wilderness

Thanks for the help, but does air in the fuel lines cause a ritch smelling exhaust and poor mpg's? Or would the air have to be in conjunction with something else, such as timing or bad injector.

I guess what I'm asking is what are the symptoms of air in fuel, other than hard to start?

What about water in the fuel what does that cause?

Need95-00CTD

Air in the fuel can cause rich smelling exhaust and smoke, oxygen oxidises fuel jus tlike steel, oxidized fuel doesn't burn completely, which means some of your fuel won't burn...Thats probably where your rich smell is coming from, along with the smoke. Any truck will "Smoke" in the morning on a cold startup from moisture in the exhaust system, its steam, not smoke. White smoke as you call it is a mixture of unburned fuel and steam most likely, put your hand in front of the exhaust pipe, if your hand feels moist, its just moisture.

Water in the fuel isn't likely, has your "water in fuel" light ever come on? Mine hasn't, but empty the seperator anyways if it bothering you.

The air in the lines fits everything your describing, I have a very slight problem with it, and the ticking is starting to drive me nuts, but its tooooo cold to replace the lift pump right now, so I'll wait for spring. Good Luck, let us know what you find!

wilderness

Well said Need 95, unfortunatley my wif light stays on all the time. It looks to me like when the po canged the filter he did'nt unplug it and it stripped the wires. I have'nt been able to locate a sesor yet so that is on my list to do.

As far as the air goes, i think that just might be the prob. Thanks for all the help, Chad

TxDiesel007

ID say all three

OFV is due for changeout at 75K miles, the rubber lines will go out at 185K miles (my experience) and the LP might have gone bad, u need a FP gauge to check that for sure and the OFV.. dont hurt to change it out tho...

Rick

wilderness

Where is a good place to get these parts? Also where can I get a diesel fp guage, I have one for a gasser, but says specificaly not for diesel. It is a matco tester and has the banjo adapter but I hate to ruin it.

Today I drove the truck for the first time in three days. It was not plugged in and I cycled the grids 2 time and it started right up. For the 1st 30sec. it was all black smoke then changing to the white. It runs good and smooth for a while, but after a few hours of run around, it seems to run more rough. When I say rough I mean the engine has more vibration and noises.

Also when driving next to a wall w/ the window open, certain rpms seem to have a knocking noise. Almost like an old ford fuel pump ecentric when worn. Would that be the lift pump? Or is it gear driven? It seems to knock more when I maintain a consistant speed with no load (ie: a hill or speeding up)

And keep in mind when I bought this truck it pretty much sat for a year, driven twice @ most. So that being said, dry fuel lines would lead to cracking much faster in my own logic.

jester1542

Something that no one has mentioned in this thread is to check your fuel heater. They have been known to burn out and leak air at the electrical connector.

The short hose between the lift pump and fuel heater has also been know to leak air.

Look real close at the fiber washers on the fuel filter assembly and I think the lift pump those have been known to leak air too.

wilderness

Well today I drove in warmer weather and it is night and day compaired to when it's cold. Would the heater cause that?

When it is warm out it hardley smokes at all, and runs much smoother. The truck is going to the tranny shop on mon. for warranty repair. It too has cold weather issues, it will not lock up in temps under 45* or so out. I have to put an air dam in front of the tranny cooler to get it to lock up. Hopefully the repair will last me until I can afford a different tranny.

Diesel_Dan

My 95 was having the same symptoms hard start white smoke rough idle. I tried almost everything that you have talked abaut to remedy the problem. Could not figure it out, finally took it to a local diesel repair shop had them compression test it well they figured out that I had a bad head gasket replaced it and it ran great. Just a thought

Fueling around

There's a thread over on Cummins forum with similar symptoms and a surprising cure
http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/94...ing-right.html

wilderness

That kinda goes back to my leak tester. I want to put a small amount of air in my tank and see where all the leaks are. I also need to check the fuel pressure. Any one have a good place too get a fuel pressure test kit?