OK, I picked up my first diesel and I am really clueless when it comes to what is good and what is not.

The truck I just bought is in excellent shape - not a spot of rust or paint fade anywhere - and it has some seemingly nice extras and mods. I am not sure, though, what all of this means, as a lot of the things on the truck are specific to diesels and not gassers so I will be asking plenty of questions as I get to (hopefully) know this truck.

First the truck (and I will supply pics in the future):
2004 3500 SLT, Quad Cab, 4WD, 5.9 HO, auto, 134K miles. Some of the extras, and pardon me if I don't use the correct terminology: completely built trans w/triple disc converter, smarty s06, edge insight, flowpro (?) exhaust w/ 5" tailpipe, fass lift pump (I think). Anyway from the little bit I can gather from the two days of ownership, this truck runs like a top - I love it. Now for a few questions and they are not necessarily specific to me or my truck but things I want to know more about:

Black smoke: What is the seeming interest in heavy black smoke from exhaust? I have seen videos and read on forums about people loving this black smoke. Is this a sign of something being wrong, or is this a good thing? What brings it on and why do people want to do it? Mine does not seem to have any issue here, though on heavy acceleration it will give a little black smoke but just initially. It is set (from what I have been told) to sw7, but I don't know any of the other settings or how to find them.

Also, I plan on towing a decent sized trailer (10-11K) with this so I want to learn what the best Smarty setting will be for this type of work. Would I expect to change the settings between towing and regular driving?

Sorry for all the questions but as I said...clueless.

 

A little black smoke is to be expected. Save blowing smoke for the track or private property. Rolling coal on the street (bellowing black smoke) gives all of us a bad name.

Your programmer should have a tow/haul setting. Find out which one it is and use it. Towing on the high settings is inviting disaster. Prolonged hauling at your high horsepower setting will literally melt engine/drive train parts!