I have a 97 250 PSD with 113K mi(I think)and lately during warmup I am getting a lot of blue smoke. After I drive a while, the smoke disappears. I changed oil and fuel filters and checked my air filter and did notice some oil in the inlet tube to the turbo but not pooling or anything like that. What could be causing this? Injector seals maybe? Also, my speedometer button on the right is broken off so I do not know what selections I am supposed to have and how do I repair it? Could the speedo have been tampered with? I don't have an operators manual yet only the diesel supplement.

1997 F 250PSD 4X4 SC Longbed No mods that I know of.

 

Hi,

I know, blue smoke indicates in most cases oil is burning but
have you ever checked your glowsystem? Maybe you have a bad glowplug.

If your glowsystem is ok....hm....are all gaskets at your turbo in good condition? It could be possible that some oil comes thru the turbo into your cold engine, that a maybe a reson for the oil in your inlet tube.

Hope thats helps.....

Jens

 

My brand new 2002 does this at start up, it has 2,000 miles on it, my 2001 with 29,000 on it...never did it from new. Should this be of concern?




2001 F-350 CC Lariat 4X4 LB PSD SRW, Heated leather, off road package, western snow plow, strobe lights in parking lights, headlights and backup lights, tinted windows, stull billet insert, pioneer cd player, rockford fosgate 700S amp rocking 3 JL Audio 10W0's behind back seat,Infinity Interiors and an Alpine amp, husky liners front and back,Banks transcommand, K&N FIPK, ATS Ported Turbo Housing, Diablo Sport 110HP chip, Hypermax pryo/boost gauge, Hypermax 3.5 inch downpipe and 5 inch exhaust.

2002 F-350 XL 4X4 PSD DRW, XL Decor Package, 9' Heil Dump Body, 8' Western (for now) Poly Plow, Strobes Front and Back, toolboxes and Wheel Simulators.

 

Blue smoke from a diesel at start up is unburned fuel due to cold combustion chambers and is normal. The colder it is, the more noticible it will be.

There is a 7 mile grade at 7% here in Colorado and when I drop off of it with the PSD in the winter, I'll get loads of blue smoke and it rattles like crazy at the bottom when I first start putting fuel to it. It does this because of the huge volume of cold air that has passed through the engine with no fuel to burn. Once the combustion chambers warm up, everything returns to normal.

 

>My brand new 2002 does this at start up, it has 2,000 miles
>on it, my 2001 with 29,000 on it...never did it from new.
>Should this be of concern?
>

Distinctive Dave....talk about weird!!! No, not you man, this blue smoke thing. I went to post a thread asking the same question this morning. Yesterday I leaned into the passenger door to start my PSD and looked at the tail pipe and noticed a huff of blue smoke. I looked like a dog listening to a harmonica! Figured I would shout at everybody at FTE to see whats up. I guess alanscott answered my question. It has been cold in the mornings....at least cold by Florida standards.....40*+/-. Well anyway, I am glad it is a "normal" condition. OK the boat's warmed up.....I'm going fishin'
>
>
>
>2001 F-350 CC Lariat 4X4 LB PSD SRW, Heated leather, off
>road package, western snow plow, strobe lights in parking
>lights, headlights and backup lights, tinted windows, stull
>billet insert, pioneer cd player, rockford fosgate 700S amp
>rocking 3 JL Audio 10W0's behind back seat,Infinity
>Interiors and an Alpine amp, husky liners front and
>back,Banks transcommand, K&N FIPK, ATS Ported Turbo Housing,
>Diablo Sport 110HP chip, Hypermax pryo/boost gauge, Hypermax
>3.5 inch downpipe and 5 inch exhaust.
>
>2002 F-350 XL 4X4 PSD DRW, XL Decor Package, 9' Heil Dump
>Body, 8' Western (for now) Poly Plow, Strobes Front and
>Back, toolboxes and Wheel Simulators.

 

I can clarify my earlier post a bit. When I start the truck, I see a cloud of blue smoke and then I just let it idle for about 5-10min to warm up. All this time I see some blue smoke coming out. Then when I get on the road and accelerate, there is a noticible blue smoke discharge. After I have gone to 65mph for a minute or two, it clears up and I don't see it again that day. Maybe it will be as simple as replacing the O rings in the turbo mount!! Thanks for your responses.:-)

 

I wouldn't replace anything, I'd say that everything's OK. My truck will blow out blue smoke at start up, but it goes away when the truck warms up a little. How cold is it in the mornings where you live? I don't see the blue smoke in the summer (50* overnight) as much as I do now (30* overnight).

