PsychoRallye

So I picked up my "new" (to me) Truck 2 days ago. I've been driving it around since, from Georgia where I picked it up back to New York today (long drive!)


Today it started doing something weird.. when the truck is under load (I was NOT towing anything and had about 300 lbs of cargo in the bed and cab [plus my weight] maximum!) -- when I say under load, I mean, accelerating or going up a hill. As I'm doing this, sometimes I hear a "CLACK CLACK" kind of sound (almost like two very flat pieces of billet being slapped against each other), the truck jerks a bit and a pretty **** big cloud of NON-Black smoke comes out the back. Enough that it would obscure cars behind me. This would happen when I was in gear, and happened in 4, 5, and 6. It might happen in all of the gears, but it wasn't 100% of the time, though it is at least repeatable. After the cloud of smoke, it feels like it's a small boost of power... I think.

I looked for leaking "stuff" -- the diffs (both), transfer case (manual by the way), oil pan (engine 5.9 HO), transmission (NV5600 6-sp manual), and saw nothing. The engine oil is a bit *high* (but not dangerously so), and the coolant is at or near the max level in the overflow resevoir with the engine hot.

Help, ideas??? Is it safe to drive to the dealer? I just drove it 1000 miles for goodness sakes!

To help: 2003 Quad Cab 2500, 4X4,6SP HO ST package, no bells & whistles! 93K miles at pickup 2 days ago. I still have 6K of engine warranty left then, right? As far as I could tell, there didn't appear to be any modifications the previous owner had done to the truck (he towed horse trailers for a living).

Thanks for any ideas!

Also, do any of the dealers in Northern NJ, Southern NY or Long Island have any decent diesel departments that I should bring this to, even though the rest of the truck is out of warranty? Is it the injectors (perhaps) as a good friend of mine suggested ?

-PR

Rpainter

when you checked the oil how long of a sit?? Usually the time to fuel up my oil level is about 2 quarts low(still in the motor) so if it is high maybe a injecter went bad. does it smell and any codes? when my injecter cracked I had a sputter cruising and white smoke when I got on it and at idle.

PsychoRallye

Good point.I think I checked the oil when the truck had only been sitting for around 30-45 minutes after being driven for an hour or more... (so it was pretty warm) but I can't recall for sure. I can check it tomorrow first thing.

When cold, how high should the level show?
Thanks

Rpainter

on the full mark min ewas about 4 inches above it lol kinda knew something was wrong when I drained the oil and I had a 5 gallon bucket full and 2 1/2 gallons of oil running down the driveway. oops

PsychoRallye

Another thought, it was also just mentioned to me (by the same friend) that the oil level can appear high on 3rd gen trucks due to a semi-common defect whereby the injectors malfunction and there is excess fuel flow. Is there some way to help show this when I bring it to the dealer? (If that is the problem at all!).

I will check the oil again tomorrow (as I said before) to confirm -- the engine might have been too hot -- but either way, that is a bit weird, and I don't recall how high "too high" was.... whether that was 1/8" of an inch above the hash marks or a bunch, I just can't remember... too much driving...

Thanks!

EDIT: Sorry missed the question, Didn't notice a smell cause it's been raining most of the day here -- and no codes...

EDIT #2: I just checked the oil. It's around 1/2" above the hash-mark line.... and it doesn't smell like Diesel, but ULSD doesn't smell that much, so.... I should note, I did not do this oil change, the guy who owned it last did -- and he did it just before I arrived. The oil is pretty black, but does not look "chunky" or have lots of particulate, etc. So is 1/2" above the hash mark going to be a problem or the indication that I have this "known injector issue"?

Thanks as always guys...

Rpainter

they can test each injecter to tell if one or more is not firing right

PsychoRallye

Thanks again for all the help. If anyone else has ideas, I'm listening!!

I'm going to the dealer (Driving it, hope that's OK) tomorrow... whether they want to see me or not!

Rpainter

I would check the oil if it is very high or smells like diesel I would have it towed there it does not take much to kill a turbo or wash the cylinders and ruin a motor

mikelr

Hey Psycho,
The "clack, clack" you are hearing could be timing rattle caused by a missfiring injector, the oil level being 1/2" high that soon after a change sounds more and more like an injector problem.

dj_souvlaki

sounds like an injector problem to me too.

Delectric

Just for the heck of it I would call the previous owner (If purchased from a private party) and ask if they had ever experienced this or had any recent work done to it. Might help narrow the problem down a little.

myshorts

We bought a truck in TX and drove it all the way back to Ohio. Smoked like a son of a gun and smelled rich. They tested it and said #4 injector was bad. We sent in all six injectors to get the nozzles ground put on them. The person doing this actually found 2 bad tips. Cost us less than the price of one new injector. And it doesn't smoke any longer.

PsychoRallye

Myshorts, who did the nozzles in case that might be it?

Thanks for the tips. Dealer has it at the moment... so we'll see. Got a good dealer suggestion thanks to Mikelr... When I spoke with the tech who took it for a ride (who's a diesel guy) he indicated first "I have to get it on a lift and take a better look" but he said his first glance wasn't that it was injectors -- but possibly the injector pump -- and maybe other things were bad too. I didn't mention on the forum (but did to them, since I remembered that it might help) that my trip back from Georgia averaged (hand calculated) 18mpg (the truck has 410s so that can't be all bad) at 65-70 mph. That, in addition to the fact that it doesn't crank for any longer than normal at startup... both of which said to the tech that it isn't the cracked injector/oil mix issue. He also said he wasn't sure but it was still possible the injectors were bad, so I'm waiting to see, on Wednesday I hope since everyone is closed tomorrow...

Thanks all.