What happened?

[lkgindy]

Hi,

My truck has been sitting in the garage for a couple of months and I decided to take it out today for a little drive. It was running just fine but when I looked in the mirror I was putting out a trail of smoke a block or more long. I then took it down some back roads to try and keep from causing a problem in traffic. I was hoping maybe it would get better and cure itself. But, it did not and I took the truck home and parked it. I then noticed the left rear tire and the side of the truck behind the tire was splattered in what appered to be fuel or oil that was coming out of the tail pipe. The outlet of the tail pipe was dripping. Any ideas?

Larry

[Kurt Lesser]

Sounds like you've got a fuel injector stuck open. It's just dumping in fuel all the time and blowing it out the tailpipe. I don't know if addatives or something like D2 or injector cleaners would help at this point.

My suggestion would be to pull the injectors and have a diesel shop run them through a test cycle. It's not that expensive to have done.

[lkgindy]

Thanks for the tip. I have a few sets of brand new injectors in my parts stash so I can just change them out and see what happens. I was thinking that maybe the fuel went stale from sitting and I thought about draining the tank. But I can't see how bad fuel would cause the dripping and splatter problem I have. So, I will change the injectors.

Larry

[TheHummerguy]

Larry
I agree with Kurt, If in fact though you have Injectors to replace them with I would just go that route first. Then take the old ones to get them POP tested,,,it is usually free.

Do not run it for that long with this issue, the Excess fuel will wash down the cylinder and you will blow your engine, The Excess fuel washes away the oil as a lubricant.


You do know for sure it was Fuel? What Color was the Smoke? White is Unburnt fuel or Water, If it is water you got bigger issues.

[lkgindy]

The smoke was black and when I would come to a stop sign the smoke would catch up to me and flood the cabin and smelled like raw fuel. It looked like some diesel trucks do when you really get in the throttle and blow lots of black smoke. Except I was just going at a steady speed of maybe 35 or 40 with a smoke trail following me. I did think about the injectors before I wrote the first inquiry but just thought I would see what others thought. The truck is sitting in the garage now and I reached in the tip of the tailpipe and it is extremely wet and there are several drips on the floor. It looks and feels like old oil that has not been changed for years...jet black, real thick and sticky. The truck has never had an issue of any kind and this just started today.

Larry

[lkgindy]

Just an update. I went out to move the truck to start changing the injectors and noticed the fuel gauge. This morning the tank was half full and now it is sitting almost on empty. That means I used almost a half tank of fuel in less that 20 miles. Maybe all the injectors are stuck open...wow that is about 2 mpg.


Larry

[dilvoy]

Check your engine oil level. Maybe the diaphram in the fuel pump failed and fuel was being pumped into the crankcase.

[lkgindy]

I checked the oil right after I got home and it is right at the full line. It is also nice and clean and not contaminated with fuel.

Larry

[lkgindy]

I unpacked the box full of injectors that I have and now I have another problem and/or question. I have four different brands all with different part numbers and I don't have a complete set of eight of any of the brands. Does it hurt to mix brands? Also, does anyone have a cross reference chart or book for all these different brands and part numbers?

Larry

[TheHummerguy]

Larry
What you are saying is that 12 gallons or so of fuel was dumped into your motor in 20 miles? I say you motor would be toast.
Unburnt fuel is White not Black....Oil is being Burned can be Black.
This is a weird one....

[lkgindy]

I guess I can't say for the tank was "exactly" half full. It may have been a little under and it a little under 1/8 tank now. But still a large amount of fuel went someplace and it appears to be out the exhaust.

The engine seems to be running just fine. It runs as good as it ever has and seems strong with good responce. What would a stuck injector or injectors act like? Would it stumble or act a certain way? If it was not for the smoke problem, I would not have any indication that anything was wrong.

Larry

[dilvoy]

Do you have a vent hose on your fuel lift pump? Maybe you have a ruptured diaphram and fuel was pumped through the venting system into things like your hubs, diffs and even transmission. That fuel had to go somewhere. Could someone have siphoned it out without you knowing?"

[lkgindy]

Well, here is the latest on my strange problem. I checked the hubs and transfer case for possible fuel....all ws OK. So I decided to get some fresh fuel and just drive around and see what happens. When I left the house this morning I was again being followed by the large trail of smoke. I got a fresh tank of fuel and kept driving. About 20 minutes into the drive, I looked in the mirror and the smoke was gone. I had a little on hard acceleration but nothing extreme. So, I was feeling pretty good about the fact that maybe problem was just a stuck oil ring that cured itself like someone suggested or bad fuel and kept driving. Maybe 15 minutes later the smoke was back. What is going on here? I drove for another 15 minutes or so and still had the smoke, and this smoke is black as coal. When I got back home I had another spray of what looks like oil all over the left rear tire and up on the body behind the tire. It is also dripping from the tail pipe. I also checked the oil again and it is full and very clean with no sign of fuel. Once again, the truck seemd to be running great with plenty of power and runs real smooth. It does however, seem to be running a little hotter than it has in the past. It is about 200 and goes up to 210 and then drops back to 200. It always used to run around 190 or so. What temperature is the fan sipposed to kick on? HELP!!!

Larry

[dunsbr]

Ok Larry What do we know....

We know that the truck runs and it is belching Black Smoke.
We also know from your inspections that fuel is not going anywhere but into the engine.

Black smoke means that there is excess fuel that is being burnt.
(White smoke is fuel that is unburnt)

So from this we can tell that you are having too much fuel injected into the combustion process or it is being injected at the wrong time.

So wha is the cause???

Could be a dieing IP, It could be an IP timing issue, could be a stuck injector/s. Is your cold advance switch working correctly?

Too much fuel can also mean too little air. Is the filter dirty?
Is the inlet blocked, has the rubber elbow kinked?

These are my initial thoughts, but I'll keep thinking.

Cheers

[dilvoy]

Those are some good observations Brad. I would say that the injectors are not part of the problem Because if they were popping off early, they would cause white smoke because the precise timing of the pop off would be out of ideal piston position for complete combustion and if one or two were stuck open, a noticible power drop and engine miss would have been noticed. So what's left, air and IP timing. Since the aair filter might have been clogged and then somehow it was displaced or the air filter drain plug was sucked out of the way to allow for a period of good running, but things went bad again, so my guess is that air isen't the problem. However woulden't it be nice if the problem was just a dirty air filter. I recently took a DB2 apart to see what was inside and the most impressive thing was the centrifugal weights that move with IP shaft speed, which are also slightly controlled by the internal linkages that are just under the top cover. Fuel returning from the injector return lines manipulates the linkages as well as throttle position does by spring pressure on the linkages. Low fuel return from injectors (high fuel usage) advances the IP timing to allow for engine rpm increase and low fuel consumption (idle and cruise) retard or leave the IP timing at rest. I think the cold start advance solenoid acts on these same internal linkages to allow for easier starting. So could there be a loose injector pump or a problem with the injector return lines causing the problem? Could there be a contanination problem causing the IP to have some problems? Maybe this is one of the times for Lkgindy to try one of those amazing addidtives "Moose piss in a can" and see if it fixes the problem.