lots of white smoke

jeff · May 9, 2009

I finally got this 7.3 running but there is a lot of white smoke comming out of the exaust I have read that this is unburt fuel I do not think its a coolent leak because the the exaust stings my eyes and dose not have that coolant smell rather it smells like its running rich at idle it seems like it mis-fiers if it where a gas eng and the more you give it throttle the more smoke you get I also found one bad glow plug changed it but made no diff. The eng starts easy but had been sitting for a long time I also change the fuel filter and put in fresh fuel. Dose eny one have some suggestions ?? thanx jeff

blacksnapon · May 9, 2009

jeff said:
I finally got this 7.3 running but there is a lot of white smoke comming out of the exaust I have read that this is unburt fuel I do not think its a coolent leak because the the exaust stings my eyes and dose not have that coolant smell rather it smells like its running rich at idle it seems like it mis-fiers if it where a gas eng and the more you give it throttle the more smoke you get I also found one bad glow plug changed it but made no diff. The eng starts easy but had been sitting for a long time I also change the fuel filter and put in fresh fuel. Dose eny one have some suggestions ?? thanx jeff

I think I'd be tempted to do a compression test. If one is too low, there wont be any fire on that cylinder.

jeff · May 9, 2009

If the clys had low comp would the eng not be hard to start? I tried loosening each high pressure line while it was running and their was a noticeable differance on how the eng was idleing thanx jeff

d-kuzmen · May 9, 2009

One or more of the injectors may be leaking dumping too much fuel in the cylinder. Some dealers still have the tool to test the IDI injectors I know we do where I work. That checks spray pattern and the amount of pressure it takes to spray it.

jeff · May 9, 2009

thanx I look around and see if i can get the injectors serviced

Fellro · May 9, 2009

Pretty much covered it already. If it isn't low compression, it can be a bad injector. You can get a diesel compression tester from Harbor freight for around $40 or so, it threads into the glow plug hole. My dad's 2wd 6.9 was more or less stuck when we got it, and it had a smoke problem like that as well, but I never got around to finding out what it was before my sister had it lock up on her... at least that's what it seems. I haven't had time to outright verify that either. It started losing power and now won't turn. It could be the pump, but may be something else, don't know.

flareside_thunder · May 9, 2009

My vote is a bad fuel pump.Might also check the return lines on the injectors...could be leaking air in.....

Fellro · May 10, 2009

Much of an air leak results in a no fire situation from air lock. It doesn't take much of an air leak to do it.

flareside_thunder · May 10, 2009

true but once upon a time I owned an 89 Diesel that would spit and sputter because the returns lines were leaking air in...also cause some difficult start.The biggest problem with that truck was the injector pump.....my buddy owns it now and it'll outrun a stock PSD.Also, if you're shopping for parts for it.I picked up a set of reman injectors for 110 bucks...so shop around.this shop was in the Florida panhandle and 110 was shipped to my door.The injectors were matched as well.

jeff · May 14, 2009

still messin around with this 7.3 if I undo the left rear injection line while the eng is running all what seems to come out of the line is small spurts of fuel that look like soap sudds when this line is off there is a noticeable reduction in white smoke .Is this what i should be seeing out of the line?

jeff · May 14, 2009

I forgot to say that I pressed the shradder valve at the fuel filter and did not see any air come out just a good flow of fuel

d-kuzmen · May 15, 2009

jeff said:
still messin around with this 7.3 if I undo the left rear injection line while the eng is running all what seems to come out of the line is small spurts of fuel that look like soap sudds when this line is off there is a noticeable reduction in white smoke .Is this what i should be seeing out of the line?

On the return line you won't see too much fuel coming back as most of it gets used up by the injectors. I still highly recomed a compression check and injector spray pattern check.

Fellro · May 15, 2009

It would seem that there is some kind of leak in the injection pump perhaps if it is only one injector line foaming like that. It should have spurts of fuel, but no bubbles. It is also possible the injector itself is the issue, so it would be worth a pop test to see.

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lots of white smoke

jeff

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d-kuzmen

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flareside_thunder

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Fellro

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flareside_thunder

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jeff

jeff

d-kuzmen

Master Ford Tech

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