Quadzilla
'95 F-350XLT Crew Cab SRW 4X4 PSD, 35X12.50X16.5's, Limited slip 4.10's, Hypermax downpipe, gutted EBPV, "Catless" in Seattle, "Renegade" 4" exhaust system, CTFD sticker, Air bags on all four corners, TYMAR intake, shimmed fpr, Diablo Delta chip, Fumoto valve, Autometer pyrometer, Sonnax valve, Tricumulator springs, Tru-Cool, HX mod, Magnefine tranny filter,
4R100 pan, Red Line synthetic in transfer case and both diffs, reverse shackle kit.
And a wish list that gets longer every day.
(Thank God for a wife that likes big trucks.)
For pictures, click here: http://community.webshots.com/user/quadzilla100

 

Quadzilla, it gets down to the low 30s here in South Miss. I was wondering also if there may be blowby smoke in the turbo inlet until it warms up. Like I said in my first post, I am not sure of the miles but I think 114k. You wouldn't think blowby until 300k or so. I have an old 6.9 with 365k and it doesn't have that much. I read in my Haynes diesel book that agrees with one responder that says it could be turbo O rings causing oily buildup in inlet tube. I really don't want to fix something that ain't broke! Maybe it is just more noticeable now that it is winter. The truck really handles my 24' boat really nice and I want to keep it running good. Thanks. :-X12

 

 

my 91 bought used was smoking like mad. added some diesel fuel additive from Wal-Mart. put in 8oz in a 25 gal tank. by the 2nd tankful the smoke is noticeably less. Still have some, but well within reason. Truck runs quieter also. Cause of smoke?: dirty/clogged injectors / plugs

 

>Blue smoke from a diesel at start up is unburned fuel due to
>cold combustion chambers and is normal. The colder it is,
>the more noticible it will be.

Absolutely, that's normal at start up for sure, but beware of this:

At temperatures below 0° F., and at high altitudes(high altitudes are more common for this), diesels will suffer from a condition known as "flame out". This is when the ambient temperature is so cold that it literally puts the flame front out in the combustion chamber. It's a very wierd phenomenon, because the engine is at normal operating temperature, but it acts like a cold engine. It's also potentially serious in that fuel must never touch the pistons. Diesels fire with a cushion of air between the flame front, and the piston. If this is disturbed, it may wash the cylinders, and cause scored pistons/liners, and damage the rings.
>
>There is a 7 mile grade at 7% here in Colorado and when I
>drop off of it with the PSD in the winter, I'll get loads of
>blue smoke and it rattles like crazy at the bottom when I
>first start putting fuel to it. It does this because of the
>huge volume of cold air that has passed through the engine
>with no fuel to burn. Once the combustion chambers warm up,
>everything returns to normal.

Could this hill be Eisenhower? Or Vail Pass?
you are right on alanscott.
I have experienced the same thing. That's what reminded me to mention the above. Newer diesels such as the PSD are not as much at risk because of their higher injection pressures, turbo improvements, and their overall efficency over the old engines. Best way to cure this (If you should ever experience it) is to simply try to get warmer intake temperatures. Cover your intake, or try to open your intake plumbing (before the filter housing of course) so that you draw in warmer air from under the hood until you reach warmer and denser air.

This is why so many big rigs spec'ed to work in cold climates have inside/outside air selectors on their air filter housings, so they can switch them to pull warm air from under the hood.

Sorry for the essay. Your post just made me think of this.:7

 

Well, I thank everyone for their help in understanding the smoke phenom. I think that there could be some sort of solution for these trucks in the same method as BigDeezil58 said is used on big rigs. Maybe some sort of warm air diverter from the left side exhaust manifold controlled by a manual remote choke control or something. I am sure someone has some ideas on this. I just plugged in my block heater and got rid of the problem at startup but going down the road at 5degrees would cause a problem in Co. where I grew up. Wouldn't want it to cause a problem while elk or deer hunting now would we? Will be interested in responses. Again, thanks.

97 F250 PSD 4x4 SC:-X12 :-X12

 

>Could this hill be Eisenhower? Or Vail Pass?

US 40, Rabbit Ears Pass just outside of Steamboat Springs, Co.

Eisenhower would probably do the same thing except I hardly ever drive it. I always go over the top out of habit I have never had it happen on Vail, I think it's because of the shelf on the west side were a little throttle is used to maintain speed.

 

I,am a owner of aconstruction company and have lots of diesel engines kicking around,and I never seen one that did not smoke somewhat during warmup depending on the temp.