Dudes.... my truck SMOOOOOKES in the morning now that it's cold.

It runs rough like its missing out, puffs out whitish blue smoke for about 2 minutes, and alot more smoke when i give it a little throttle. It's not horrible smoke if left at idle, but it's more than it should be. A Co-worker has a '92 D350 Auto, bone stock, and he says he has NO smoke EVER, except under heavy accel.

This morning I got in, it was about 34-outside, Started it up, walked inside for about 4 minutes, came back out, jumped in, and headed out. It smoked and ran rough for a minute or so in 1st...then all the smoke cleared and it ran great.

After work today, I fired it up ( about 45-outside) and it smoked again, but i sat there and gave it about 7-8 revs, it cleared up, i put it in gear and took off, ran fine, no smoke even under heavy accel.

What should I investigate? I KNOW the turbo is good, I work for a turbo shop, it's fresh, no leaks... It got 23mpg both ways on 700 mile roundtrip over the holidays. It runs GREAT when its warmed up, or when the weather is warmer. I just changed the oil and used Chevron Delo 15w-40 with a Cummins Filter. I haven't added any fuel additives, because frankly, I don't know what is the best product/mixture to use. The truck has 142,000 miles, and was taken pretty good care of by the previous owner, maintenance wise. I have NOT turned up the pump, YET . and the turbo is still the stock H1C ( I haven't gotten around to installing the HX35/40-14cm2 Custom Turbo). Only other mods are BHAF, 4"-to-5" Straight Pipe, and Gauges... I've owned it for nearly a month...

Im throwing in all the info about the truck to try and help whoever might be able to help me... Any suggestions?

Thanks guys!

 

Check to make sure your intake heater grids are OK, and also that the KSB system is working. What's happening is that the engine is too cold to burn the fuel cleanly. The two systems I mentioned are crutches to make it run clean when cold. I'm running without intake grids myself, but the Stanadyne I put in the fuel seems to keep the smoke away as claimed.

 

It sounds like the grid heater is not working. Try checking the fuse, wire connections, or if you're getting juice to the heating element by using a volt meter. Just a few suggestions. I'm not familar with the first gens, but maybe someone will respond with some more info.

Let us know what ya find.

On Edit: I see someone was a little quicker than I

 

its freakin cold out...these things need to warm up

 

OK whats a grid heater, where is it, whats it look like, what fuse is it? What is a KSB?

I know the Voltmeter surges several times and the lights flicker during cold start-ups...isnt that a heater of some type?

I dont know much about these trucks, or diesels in general...just getting started, trying to take in as much info as i can, i also dont have a service manual of any type....plus i'm broke..

 

This stuff gets covered pretty well every winter. Try doing three searches in the 1st gen forum: "KSB", "wait to start", and "intake heater" . If you have more questions after looking at the results, ask away.

 

Ok, I did the search for the 3 things...

My questions:

What is a KSB(meaning?) Solenoid and what does it do exactly?
Where is it located?
What's it look like? (pics would be nice)
How much is a new one if mine is bad?

From what I've read... My Grid Heaters are working. They cycle for a little bit when starting in the morning, so I'm guessing they're ok.

From the looks of the other posts, my problem sound like the KSB. After I find out what to look for with it, I'll take a peek at it tomorrow during work, and see if I can fix this annoyance.

Thanks wannadiesel, RattlinRam, MidwestDually for your replies and prompt help! Lifesavers I tell you....

 

You've been given some good advice already...but fwiw...mine starts great, although I do have it plugged in for a few hours. Even if I don't have that luxury it will start after the pre-start cycle and will not smoke, burp, fart or puke at all...and it has been freakin cold up here...-25 to -30 Celsius. So in summary...ya somethin ain't right with yer rig.

 

KSB is a German acronym, remember the pump is made by Bosch. What it means, I have no idea. What it does is crank up the pressure in the pump which also advances the timing. More timing advance makes the engine run cleaner.

Location is on the injection pump. If you're standing beside the truck looking at the pump, you'll see a cylinder shaped piece mounted just off level, with a tube coming out of the top and a wire coming out of the back end. That's the KSB solenoid.

It's not sold seperately AFAIK, it's part of the pump.

I doubt your smoke is from a bad KSB system, because it wasn't cold enough according to your post to even turn the KSB switch on. It needs to see 32 degree air inside the manifold. Edited to correct stupid advice. The switch needs to see 32 C air. That would be 90 F. The smoke may well be from a bad KSB switch. Mea culpa. Sorry for any inconvenience and all that.

I would recommend advancing the pump timing a little bit to see if that helps, if it really bothers you. Smoke when cold is not really an indication of a problem. We've got a '96 medium duty Ford with a Cummins 5.9 at work and it will make your eyes water until it warms up. The bed floor is an open grid so the smoke wafts up at you when you're loading so you get a good dose.

 

Well wannadiesel, thanks again for the advice...I'm going to make sure it's plugged in, and operating. I know for a fact it gets cold inside the truck. I have a thermometer in my center A/C Vent, just to monitor temps coming from A/C-Heater, make sure all is well and be **** you know... Well it was actually 27 this morning outside temp. The thermo inside my truck (which didnt run or move in 2 days, mind you) showed 17-degrees on the dial when I jumped in this morning. Im sure the ol Iron Lung of a motor is a few degrees cooler early in the morning.

Anyways, I'll fart with it tomorrow...I'll post my finds/results.

Oh...and I'll be the first to actually name the KSB....


"KSB= Killer Smoke Solenoid" lol haha

 

Ok, my heater grids are cycling. I pulled the wire off the KSB and the grids are still going... Im guessing this is a pretty good indication that the KSB is out. I'll check for voltage at the KSB with the ignition ON and OFF just to make sure.

Does anyone know the price/part number of this thing? This seems to be a pretty common problem, especially in the winter, so someone MUST have a part number, cost, receipt, anything?

Thanks

 

It does sound like a timing issue. What you are describing is exactly what mine did before I re-timed it. I believe the KSB solenoid advances the timing some when cold. If you go over to the 1st gen forum somebody will know the part # and price.

 

thanks MnTom

 

another thing to look at is when did you last adjust your valves ? my old 93 would do th exact same thing when it was time to re adjust it might have been just that motor, but every 45000 almost clock work. i know there's directions on the 1st gen part for this, just remember to pull your nylon pin back out after you find TDC so ya don't shear it off hope this helps

 

On my older Diesels I'd get smoke at idle when temps were low and they started selling the sulphur free diesel. The best way around it for me was simply to start, wait until there was oil pressure and then drive. This would load the engine and (avoiding high revs and lugging) warmed it up quite fast.
Just my 2c
AlpineRAM