Smoke when cold

[wilsonck]

My truck seems to smoke more on startup when it is cold than it used to. Today was about 5 C, so it is starting to warm up with spring but even today after sitting all day, it smoked till it warmed up. It has 4" exhaust, no cat, pcv reroute, blocked egr and an efi tune. I don't believe the tune does much if anything down at low rpm to induce the smoke.

What are some things that I can check other than balance rates?

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

Mine smokes too and my balance rates are fine I have looked into alot and I think my problem is no MAF.

Yours could be a blown HG, bad injector or tuning issue

 

[wilsonck]

Blown head gasket? how would I double check this and what other symptoms would I look for?

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

Blown head gasket? how would I double check this and what other symptoms would I look for?

The gasket could be leaking coolant into the cylinder until it warms up. You can check by keeping an eye on you coolant level, pull the glowplugs and look for signs of white crust (caused by the coolant being burned) or do a compression test while the engine is cold.

I dont mean to scare you about the HG, it probably isnt that. more liekly a tuning issue or a bad injector.

 

[TrentNell]

x3 , i have checked balance rates they are all very good , i know mine is not coolant havent checked setting in tune for cold temp but believe they are all stock settings , next for me was checking glow plugs , and compression . it does not do it if i plug the truck in .

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

x3 , i have checked balance rates they are all very good , i know mine is not coolant havent checked setting in tune for cold temp but believe they are all stock settings , next for me was checking glow plugs , and compression . it does not do it if i plug the truck in .

Mine is the exact same way. If its plugged in I will never see smoke. I have gotten into thed habit of pluggin my truck in if it is going to be under 60* outside

 

[TrentNell]

Mine is the exact same way. If its plugged in I will never see smoke. I have gotten into thed habit of pluggin my truck in if it is going to be under 60* outside

its got me thinking maybe glow plug mine seems to be unburned fue,lt seems like soot . plugging in wouldnt warm anything enough to change tolerance would it like . like injector ect .

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

its got me thinking maybe glow plug mine seems to be unburned fue,lt seems like soot . plugging in wouldnt warm anything enough to change tolerance would it like . like injector ect .

good point! I know DMAXVAZ pulled his glowplugs out not too long ago and found that only like 3 out of the 8 were working. I dont think he had that high of milage either. I know I am at 84,000. What kind of milage is one yours?

 

[TrentNell]

good point! I know DMAXVAZ pulled his glowplugs out not too long ago and found that only like 3 out of the 8 were working. I dont think he had that high of milage either. I know I am at 84,000. What kind of milage is one yours?

67k

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

67k

We could be on to some thing, I need to pull my plugs to do a compression test anyway

 

[TrentNell]

We could be on to some thing, I need to pull my plugs to do a compression test anyway

i am too scared too, i dont want to know :baby: :rofl:

 

[wilsonck]

Upon checking my balance rates today, they all look fine.

Cold Warm
-0.1 1.6
1.3 2.2
-1.0 -2.7
-1.2 -1.6
0.4 0.5
0.5 -0.4
-0.2 1.5
0.5 -1.0

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

Upon checking my balance rates today, they all look fine.

Cold Warm
-0.1 1.6
1.3 2.2
-1.0 -2.7
-1.2 -1.6
0.4 0.5
0.5 -0.4
-0.2 1.5
0.5 -1.0

How are your coolant levels?

 

[wilsonck]

Its good, no issues there.

 

[BudTX]

What color is the smoke?

White vapor from the tailpipe at startup on cold mornings is condensation in your exhaust system. It burns off as the truck warms up.

 

[JMDuramaxLB7]

It has to be pretty cold for a diesel to do that,below 20 degrees or so. At least thats the way mine is.

 

[wilsonck]

What color is the smoke?

White vapor from the tailpipe at startup on cold mornings is condensation in your exhaust system. It burns off as the truck warms up.

It is actually a little more blue than white. I have seen one or two others that appeared stock and their smoke was more white like you expect from exhaust when it is cold.

This is why I am wondering if there are more things I could check. It doesn't burn oil and like I mentioned, the last 2 tanks had no 2 stroke in it which I could see leading to the blue'r smoke.

 

[TheBac]

Shoot...my truck starts and idles like an old Detroit semi engine when cold, even after being plugged in. Blows a lot of whitish smoke, but all that clears up after a couple minutes and the truck then runs beautifully. This is no matter what tune is in it. No idea why it does it, as balance rates are fine. I've not noticed the coolant level dropping any, either.

 

[racinmike77]

all 3 duramaxes I have owned smoke like you are describing. I dont think the fuel is burning efficiently in the cold weather, if you mess with vane position and pull some timing to make some heat you might be able to clean it up.

 

[wilsonck]

I had changed the vane position to be like the LB7 idle, but once the fast idle kicks in, it is back to normal


Trentnell, did you ever find anything or did the weather just turn warmer and you don't have the issue anymore?