I have a 1996 F-250 with the 7.3l which i just bought 2 months ago. and every morning when I start it, it smokes (white with a blue tint) and it smells horrible. After it worms up and the rest of the day it will not smoke but it does still smell really strong. I wouldnt say that it is a raw diesel smell, but i know that it doesnt smell like oil or coolant.

Any suggestion???

 

Need a better Olfactory sense on what "Horrible" means. Does it smell like gun powder?

A gunpowder smell is partially burned diesel with oil. It means your battery voltage is low.

 

Best way I know to make it smell better is to run B100. Always helps mine.
TPM, never thought of that. THanks for the tip.

 

Why would battery voltage have anything to do with smells coming out of a tail pipe? Just curious....

 

Mustang Matt, just an observation. Low voltage affects the injectors. I had one battery disconnected and the other battery low, inadvertently had a cut off switch in the cab off which disconnects the alternator, glow plugs and cab accessories (long story). So I tried to start and it was hard starting and when it did start to run it ran poorly and smoked balck, white and blue and stunk like gun powder. I heard the truck starting to die, noticed the battery gage showed about <11 volts and realized the alternator was not producing voltage so i was running off one battery. I stopped it, turned the cutoff switch off and back on, connected the other battery and it started just fine and ran just fine.

The cutoff switch is susposed to cut out the starter but one of the solenoid relays, the one for the alternator to vehicle 12vdc (it also connects to an isolator for 2nd battery bank), sometimes dosent engage. That lets the truck start but doesn't get any 12vdc to the dash or cab.