I was cruising around in my ol 89 ford yesterday and I starting looking at when guys in diesel truck were driving. I was checking out the black smoke coming from the tailpipes. Some trucks seemed to have alot more then others, and I was kind of comparing the approximate same years and driving styles. Can anyone fill me in on why one truck could smoke black alot more then another, when the driver didnt really appear to be putting his foot to the floor?

 

There are lots of variables..the main one being chips / tuners / programmers. More fuel = more power = more black smoke.

 

Yeah I had that figured for sure. These appeared to be stock trucks. No exhaust or gauges, could have been chipped though for sure.

 

It also depends on if it is a newer computer controlled diesel, the older mechanical diesels smoke much more than our "green" trucks do.

 

I've seen some earlier 12 valve Cummins blow black smoke between shifts just idling along at 40 MPH.

 

low boost and dirty air filters will make it blow black smoke/..after putting in my EBPS i noticed its a little harder to make it smoke

 

Engine condition has alot to do with it. I used to own a 87 6.9 diesel. It was a smoker. Come to find out it had bad compression in a couple of cylinders and was pretty worn out. When I put the pedal down it puffed pretty good and smoked steady at normal crusing speed. When I test drove my 2000 7.3 I made sure it wasn't a smoker. All stock it looked great and has been a good truck.

 

The boss has a brand new 6.4. When it goes into regen mode it will pour black smoke. Sometime so bad that people start backing off to avoid the rapture. Regen finishes and it cleans right up.

 

All depends on load and throttle postion. Even mine empty if i boot it in the *** it will throw some good coal out and im stock and she has 0 problems.

 

Alot of the Duramax drivers like to be Sleepers. Most of them in the 600+ range look completely stock aside from maybe a 4" exhaust.