gofastman

Need help guys, driving down to florida i got off the interstate to get fuel, as i pulled up to the fuel pump, i notice a plum of smoke all around my truck. Investigating further, found it is definitly oil smoke. I thought due to the miles on my truck, the turbo had finally let go. So i pulled the hose going to cooler, it is clean and very dry. So now whar gives. It has all kinds of power. Oil level is down about 1 pint off the full mark. Have changed oil on this baby every 7000 miles like clock work.
Now I had a new short block put in this 45000, miles ago. They used all the other items from my other motor, Have had no problems whatso ever.
Any suggetions where to start.
Thanks in advance for any help here.

RCW

You do not say if it was blowing smoke out the exhaust or where. But if it was just a general cloud of smoke around the truck, check the valve cover for any leaks that are drooling out the exhaust manifold side. Also check the oil line to the turbo for any leaks. Sometimes the third gen engines will develop an oil leak between the head and the block, right along the rear where it drools down on the exhaust manifold or exhaust system.

If you have oil in the exhaust, the best solution is to do a compression check to rule out internal engine issues.

Lastly, I have seen the same smoke cloud symptoms you describe, but they were fuel leakage related from bad injector seals. Your fuel mileage would be pretty poor if that were the case. Also, an oil analysis will turn up diesel in the oil if that is the case.

gofastman

RCW, Sorry didnt explain completely, The excessive amount of blue smoke is coming from the tail pipe, Now like i said before it has plenty of power, if i sat at a light for to long, 3 minutes or so, then she would start to miss once in a while, but when i took off from the light, baby her real easy, it would puff a big plum of blue smoke, but agian no power issues, all guages show normal.
Now i had what i called a hazing problem with my truck right before new short block installed, and it was lite grey and very faint.
This has been like this for a long time, and dealer says that this is an issue they are working on, So that is all i have had until last nite, and now i fog up the street really fast.

gofastman

Also unable to answer for fuel milage, i didnt write it down on the way home and have been thinking oil related. I thought all fuel related problems would be black smoke. And oil smoke was blue.
Please corect me if im wrong. Now if i had an internal issue would it run so well with all the power it has got. I was thinking maybe a valve seal let go.
Please tell me you dont think it is a piston ring gone bad. Please tell me it aint so.

infidel

Sounds like the seal on the exhaust side of the turbo may be leaking.
It doesn't take much oil in the exhaust stream to make lots of smoke.
It costs about $70 for a do it yourself turbo rebuild kit or about $250 to have someone else do it. Might also want to consider upgrading to a bigger turbo at this point.

gofastman

The oil leaking into the exhaust side will burn to the point to make this much smoke. I only seem to have a big plum of smoke at idle and when just leaving a light. then i dont see any more until i stop.
Now another question, how much lateral play should there be in the turbo shaft? I have what i would call 1/16 or a little less. Let me know thanks

eng208

What was the problem with the original motor? You said it was hazing. What was causing that? Could this one be a stuck injector? That would cause oil dilution that would in turn lead to burning oil, plus it would cause a miss at idle when the cylinder was washing down and the smoke.
Chris

gofastman

Dealer did and oil change and did not tight drain plug, no oil, boom! sent number 6 rod out the side of block.
So they replace with short block, now i had 267,000 miles on that motor when it blow up.
So they argued that i had that many miles on motor and didnt feel they had to replace the entire motor with new, just the part they screwed up. so after being stuck in colorado, i live in Alabama, for 15 days i agreed and they did put in a short block, the head and all other items came from old motor. I now have 57,000 on this motor, and this happen instantly last nite.

cumminsdriver635

I think your problem is a bad injector myself. I had one go bad, and noticed my truck was white/blue smoking bad. Then it got worse, and started to miss bad, and just like you, when i would leave a stop light, it would leave a big plume white/blue of smoke. It finally got to where it was hazing white/blue while just driving down the road. by the sounds of it, i wouldnt doubt if you dont have a bad injector; especially with as many miles as you have on it. Good luck

Eric

gofastman

cummins, I thought of that also, but this is all blue smoke now. Before all this is was a grey color and vaint, also only at idle. I have had it to the dealer a littlw while ago for a transfer pump, they checked the injectors and clam that there is no problem with the injectors, all working great. Now that dont mean for it to not gone bad now. Im going to check tomorrow the exhaust side of the turbo and see if there is any oil in the housing. Im hoping that there is so i can get this fixed the easy way. If any body has any other suggestions i would be greatful to hear them.
Thanks to all for the help i will post my finding tomorrow.
Allen

TORQUE

If you have that much play in turbo shaft, that is where you are getting oil from(bad turbo bearing and seal), and oil is being sucked in and burnt in engine(you're probably also having to add engine oil)? Remove turbo hose, and check for signs of fins rubbing against turbo housing.

gofastman

This morning left the output tube off of turbo, and everything else back together, started truck, idle only for 1 minute, and it started to blow blue smoke. I then being really gutsy, put my hand on the exhaust side of the turbo, and it was warm but not hot enough to burn me. That tells me, please correct me if im wrong here, that it is not oil being burnt in the exhaust side of the turbo, also it is not pulling oil through the seal on the compresser side either, due to i had the tube from turbo to air exchanger disconnected.
Can somebody tell me how you tell the difference between oil blue smoke and fuel related blue smoke? I always thought that blue smoke was oil period, now im being told on a diesel truck, blue smoke can be fuel related too. How do you tell the difference so i know what im chasing down here.
So that puts me back to the motor itself. So does that mean that it is a injector and without going to dealer, anybody tell me how to check this to figure out which one it is.
I agree with you torque that the turbo shaft is not in the best of shape and i am going to order a new tiurbo for it and take care of that problem also, but first thing is to find this smoking problem. It seems the longer it runs the worse it gets, so heat is a factor here,would an injector gone bad start this right away or would it take time for this to show up out the tail pipe.

PLEASE ANY BODY i NEED SOME SERIOUS HELP WITH THIS. PLEASE CHIME IN!!!

cumminsdriver635

Diesel blue smoke burns your eyes, and makes them water if you stand close to it. I personaly am still thinking you have an injector problem. As far as checking it; i really dont know... Mine started leaking diesel bad around the bad injector as soon as it went bad. Might check, and make sure diesel is not leaking around any of your injectors. I really couldnt tell you want to do other than that. You could pull them all out, and take them to a shop to be pop tested, which shouldnt take long as far as the testing goes... Good luck; and let us know what you find.

Eric

eng208

Just for my own self satisfaction, how much of the diesel blue smoke should one make on the cold start cycles? Mine makes a good bit on the first start up, and at a light at night, I can see a little smoke being made at a traffic light when cars are behind me. If I put it in N, the smoke clears up when I am at a light. I just want to be satisfied I do not have a bad injector problem myself.
Thanks,
Chris

MCummings

infidel allready told you what your problem is and you didn't listen.

Replace, or rebuild your turbo. Fuel usually has a nasty small, where oil has the pure, yet poignant "burnt oil" smell.

Merrick