhile.

have no idea how to clean the engine bay because I read somewhere you should never spray down a diesel engine to clean it so dont know

here are some pics of engine bay, etc
Diesel pictures by linus72 - Photobucket

this pic here shows the MacGwyver-ed number 1 injector.
it started leaking so i replaced the bottom o-ring with a Viton o-ring. It still leaked a little after replacing o-ring so I placed a rubber washer with a copper washer on top of it on top of the plastic cap and tightened it all down, now no leak so I assume it's OK?
http://s1246.photobucket.com/albums/...gedinjcap2.png

OH!
also, as an added benefit the truck came with an extra injector pump, the previous owner told me the truck wouldn't run so they replaced the injector pump with a junk-yard unit, then found out it was one of the injectors that had went bad. so he said the original pump should be good also but I don't know.
for $1,100 for a running truck with extra injector pump I couldn't pass it up

I understand I need to replace all components at once but am self-employed, mostly broke and that's why I am doing shade-tree repairs, etc
this is my work truck and I got it for cheap, it runs on WVO for free, and so I plan on putting any money available into it to get it in great running order.
the more work I get the more money I can devote to it.

long-term being that gas/diesel prices will keep going up this is the only viable option- diesel running on WVO

 

The problem is if the pump they took off had over 150k miles on it, it's probably only good for rebuild or core credit. Some people replace just injectors, but if you buy remans the pump can be had for under $400 and injectors just over $100 so why risk it on junkyard stuff?

 

I never said I was gonna change the pump or injectors...

I need to figure out why it's smoking, etc and hope it's something fixable or if i do need new parts I plan to replace any part with a premium part, etc not something from Advanced Auto.

Being that it runs well now except for the white smoke my plan is to first replace all glow-plugs, injectors, return lines, and fuel tank lines, etc with premium long-life units.
I dont care about HP, torque, etc, I care about durability and longevity.

I then plan on a new oil pump and injector pump, etc as I can afford it.

right now I have a new Hastings fuel filter, many quarts of Rotella 15w-40, new oil filter Puralator, and new Puralator air filter.

that's where I'm at and hope to replace all glow-plugs this week with either Motorcraft glow-plugs or these
Glow Plug Set - Ford 6.9 L / 7.3 L (Bullet Terminal)

financially I am stuck at using whatever part will keep the truck running in order to work.
whether that's a junk yard part or whatever makes it go tick-tock then that's how it's gonna roll until I get the money and time to replace with premium parts.

On the injector pump, do you mean the bolts where it hooks to the timing cover, etc or the triangle shaped plate?
I see two bolts, is the third underneath it or something?

thanks

 

Id definitely give the timing a bump, its free, and it fits the symptoms your describing. My first 7.3 did what you descibe and a little advance on the pump took care of it nicely. Good luck which ever way you go!

 

thanks therifleman556, I appreciate the advice!

which bolts do I loosen?

as I said i see two bolts on drivers side pump-to-timing-cover?
but is third hidden on passenger side under accelerator linkage?
or which bolts?

where should I mark it just for GP so i know where it was originally?
just wondering as I assume you have done this so know more
thanks

 

Oh, sorry! You need to disconnect the accellerator linkage by just popping it off the pump lever. It also helps to take the fast idle solenoid off (7/16"), the third bolt is under it. It can be a pain, I actually use a double open angle wrench or a bent and ground down box end. The pump and cover have marks on them but you can scribe your own on as well.

 

You could also check your return fuel line. Could be some blockage there. It may be getting too much fuel, at times. Just a thought, I'm by no means an expert on these.

 

I bet you got your truck from the Powhatan, Cumberland, Amelia county area or that end of the state. That is all the dirt is out there. I got my truck from Jetersville, in Amelia county. I found that unmistakable clay dirt under the fender wells. Even the tires have that red tinge to them. Doesn't white smoke also mean a bad injector?

 

lol
yeah, it came from somewhere like 50 miles south of Richmond and it has so much mud in it,on it, etc.

I'm putting about 200-300 miles on it a day, on a good day

until I get the front tank's issues worked out I am using about a 20% diesel 80% WVO mix and it is hard to start in the morning on this mix but it runs great on it other than that.

my idea was to use the front tank, which seems to be plastic, as the main WVO tank, with the rear metal tank holding pure diesel for startup/shutdown.

but, I put a terrible mix of new ATF, WVO, UMO, RUG, and diesel in the front tank, experimenting, and didn't realize till I read about it that mixing UMO and WVO results in black globules that may have temporarily clogged my front tank line...but it seems to go like 10 miles after switching to front tank before it sputters out, even then though it has fuel in the fule filter but won't start again till I put fresh diesel in the filter or switch to rear tank.

I have been slowly adding 2-3 gallons of fresh diesel to front tank and now it seems to have fixed itself so maybe the diesel thinned out whatever was causing the issue.

I really need to do a complete overhaul of the whole fuel system and plan to get rid of the stupid stock plastic clip lines and install slightly larger lines for the front tank and also some kind of tank heater and pre-heater for the front fuel line, etc.

the plastic caps on each injector are an incredibly bad design when durability, etc are paramount. I don't understand why they need to be able to swivel on rubber o-rings? I would like to convert all those somehow and eliminate the o-rings which are the weak-link in the chain.
Wonder why they didnt just use non-moveable caps with either hard or soft lines?

other than that I would say the 7.3L IDI is quite the beast
my truck weighs at least 5,000lbs full and still gets about 16-18mpg on avg!
accelerates quickly for all that weight too!

my whole plan was to buy a truck like this and go to California on WVO, and I'm getting closer to that goal