I thought when I changed my oil to synthetic, I was having a problem from that. Turns out, it was a coincidence that the day I changed the oil, it was colder out than it had been since I purchased the truck a few months back..

So yesterday, after my wiper fiasco, I put the Rotella 15 w 40 conventional diesel oil in, thinking it would fix my "issue"

Turns out that the oil change had nothing to do with it, and today, @ 35 deg Fahrenheit, I'm having the same issues ... Lots of white and some blue smoke, and very difficult to start. I had to crank it several times, and apply the pedal to get it going. Once it's started, and the smoke clears, all acts as normal.

I did some searches here and found similar experiences. The threads mention the KSB such as this one here:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...arting+problem


What exactly is the KSB and how do I go about diagnosing my problem ? It also mentions air into the fuel system, such as gaskets that should be replaced. Where do I start looking for these leaks, and what's the best route for doing so. ?

Or do you recommend me just getting this truck to a qualified diesel shop ?


Would appreciate any hints / help @ this time.


T.

 

Found another thread, and I'm going to try the test in this post

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...98&postcount=9


Here's the thread:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...&highlight=ksb

 

At 35 degrees you should not need any starting aids at all.

 

I did the test described in the post I listed above.

connected the jumper to the KSB solenoid, and no sparks. Idled till warm, disconnected, and there is a "slight change" in the idle, as you remove / reinstall. KSB appears to be working.

The wire that leads to the KSB had no power in the connector. Is it supposed to be hot ? If not, when will be energized ? Only when COLD ?

Will keep searching, but help would be appreciated.


BTW... once warmed.... Truck purrs like a kitten.


T.

 

OK,

So why would I get all that smoke when I first start it in the morning ?

This only started the day after I changed my oil to synthetic. For the life of me, I didn't think that had anything to do with it, and now that I'm running regular oil again, my thoughts rang true..

Air leaks next ? Thoughts for going about finding them ?

What is this that I found in the attached pic ???? Is it supposed to look lik this ?


T.

 

That's to your grid heater, and quite probably the source of your problems.

Either one of the heaters has shorted, or you had corrosion at the terminal, though I don't see any evidence in the picture. Something caused it to draw way too many amps.

Diagnose the problem with you GH's and bet you go back to being happy.

 

There are 2 wires on the FSS. 1 wire supplies juice to the FSS. The second wire runs the juice to a thermal switch that is open over X#°. Can't give you an exact number because I've heard a few different values. Both of mine are approx 40°. After it runs through the switch, it goes through a dropping resistor the to the KSB. On intercooled trucks, you need juice to make the KSB advance timing to help cold starting and running. Start troubleshooting at the FSS and work your way down to the KSB.
Properly working grid heaters is also an important part of the cold start system.

 

You can always plug it in and not worry about it. Mine was the same way this morning. My frids dont work and it took a few times of cranking with the pedal to get it going. My fix for now is just to plug it in over nite, as after its warmed up, there is no problem.

 

You guys are onto something here.

I tested my grid heaters. There's power to each solenoid, and to one side of the solenoid, but not to the grid heaters themselves. I tested them and found it strange that nothing had power out of each of the solenoids that run the heaters. There was also no power @ the GH itself.


Can I replace that ground wire with a standard ground ? or is it something special ?

Tonight, I'm pluggin her in, and we'll see in the morning if you're right.... but I'm sure you are.

I just have to figure out why my grid heaters aren't powering up, which I'm sure the reason why the KSB isn't powered either.

 

Dude,


I can't tell you how much I love this truck..... It's quite disgusting, actually.


My favorite truck of all time, even with all of it's stupid issues.


T.

 

Update:

As usual, you guys were correct.

I plugged the truck in, as Gitrdone had suggested, and I went to bed.

Started it up this morning.

No smoke, no chugging, no hard start. Barely touched the ignition, and it started purring.

The warm up system for the GH's aren't working.

Now comes the fun of figuring out why.


At least in the meantime, I can feel comfortable that nothing is majorly wrong with my engine.


Thank you all ! If you were here, I'd buy you all a beer or three...





Even @ 6:30am




T.

 

That wire goes underneath the bolt head that's right next to it above the other one in the picture. that's why the grids aren't working

 

Yes, sorry, I guess I wasn't clear ( assuming too much.... ). NJTman, if that was NOT under the other stud, then it quite likely was directly shorting to the engine, and that would be the reason for drawing way too many amps.

Basically, the GH works like this, from your battery, you have 2 big wires going to one side of the big posts on the solenoid, 12V applied all the time, then the other 2 large posts at the solenoid bring the power to the GH's 2 posts, ground is obtained thru the block. Now comes the tricky part, the small posts at the solenoid will have 12 volts applied ALL the time from the battery, and depending on the temperature of either the water sensor or air intake sensor ( can't remember which ) , your PCM will ground the solenoids other set of small posts to let the juice flow to your GH. A quick and dirty way to test the solenoids is to ground the ground side of the solenoid and listen for the click.

Please tell me that wire was not just laying there, unprotected?

 

The way you see it is how I found it.

The wire is attached @ both ends. One wire is attached to the top of the square housing on the right, and the other is attached to the bolt below on the intake. The upper wire is "wrapped around" the lower wire. They're fully exposed when I found them.

To me, they appear to be a grounding wire of sorts. I'll have to physically remove them and see what they're actually doing.


T.

 

Please get a FSM from Genos for your truck, they are 35 bucks on CD.

http://www.genosgarage.com/prodinfo....mber=DFSM92_CD

You can burn that thing to the ground by not knowing, and I hate to say it, somebody prior to you probably tried.

That is a high power wire to the Grid Heater, please don't try and ground it.

I'm a second gen guy, some of you first gen. guys need to hop in here, I assume your first gens have 2 separate GH circuits like the 2nd gens do?