Hello All,

I am a new first time PSD diesel owner and have a few questions;

I purchased a 2000 7.3L PSD, 6spd, crew dually, 2wd, 70K, which did not come with an owners manual, so I am currently trying to get one along with service manuals; so until then some of these questions may seem pretty basic.

What to do with fuel? Additives? type? how much?

This morning, -10deg plugged in and in the garage...
Truck starts ok, the colder it is the more white smoke??

My drive to work is 11 miles, temp gauge showed warmed (middle) I could almost watch the fuel gauge go down on this short trip and black smoke while driving??

I know this is not possible (I think) but it almost sounds like it has a miss ie. not running on all cylinders, again most noticable when cold or colder temps. awful hard to tell over the clatter...

Sometimes the exhaust sounds different as well; almost sounds like it has a leak at times??

Last question for; (for now) on the dash board, just to the right of the center of the steering wheel there is a rocker switch, any idea of what this is for??

Thanks for you anticipated response!!

 

I am not a mechanic so take this with a grain of salt. There are a lot of mechanics here that will help you. But here is my take. I use Diesel Kleen for my additive. They make a winter blend (white bottle) and summer blend (grey bottle). They list the mixing formula on the back of the bottles. I am not sure on the white smoke but I believe the black smoke is unburned diesel. Which might point towards a bad injector or a cylinder not firing or even maybe the truck is chipped (my truck has a programmer on it and when I lay into it, I get some black smoke) which might explain the switch you have on your dash. The switch might be for switching between the different modes of the chip. Just a thought. I would contact the party you purchased the truck from and ask them if there is a chip installed. I hope this helps.
Craig

 

For the Rocker Switch: Does it have extra driving lights.

As far as maintenance: the factory recommends chainging engine oil every 5k. It also recommends changing manual trans fluid at 60k. Every 5k it tells you to check the breather gage on the air filter assembly. Every 15k it tells you to add FW-16 to the coolant system. Ths is supposed to be the critical thing on PSD.

 

Thanks for the replies...
The truck doesn't have any extra lights...
Don't know who the original owner is...
Good thought about the chip; do some of these chips have toggle positions?
Thanks,
Vince

 

Check Ebay for the owners manual I have seen them on there for sale.

 

Hi Vince and welcome ...
The white smoke on start up is pretty normal for cold weather. Plugging it in for cold days is also a smart move, but you could go to Lowes or Home Depot and pick up a timer for the block heater ( be sure it is for heavy duty use around $15). I use Power Service in the white bottle for winter fuel additive (mixture is on back of bottle). I would be concerned of the black smoke. Does it always show black or just when you get on it? Try moving the taoggle switch on the dash while driving and see if you notice a difference in performance of the engine. That will tell you if the ECM has a chip controller in it. If the black smoke continues, Look into the air cleaner assembly and make sure a little rodent didnt make a home for himself. If you cannot get things straightened out that way , get back to us. Bill

 

- Fuel additives- Diesel kleen (white bottle) for winter, it has anti-
gel
- Fuel gauge going down, could be the winter diesel fuel which I
have found does give lower fuel mileage.
- Black smoke, maybe change your air filter? worked on mine.
- Leaky sound is probably your EBPV valve working, which closes
your exhaust to help motor warm up, usually during winter.

anyways just my ideas on the subject, good luck and have fun

 

Thanks guys your input...

One other item I was wondering if it is normal is; a few minutes after starting cold the RPM jumps up to about 1300rpm and stays there until the gas or brake is touched, then it drops back down to normal. Even after warmed up it does this if it idles for any length of time.

Is this correct???

Vince

 

Go to www.myford.fordvehicles.com, set up your free account, and you can get owner and service manual info for free online, which can be read or printed out to keep.........

 

This is a normal function during cold weather. It is your motor doing what it is supposed to do to prevent wet stacking. That is in the owners manual. It is a nice feature!!

 

Vince,
I have heard of chips that have different horse power settings. Similar to the different horse power settings on the performance tuners. The tuners require you to actually reprogram the truck where as the chips just require a flip of the switch (I think). I agree with the note above about flipping the switch and see if any performance changes occurr.

Craig

 

The colder it is, yes, the more white smoke. You should not be seeing black smoke if you are just cruising down the road. Black smoke is caused from excess fuel. You will see that in acceleration in some trucks especially if they are equiped with performance parts. If you see black smoke while driving, that would explain a quick loss of fuel. Diesels have afunny sound when they are cold, they have a very loud and un-uniform idle, and they rock back and forth. This goes away when it warms up. As for the funny exhaust sound, the only think I have heard is what is called Dieseling. I hear this the most when backing up. I hear it form inside the dash. It is just a more noticeable and louder sound. and is normal. Has something to do with the fuel delivery. Does the switch look like it came with the truck stock(factory) or does it look aftermarket. I should have a lable. If it is just behind the key slot, I know that the manuals have a switch you push to release the key. Hope this helps.
Tim from Chicago

 

Tim,
Thanks for the reply,

The switch looks like it might be a stock type rocker, but has no labeling. It is on the dash about middle between steering column and radio??

As for the black smoke I put a new air filter in last night, even though the indicator showed it was ok, it looked fairly dirty, seems like that might have helped. Are those indicators accurate or do they fail?
Thanks,
Vince

 

Vince,
Yeah I don't usually go by the indicators. THey are a gimik as far as I am concerned. Let me look at my buddies 2000 and I'll see if I can figure out what that switch is for. If it is a chip, it could be causing smoke during normal cruise. I'll get back to you. Talk atcha later

 

Nice of Ford to provide these online.