I watched the video posted by another member that does have a bad injector, and since I'm a new 3rd gen CR owner, I thought I'd watch my exhaust when I first start my truck.

Today it's about 80*F outside. Truck has been sitting overnight. Went out to start it, the intake heater light did not come on like it sometimes does (obviously due to higher ambient temps). It ran just a little but rough at first, and there was *some* bluish smoke out the tailpipe for the first 30 seconds or so. I wouldn't call it a "miss", but it just runs a bit rough, and there is some bluish smoke.

I'm just not sure if this is normal or not.

Can you guys help me out?

 

I'm no expert or mechanic, but I have driven, and worked on my personal diesel pickup trucks for 14 years. In my experience, blue smoke is the result of too much engine oil being involved with the diesel combustion. I hope someone with more mecanical integrity will lead you down a path to success. I can tell you this with certainty, it is not normal. I live in south Texas, my wait to start light will always be lit, even after the engine has been restarted while the engine is hot, with ambient temperatures of 100 degrees plus. I have not experienced any smoke from the exhaust....except black, only when going deep with the fuel pedal after the truck has been ideling for an extended time, or has not reached engine temp. Good luck with your resolution.

 

The WTS light works differently on on the 07's than earlier models. On my 04.5 it would come on all the time. It only comes on in my 07 when it is below a certain temp.

Mine puffs a little grey smoke when I start it cold in the morning. I can only see it when the sun is shining into my garage, so it isn't a lot. My 06 did it and my 04.5 did it. I'm not saying it's normal, but for me it is not an injector problem.

 

white smoke is usaully an indication of injector issues

 

At 80 degrees, there will be no WTS indicator light and you should have little to no smoke at all if everything is stock and working well. Looks like you have a leaking injector that is bleeding down over night and 'soaking' the cyl. Have the dealer do an injector duty cycle test and see if one is bad. Have you noticed your engine oil level increasing? Usually does not happen unless it is really bad, but worth checking. Hopefully you have warrany coverage as they charge about $800 per injector from the dealer to replace.

Rob

 

This morning it was a little cooler. The WTS light came on, and there was no smoke until the voltage gauge climbed back up (intake grid heater cycled off), then the smoke returned for a bit, then the grid heater cycled on again (volt drop), then the smoke went away. Based on this, I think maybe it is just that they programmed the grid heater to not come on unless it was cooler out than the 2nd gen truck I used to have.

I recall being surprised a few times that in the 07, the WTS (coil light thing) didn't come on when I would have guessed it would.

Sound OK?

 

My WTS light doesn't come on unless it is 50 or below outside and the truck hasn't run in awhile, i.e. overnight.

It will let out a little white cloud whether the light comes on or not, but only when it hasn't been started for awhile.

30 seconds of this white cloud may indicate a problem, but I would give it some time and see if it goes away.

Do you run any type of injector cleaner?

I'm a firm believer in you can't fix what isn't broke, so as long as the truck runs and drives normal, you should be fine.

 

I was right there with the diesel mechanic when he did the injector duty cycle test on my truck and it didn't reveal the faulty injectors. The injectors at fault were just leaking very minutely overnight or during an extended parked period (8-10 hours or so) and soaking the cylinder just as you indicated above. The only way that he was able to determine that it was #1 and #2 was to let the truck sit over night and pull the head and physically look.

To the original poster. ANY blue smoke at start up is either going to be an injector on it's way out, or a dirty fuel filter...try the filter first, and if that doesn't fix it, take it in to the dealership to have the injector replaced. Mine are being replaced because I insisted. He said that it's not a problem right NOW, but I said "what if it goes out when I have a big load behind me and the truck goes into limp mode, etc" he said good point and got to work...

 

The check they can do with the Star Scan tool for injectors will only find one that is completely dead or so far gone that it would be apparent any way. When I had this problem the tech pulled the exhaust manifold, let it sit overnight and then had someone else start the truck while he watched the exhaust ports to see which one smoked.

Crappy fuel will also cause similar issues, so I would try a couple tanks of fuel from a different station with good quality fuel. My local truck stop (Pilot) has crappy fuel that my truck does not like. My truck does like Exxon brand for some reason. Maybe worth trying.