Thank you for all the info, I'm going take my truck to a diesel mechanic for the first time and have them check all the items you guys have suggested. I want to make sure I don't have diesel leaking, thinng the oil and messing up my motor.

I could probably check all those Items myself as I have replaced my lift pump and VP44 injection pump myself " I enjoy tinkering, but I have reach LD50" I can not keep up with everthing thrown at me in life and need to start paying people to do things so I can catch up.

My father in law has his cars registered in Blyth and they don't require smog test.

document list would be nice.

Mike

 

I wrote up a reply and lost it some how? Ok, i am going to take my truck to a diesel mechanic for the first time and have them check everything you guys have told me.

I would like the carb documentaion your talking about and my father in law has his vehicle registerd in Blyth were they donot require smog checks.

I will keep in touch and let you know what happens


thanks Mike

 

Dont rule out the potential vacuum leak I talked about..... I WILL cause excessive venting out the blowby hose and will most likely raise attention to all the hazy smoke. As I mentioned, simply disconnect the vacuum pump main line and cap it off. If the amount of blowby reduces then you have a vacuum leak and its more than likely what the smog techs are spotting.

As for the document, here ya go. Again, this is DIRECTLY from the Bureau of Automotive Repair.

 

This went from a smog test to a blown head gasket....

Try to relocate the puke tube and be done with it....

Dana Pt. isn't that far from SD and a nice drive, maybe take it down to Dandersons guy.....

 

I will check vacuum relocate tube away from engine compartment and thanks for info. Ill let you know if I pass.


Mike

 

Well I got the valves adjusted for the first time, the truck sounded quieter. Then changed oil and filter and put an elbow on the breather tube with about 5 feet of hose heading towards the back to the transfer case and replaced a rotten vacuum line rubber elbo then headed to smog test.

explained to the smog guy I got a Federal , not California truck and OBDII is not required.

He didn't find were it said Federal on the truck I showed him on the engine power steering pump area.

So he tested it that way and the truck passed.

Thanks for all the info,

Mike

 

Nice, prep it again in two years..

 

Good to hear you finally got it all worked out.

 

Thanks

 

I'm glad that I stumbled onto this thread! Just last week I was driving my truck, and when we stopped at the post office I noticed a puff of smoke come up from around the driver's side front wheel area. I crawled under the truck and noticed a solid stream of smoke coming out of the breather hose (which had been extended to near the front wheel). When my wife came out of the post office she saw me down there and saw the smoke. She agreed that it hadn't done that in the past. Last week she was also driving it to haul some square bales (lazy me hadn't pulled the fifth wheel hitch out of her truck yet), and when we met in town for dinner I really noticed the plume when she drove up and let the turbo cool down at idle.


I have never noticed it doing that before, so I decided to log in here and start the tedious search process for "excess blowby". My truck has just over 209K, so it would make sense for the vacuum lines to start failing.

Thanks for giving me someplace to start. Performance hasn't suffered while hauling heavy, but unloaded fuel mileage has been dropping for the past couple of years. I wish that it could get the 22 mpg like the wife's truck does. Of course, hers is still "new" with barely over 84K on it!

 

Feel free to chime in and ask any questions you have concerns about. Lots of good info in these many Cummins diesel forums, and I've been around most of them for at least the past 10-12 years. Not sure thats a good thing either.....

 

Taking the recommendation to look for vacuum leaks yielded a win for the team!
The large hose going from the vacuum pump to the solenoid for the exhaust brake had a Tee in the line with an elbow. That elbow feeds the other vacuum loads, and was very brittle, but not quite to the point of leaking (a WAG on my part). Following the line over to the the other loads it led to what I guess is a check valve (another WAG), and the hose on either end of it was deteriorated to the point that it crumbled when I touched it. I happened to have some vacuum line left, so I replaced all of the suspect parts - including the elbow. Once the wife started the truck up I watched for the plume to emerge from the breather hose, and it didn't! I made it a point to put my thumb over it to be sure (since the truck was cold), and I couldn't feel a noticeable pressure buildup.

Now I just need to get time and lengthen the blowby hose further and fasten it out of the way. Right now it is pointing at the lower control arm. That could make things messy in the future.

Thanks for the help guys!

ETA - I have the HydroBoost brake assist, so the large line that would otherwise go for vacuum assist is used to power the dual acting vacuum cylinder that controls my exhaust brake.

 

Hooray DryCreek!

And now change the engine oil immediately- you don't know what your "improvised engine compartment vacuum cleaner" got hold of and deposited in your oil!

 

Very good point!

I am almost ashamed to admit it, but my truck is on a one-year oil change schedule. Since we quit showing cattle and I got an old Jeep as a daily driver, I've put less than 5K miles a year on my truck, and even less on the wife's! To make matters worse, the guy we buy our hay from has a new-fangled trailer that will scoop up nine 4-1/2'X5' round bales at a time and he delivers them to me since he bales less than a mile away and he wants to clear his pastures quickly. He just drops them off in a nice and neat line down the driveway and all I have to do is grab the tractor to sort and stack them along the fence. So, no miles hauling hay these past few years!

Both trucks are due for their oil changes in October. I already have the filters and oil. In fact, both tractors are due now too. All I have to do is find time to get it all done.

 

Dont be ashamed..... Changing you oil because of the vacuum leak is a legit idea. But under normal operating conditions, anyone who thinks there's a time clock on your oil besides breakdown and oxidation is mistaken and has no understanding of petroleum lubricants. We typically use mileage as a guide to assess that time frame but time alone doesn't apply. The worst case scenario for older engine oil with low mileage is potentially some of the additives have evaporated. Hardly worth worrying about.

And unused oil thats been sitting is perfectly fine too as long as its still meeting the ratings. Some say the additives settle to the bottom of the container. So.....shake it before using.