Okay here is the deal, my truck (the 91.5 in the sig) has been acting up for about a week now, it will miss and sputter a little at higher RPMs, but not all the time just once and a while. Then a few days later it got a little worse so I put in some anti-fuel gell/cetane boost and it cleared up in a few miles, so I assumed it was just the fuel gelling since it was around 15*, then a tank later I didn't have any anti-gell stuff when I fuelded up and it started again, so I put some more in it, but this time it didn't help, then I filled it with fuel (got fuel different places each time) and it really started acting up for about 5 miles, missing and throwing white/blue smoke, then it cleared up and ran fine.
That was yesterday, today I went to leave and started down the road and it ran like crap, even after letting it warm up for 15 minutes. There was lots of white/blue smoke and the more throttle I gave it the slower I went there was even a "backfire" (fire out the exhaust, I didn't think diesels backfired) and if I pulled over and let it set and idle it would clear up and then go fine for a little bit then start to die down again till I pulled over and it would clear up.
I don't know much about diesels (and this is my first one if ya can't tell!!) but I know some about gassers, and if it were a gasser the first thing I would guess by the way it was acting was it wasn't getting enough fuel. So I changed the fuel filter because it has been needing to be changed for a while anyway, but I was just waiting for a nice day (today wasn't it 20* and pouring the snow) after I changed it, it seemed to fix my problem, now I can't get it to run rough again, at least for the 20 minutes I drove it after that.
After all that my question is would a clogged fuel filter cause my truck to run that way? Or is there probably another problem?


Thanks for taking the time to read my long post,
Chris

 

sound to me like a fuel filter problem or even a cracked line. Possibly crappy fuel, but I think it aint gitten the fuel that it needs. You might be able to try blowing the lines out with an air compressor. I worked on my dads chevy, and he was having almost the same problems as you. Hope it helps
Wheelo

 

Seems to be okay now that I changed the fuel filter, but my main concern was if the fuel filter being clogged would make it act like that, I sure hope that it is fixed!


Chris

 

Yeah, that'll do it. The filter gets clogged with water and dirt, and causes problems. If possible always fuel at the same place, or at least brand. Shell works best for me. You may need to change the filter again soon, as once you plug a filter, one change doesn't always get all the crap out.
Always fix the cheap easy stuff first!

 

Somebody else told me that today too about changing the filter again pretty soon, I wreckin I'll let this one in here for a week or so then change it again.

Thanks
Chris