1st Gen. Ram - All Topics Discussion for all Dodge Rams prior to 1994. This includes engine, drivetrain and non-drivetrain discussions. Anything prior to 1994 should go in here.

93 hard to start, smokes a lot, and acts like its missing when cold

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Old Sep 7, 2008 | 09:37 PM
  #1  
440_D50's Avatar
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From: Kalispell, MT
93 hard to start, smokes a lot, and acts like its missing when cold

Ok, I've tried searching for my answers, but haven't had much luck.

My 93 D250 getrag truck with 200K+ is giving me all kinds of issues. Even on a 70 degree day, the truck doesn't start on the first hit of the key like all my other ones.

When it does start, it runs super rough, has a really bad sort of LOPE to it, blue smoke everywhere, and burn your eyes fuel smell. When you try to take off driving it, its super jerky and seems as if it's missing like a gas engine would.

When it warms up, it runs like a raped ape. It still has a lot of blue smoke and burn your eyes exhaust though.

It doesn't really burn much oil. If its actually a cold day and hasn't been plugged in, it wont start unless you pump the pedal and keep it running like an old gasser.

As far as I know it's a completely stock truck. Hasn't been modded.

I'm thinking the injector pump is going **** up, but I'm not 100 percent sure. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
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Old Sep 7, 2008 | 10:40 PM
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Crappy lift pump, maybe? I had the same type of problem with my old truck, but mine ran like crap no matter what (warmed up or not), and I tracked it down to the LP. Put a new one on and truck ran like a dream again. Don't know if this is your problem but maybe worth checking. Just trying to help.
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Old Sep 7, 2008 | 10:47 PM
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blue smoke everywhere, and burn your eyes fuel smell
The injection pump could care less if the engine was warm or cold.

A bad set of injectors will cause smoke, hard start and idle problems on a cold engine.

Like Fury said check the lift pump first.
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Old Sep 8, 2008 | 12:20 AM
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Turning over + white smoke usually ='s air in fuel somewhere

Check all your lines, next best guess is to run a fuel pressure test directly after your lift pump to see how much psi you are getting ( sometimes the check valve goes bad allowing fuel to "settle" back into tank and making startup a pain )

Other then that .. pressurize your fuel tank and see if you get some squirts squirts
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Old Sep 8, 2008 | 05:37 AM
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From: SW Pennsylvania - Greene County
Blue smoke that burns your eyes and smells like fuel is generally the results of the injection pump operating at a marginal pressure and having difficulty overcoming the pop off pressure required to make the injectors operate properly. You can try the cheaper fixes first such as running the engine from bottle of fuel directly to the lift pump and then replacing the lift pump, the fuel filter, the fuel shut off solenoid, and the injectors. Good luck!
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Old Sep 8, 2008 | 05:42 AM
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If it was the lift pump or air in the lines, or whatever, would it run fine when the engine is warm? I'd think air in the lines would run bad all the time.
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Old Sep 8, 2008 | 06:00 AM
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Do you have a shop that can test your injectors? At 200K miles they may be popping off at an incorrect pressure.
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Old Sep 8, 2008 | 06:25 AM
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Your turbo could need a rebuild. See if your getting any black buildup on the walls of the turbo and intake system. I had your symptoms once and I was sucking oil past the seals. It actually can get to a point where your truck wont shut off. Happened to me once tried choking it out and it just sucked more oil and kept running. After long enough of sitting it filled the intercooler with oil and choked itself out that way. It was one of the worst messes I've ever had to deal with. Couldn't believe it could get that much oil from the turbo.
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Old Sep 8, 2008 | 08:13 AM
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From: NE Pennsylvania
Originally Posted by 440_D50
If it was the lift pump or air in the lines, or whatever, would it run fine when the engine is warm? I'd think air in the lines would run bad all the time.
Like I said, my truck ran exactly like yours except for the warm up. It would run like crap all the time. Just figured it could be something to check.
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Old Sep 8, 2008 | 09:35 PM
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From: Central Texas
Mine had similar problem except no smoke.It loped on start for a minute and was kind of hard to get started,was going to change fuel pump and found cracked loose line on pump connection from tank.fixed line and all is good... fires right up every time now with no fuel pump change and no more air causing the lope.
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