Hello, i need some help/advise on my Dodge. I have a 2004.5 dually that started missing and smoking white when you first fire it up in the morning,. The miss would clear up pretty quick but it seems like it has no power above 2k rpms. I tried swapping fuel filter and running power service through it but no change to the miss. To me it seems like an injector dripping while the truck sits overnight.

Took it to the dealer for warranty repairs, they said they think it may have had an injector sticking, but they could not get it to act up and that it should be fine.

My thought is if an injector has started sticking, it will continue to stick. Is this a common problem with these engines??? The truck only has 92,000 miles on it.

Any advise or suggestions?? Any specific tests I should ask to see the results of other than the injector cutout and fuel pressure/volume tests?

Thanks,

Bowedup

 

I would also say that is probably an injector failing.

If it only does it on the first cold start of the morning, maybe you could let the truck sit at the dealership overnight?

 

i second leaving it overnite. they will only do the required testing and if nothing shows up they send it on its way

 

Went to the dealership at 10am, they said everything was fine and charged me $75 diagnostic fee because they said they didn't find anything wrong. I fired it up to leave and it was doing the same thing! I threw the keys at them and told them to fix my truck!

I am going back down there in a few minutes to "discuss" my problem and get my money back!

Thanks for the replies and please let me know if yall come up with any other diagnostic infoi I should ask about.

Thanks,

Bowedup

 

mite need to find a better dealership that works on diesels more

 

Good luck and keep us informed on how this works out.

 

swung by at lunch because I saw the truck had been moved, service writer gave me the same story that the technician as well as the service manager had test drove the truck and both said nothing was wrong.

I again asked them if they had performed any tests or checked anything over and the guy just looked at me like I was ignorant.

I am going to check back with them after work today and hopefully they will at least check it over.

Thanks for the info, i'll let yall know how it comes out.

Bowedup

 

Ask them for a print out on all the test they performed. If they balk on that then take your truck to another dealership with reciept in hand and hopefully they can help you more. Another tip is have one of the mechanics or service writer ride in the truck with you to recreate the problem, usually there test drive consist of a jont around the dealership.

 

A leaking injector is difficult for a dealer without much experience with diesels to diagnose. If it is not bad then it will have to sit for hours before the rough startup and white/blue smoke. Normally if the injector is not real bad it won't do it until it sits again for many hours. An injector sticking open can be just as hard if it is intermitant. If one sticks all the way open and stays that way you will know it immediately.

My dealer had me leave mine overnight to see what happened on cold startup. Then they let it sit for half a day and pulled the exhaust manifold loose, started it up and saw which cylinder was producing the white/blue smoke. Swapped that injector out and good to go.

 

Would a leak down test at the dealership help him? I know its expensive but it could help diagnose it. Just my .02 correct me if im wrong.

 

A dealership has the equipment to detect leaking injectors, but it doesn't tell you exactly wich one it is. Thats when you need a well qualified diesel mechanic to pin-point which one it is. More than likely dodge will do a "shotgun" approach and ask to replace everything.

 

might help to know where you are located so we can suggest a better dealer. just a thoguht and good luck.

 

Read this TSB these are tests to properly diag your driveability problem.
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=218069

 

Tell your dealership to pull an engine oil sample to see if diesel is getting into your engine oil. With a leaking injector you should have slight injector knock and it may smoke. Either way the oil sample is going to tell you alot.
Or you could have them pull your injectors and look into your cylinders, if they see a very clean cylinder- no soot- then that is the injector that is leaking. They should be able to do what is call an injector (cylinder) cut-out test on your truck in the morning, this also will tell you which injector is leaking. This is what pisses me off about dealerships, they have the tooling but not the brains. Good luck, i personally think that you have injector problems, make them change them if you still have warranty left.

 

ok, they let it sit overnight and no luck, started it several times yesterday with no luck, and finally about 4:30pm yesterday they fired it up and it was missing like crazy!

We had a lengthy discussion about my engine warranty coverage, which is good for another 7,231 miles or until March 23rd, 2011, whichever comes first, so I told them they can do whatever tests they want as long as it is covered by warranty because I am not paying for it.

At our last conversation yesterday they said it may be in the shop for a week or more, so obviously they have an idea of what the problem is, but don't want to tell me yet.

Thanks again for the help and I'll let yall know if I hear anything new.

Bowedup