Got the truck back from the dealer on Friday night. It still smoked and Ran rough at cold start however not as bad as before. I have noticed that it does seam to spool up faster now but my mpg seems to be suffering 14 -15 mpg vs. 17 to 18 before bringing it in.

I am starting to think that I should not own a CTD. I love the power but I am tired of fighting with dodge and I know that I will have problems with the injectors forever in this truck. I am doing everything I can to minimize the idle time. I always have the T/H mode on, at every stop light and stop sign I kick in the high idle. I don't ever Idle it when starting or stopping the engine. I am probably going to do damage to the Tranny because I keep dropping it down into 2nd or 1st gear to keep the RPMs above 1000. All this and yet I still have 21% idle time.

The dealer has been good to this point but I think they are about ready to tell me there is nothing more they can do.

I am thinking about three options...

1. Trade the CTD in and get a Hemi or a Chuby
2. Buy a beater truck to drive around town and back and forth to work and save the CTD for only long trips or towing.
3. Saying to heck with it and just driving the truck and living with the smoke rough idle and power loss until something breaks.

 

put a bottle of power service in it hook onto your 30 foot trailer,put the coals right to it and climb the steepest hill you can find drive like you stole it,give her a good run.let me know if this helps.

 

Chuby is the same fuel system. You'll get less mpg with the HEMI than the CTD running rough.

You're getting less mpg because of the way you're driving it.

2.) is not a bad option. Buy a 4 banger somethin' and use the CTD when you need something with *****. I have a friend in Chicago that does that.

3.) is the option I'd choose, but throw in the "drive it like you stole it" and beat it hard. Break as much stuff as you can just to give the dealer fits. What do you have to lose now?

 

I bought a 91 honda crx for tooling around, gets 40+ mpg, use the CTD when I need a testosterone boost, with the family, or with the trailer.

 

All of the trucks up here do a LOT of idling, especially in the winter. I bet for every three hours of run time, one hour of that is idling and none of us have the issues you are having. Of course, most of us drive the snot out of our trucks when they are on the road.

Every manufacturer makes a lemon every now and then. Sounds like you may have one. Before you call it quits, send in your Lemon Law card. It gets the attention of a whole different crowd at DC. It takes the dealer and STAR out of the equation and becomes a corporate issue. It won't be a super fast resolution, but you might be surprised at the attention you get.

 

That is exactly what you should do. DC treats their vehicles like they are still their's when the vehicle is under warranty. Let them take care of their problems. Documentation (if you kept yours) will prove they can not fix the problem. The too much idle time is just a way for them to try and discourage you and hoping you just go away.

They done it to me once, they will never get away with it again from me. Doing nothing will either teach you a lesson or haunt you the rest of your life.

What ever you decide good luck, enjoy life, it's too short.

 

Mine runs rough and smokes at startup as well. I'm sorry but they can't all be bad injectors for petes sake. Run the **** thing like you want and don't worry about it. That's what I'm doing. I run my harder than most and mine still smokes. It doesn't idle around much. These trucks are diesels and I've owned 6 of them now. I haven't had one that didn't smoke or run rough on cold startup. There are a lot of 1st and 2nd gens around here that are run by loggers, farmers, etc. and you should see how they smoke and carry on. Some of them have 500k and they still fire up and run in sub zero temps. Just run it.

 

I am tending to agree. My truck has been rough idling and smoking at start-up. This only started in June. Shortly after having the engine reflashed for improved fuel economy. Mileage and power is great! But I have the smoke and rough idle. I know most big diesel engines white smoke at start up. For example semis and large farm tractors. So maybe the smoke is not that big a deal. The only thing that really concerns me is that there is excessive amounts of diesel on the top of the piston which would increase compression. But it does have a 100,000 mile warranty and I am on 18,900 miles now. So....I am going to keep it rolling!

My question for the diesel experts is what causes white smoke. And how much do injectors leak on other diesel engines. I have alot of experiance with a 38 hp Kubota. It just puffs a little black smoke at start up and thats it. Of course it is a small displacement engine compared to a 5.9L Cummins...

 

White smoke is unburned diesel fuel due to low temperatures. Black smoke is unburned diesel fuel due to insufficient air.

 

Kubota L3830? Yup! Glow plugs and non-turbo. She'll puff a bit of black, then go clean. She'll knock and bang in really cold weather for a minute or so, then quiet down and get to business.

325/600... White smoke tends to indicate a lack of combustion. Black is incomplete combustion. I'm thinking that you're rail pressure is leaking down slightly and the first few shots aren't atomizing enough for ignition.

If things go normal within a couple of seconds, then I wouldn't worry too much about what's really a non-problem. The amount of fuel involved wouldn't be enough to wash the cylinders and I doubt any long term harm would come of it.

The leakdown... Possibly an injector or the pop-off valve on the common rail. If the latter, then you should possibly see a code thrown. If an injector it's not as likely. In either case, though, pressure must be coming up very quickly as the engine isn't giving any problems.

All in all it's pretty simple:

Either you don't have enough compression to fire the fuel... And this can't be the case.

Or... Not enough fuel.

Or... Enough fuel, but not in a form that will burn readily.

Since power doesn't seem to be an issue, then I'd have to steer away from an injector problem, though it's still possible. I'd be more likely to suspect low rail pressure that normalizes before the computer sets a code.

 

The "Cold Weather Starting Instructions" located on the little sticker on my sun visor states that in temperatures below 60*F, start the truck and manually increase the RPMs to 1000, then drop it back to idle. It says this will minimize white smoke on startup....key word being "minimize", as in it is normal and they expect it to smoke a little when starting cold.

Does your sun visor sticker not say the same thing?

 

[QUOTE=nord]Kubota L3830? Yup! Glow plugs and non-turbo. She'll puff a bit of black, then go clean. She'll knock and bang in really cold weather for a minute or so, then quiet down and get to business.

QUOTE]


Hah! Great guess...3830! Runs like a top!

Here's another intresting thing about the white smoking 600. If the truck sits for 4 days then it doesn't smoke or miss. Only after sitting overnight. The smoke lasts for around 30 seconds or less. And the roughness goes away if I bring up the throttle. Really reminds me of a mixture problem. Runs like a champ other than that.

 

The dealership tells me that the white smoke and rough idle is caused by carbon on the injectors that gets hard when the engine is cold thus causeing the fuel to not to atomize correctly so it gets an incomplete burn. As the injector warms up the carbon softens and the fuel spray improves.

Would aftermarket injectors do a better job? I know it would viod my waranty but at this point they are now honoring it anyway.

 

Ditto PapaPerk mine reacts the same way. That's why I say just run it. I know so many guys with these and they all do the same thing.

 

My truck smokes and it does not idle much at all, only at lights. The thing smokes no matter what the temperature is. It could be 90 and sunny and it is still smoking and running rough at start up. So this is not a cold weather problem. The carbon build up theory seems to be the most likly. If that is the problem then some good cleaner every now and again blow it out. Sounds like a good plan to me. I would also like to know if any one with after market injectors has this problem?