Hey Guys,

I have recently purchased a truck, we'll call it a project for now. It is a 78 f350 with a 89 7.3L swap in it. I bought it to use as a hauler/work truck. When i went to look at the truck, it fired right up without hesitation. It ran a lil rough at first but then seemed to smooth out. It did however seem to smoke a white smoke non stop. When i asked the previous owner what the smoke was from he mentioned he used to run vegitable oil in it and that it would do that until the lines were cleaned out. So I stopped by the gas station on my way home and filled the tanks up with fresh fuel. After driving about an hour home it seemed to still smoke.

a week later no matter how long it runs it still smokes

I have now changed all the filters and the oil.

So i began to look deeper, when i did i noticed that the rear drivers side injector was bubbling around where it meets with the head. So then I got a book and found out about the smash gasket between the injector and the head. So i changed this on all of the injectors on the drivers side bank, torqued them all down to 48lbs which i was told to do by the local shop.


(also at the same time i have checked the compression in the cylinders and after about 4 strokes its at about 400 PSI avg compression.)

After doing this and starting the truck back up the thing is still bubbling!

What should I do? Have you ever seen or heard of this problem? Am i using the correct torques specs?

I really like the truck it has a flat bed with a hydraulic crane on it and all kinds of other stuff welder, generator. I just wish it would stop smoking!!!

 

Had the same problem mine was fixed when I put the injector back in but it shouldn't have been. Your injector is probly leaking where the nozel screws to the body. You might be able to tighten it by pulling it ou then puting a 15mm 12 point box end wrench on the starnut looking thing on the injector body but I didn't have much luck with that. I ended up replacing all 8 injectors they had over 200,000 miles on them anny ways. If you cant tighten it up you're self your local injection shop should be able to do some thing with it.

 

First get two quarts of Diesel Kleen and dump one bottle in each tank.
Drive it around some.
If he was running WVO, carry a small bottle of fuel and a spare filter with you, once the Diesel Kleen starts cutting the crap loose the filter is probably going to plug up.

Start shopping for injectors.

The one that is bubbling is probably dead.
Did you notice wet tips on any of the others when you pulled them?

The ones with wet tips are probably leaking fuel into the cylinders.


Does the white smoke smell sweet or like fuel?

 

Thanks for the help guys... I pulled all the injectors out on the driver side bank and they were all wet so i think you guys are starting to shed some light on the problem. Im hoping with new injectors and some more run time that it will run better.. I know the leaky injector is not the injector itself i moved the injector from another cylinder to that one and it still leaks... I was thinking maybe the injector seat needed to be reground it doesn't look cracked but that was also on my mind.

 

The smoke is definately Diesel

 

Do a re tightening of the injector(s) to 55ftlbs........ the book states twice around. I have always used slightly more and had no problems. Also remember the injector seal seals combustion and the threads seal nothing..... consequently any time there is heat/cold in the bored head area where the injector sits...... expansion and contraction of air is possible past the threads.....

One other item may be the timing is too far retarded.....causes white smoke.

There could be a bad injector anywhere on that engine continuing to causing the smoke also.. you just focused on that one.......

You could do the injector line "nut cracking" to remove an injector off line, undo the injection line cap nut 1/2+ turn until the injector comes off line (IE does not work due to loss of fuel pressure). There should be a noticeable decrease in engine performance, re tighten the nut to 24 ftlbs....... now move to the next one continuing until all are tested. IF you have one or more that do not make an appreciable performance decrease they would be suspected failing injectors, if the compression was up like the others.

Warning: Fuel pressure is very high when "cracking injectors" (when running) so use a rag over the injector to absorb any fuel squirts. Always try to use a proper "line wrench" 5/8"

 

So we put new injectors and glow plugs in it last night.. and it smoked like a chimney... Runs like a raped ape .. but none the less smokes... it seems to stop the smoking when you put it under a load IE: climbing a super steep hill (which it did with ease to my amazement ) SO the next piece of the puzzle would be the pump right? can any one else think of any OTHER (CHEAPER) reason it would be smoking the smoke is white smells like diesel and all the cylinders have 400 PSI compression...

Does anyone know if anybody on here has retrofitted a wiring harness for the glowplugs...

 

Timing is a bit to slow.

Loosen the three nuts that hold the IP to the IP drive gear cover.
Turn the IP top to the passenger side of the truck about 1/16".
Tighten the three nuts.

Take the truck for a drive, see if the smoke it less or gone.

A little goes a long way on timing.
If you hears a rattle while the truck is idling, it should go away when the engine reaches 117 degrees and the timing advance kicks off.
If the rattle does not stop, the timing is to advanced.

An International dealer is probably the best source for a wiring harness, Ford was right proud of theirs at 160 dollars.