Then its not an air intrusion problem. You can knock that one off your list. What about your valve guides? Have you checked your compression? Are you consuming a lot of engine oil?

 

Does not seem to consume oil but I don't drive it a lot either. And haven't had it apart to check valve guides. I will say I noticed a large amount of oil in my cdr after running though. Enough that when the hose was not on all the way it would drip on the valve cover. And as for the compression I don't have the tooling to do that yet but it's on my list to purchase.

 

After it starts, push the glow plug button for one second every 10 seconds or so for around a minute and see if the smoke goes away

 

It definitely reduced the smoke amount substantially now more of a haze out the exhaust.

 

Just checked my rpm crank speed. It is after market turbo'd if it matters. The crank speed barely reached 100 rpm.

 

Yah. That matters. Your turbo is oil cooled and oil lubricated. It has oil seals in it but they are designed to leak a little bit of oil. As the turbo wears out, the seal gets destroyed and it begins dumping oil in the hot exhaust, causing smoke.

And 100rpm is too slow. I think the IDI spec is somewhere around 400 rpm.

 

Any thought on what could cause the low rpm crank? Or things to try to fix it?

 

Weak batteries, rotten battery cables, poorly replaced battery clamps, bad ground on the engine block. Or it could be a bad solenoid inside the starter.

 

ok. we are getting somewhere. the "after glow" of the dlow plugs powering on for one second after start reducing smoke means you are 1: not glowing long enough. cold engine glow for 15 seconds. and continue the one second glow every 10 seconds fo one minute after start.
sounds like yo umay have a bad starter, bad battery, or a combination of both.

here are two videos. first is a bad starter at 70 degrees:

second is a new starter at 40 degrees:

 

If you're in the market for a compression gauge I suggest the one from HF. I bought it and it works like a champ. I've kept my receipt, just in case.


https://www.harborfreight.com/diesel...kit-58801.html

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ou-cranky.html
wrote it for newer trucks but still applies to IDI except parts #s

 

Alright so one thing I checked on this morning was my battery cables my passenger side ground looks in bad shape the insulation the full length is cracked. Going to try replace both grounds to start. The positive cable looks in a little better shape. Also can someone please help me figure out how to wire the glow plug controller to its original format so it hopefully runs glow plugs the right way.

 

dont worry about the insulation so much if wires are not frayed or broken, worry about the corrosion that makes the connections weak and slow current flow

my 69 140 has orig starter cables that are taped up but starts like a champ everytime

 

on top f the forum page is a thread on glow plugs.
In it there should be the wring diagram for the 87 and newer glow plug relay

 

If the insulation is damaged on your battery cables then there's more damage than meets the eye. MAW replace them. Even battery cables from the auto parts store are going to start the truck better than damaged cables. Here's a good supplier of aftermarket battery cables.

https://www.batterycablesusa.com/