First of all let me say this si a great site, I hope someone can help me with an annoying problem my truck has developed. I have a bone stock 96 215hp with nv 4500 behind it with 170000 on it. the only work under the hood besides oil changes and such and routine valve adjustments has been a new shut down relay and new fuel hoses. It starts easy plugged in or not although it does miss a little for a few seconds when its not plugged in. it idles at about 900 or so and makes enough power and accelerates as fast as I can shift it. My fuel heater no longer works but will replace it this weekend along with a new OFV. the problem i have is this, I start truck in morning and let it idle for about 5-10 minutes, leave home driving slow (3rd gear about 1200 rpm for two blocks), take off after stop on main road and run rpm up to 1800 or so then shift, step on pedal to wind up again and when rpm hits around 1500 she will stumble and shake and blow blue smoke like hell wont have it. If I back off the throttle just a hair it will clear up and take off like normal, once I tried accelerating through it and it bucked once and cleared up, this morning i just held the pedal steady to see what happened and I went about a block sputtering and smoking before I let up on it. It does not act like an air leak problem since it starts easy and it only does this when the engine is cold,(winter cold not summer cold)but i guess its possible. it almost seems like it is overfueling and flooding the cylinders by the heavy blue smoke it makes. once I get a mile or so down the road to the next stop sign it will run like normal, it wont act up again untill it sits all day at work,and then same thing, any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated

 

Sound like the timing has slipped.

A diesel shop should charge you around $150. Anything over $200 is a rip off.

Have them set it to 15*-15.5*. You will get better fuel mileage.

I would bet that if the fuel heater is burned up you have a fuel leak.

 

If the timing slipped would it not stumble all the time or at least more often? the fuel heater is wet at the plug, but seems air would make it start hard, I will replace it saturday to eliminate it as a suspect

 

I would get the heater fixed first, then see how it runs. My truck would have a miss/stumble at about 1800-2000 rpms. I had a fuel leak on the return line from the overflow valve where they welded a metal tab to hold it to the injection pump.
Also, the truck would start great.
Try that first and see what happens.

Here are the cummins part#s if you dont have them.
heater element upper quad ring 3834185-s $1.95
heater strainer kit 3845400-s $6.42
heater element (with stat) 3907766-s $35.18
cable harness 3843722-s $49.39

Prices are a little old.

 

thats what i will do,and check all fuel lines again and replace ofv, hope that pricey little heater/ strainer does the trick. thanks for the response.

 

I have the cummins part #s to but they told me they cant get the element parts, had to go to a diesel shop and buy the whole assembly as a unit to the tune of $290.00

 

Mine does basically the same thing, how do you know if the heater is shot? thanks

 

Either the plug will be wet when you take it off or you will see 2 wires going to the top of the heater that is attached with 2 allen screws. The wires and plastic will be melted.

 

Thats bologne. Try a different Cummins.
Heres the service locator link.
http://wsl.cummins.com/ServiceLocato...servicelocator

Any Cummins can ship the parts right to your house.