Jim Warman Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Time to pick everyones brains.... I have an 06 that has three of us stumped.... 06 with 29,000 kms on it (about 18,000 miles). Has recent head gaskets, EGR cooler and oil cooler - concern was present before. Also has latest flash. Initial start is great, goes straight to a smooth, smokeless idle.... but if you leave it idle, it will start to smoke getting worse and worse as time passes. On drive-away, it will smoke real bad at first but soon clears off until it is left to idle again. Driven hard, it doesn't smoke. The tech that I've had on it (currently on his honeymoon) was a little bit "flighty" in some of his diagnostics, I think he overlooked some steps I might have considered as helpful. He is the tech that replaced the gaskets and coolers. I do know that the turbo has been checked for oiling in both intake and exhaust... I don't know if much has been done with the scan tool - realized this just now - as far as PW, ICP, IPR, LOAD and such. This truck is chipped when it isn't in the shop but the chip doesn't make any difference in the symptoms. Turbo fins look good and crankcase pressure is less than 2 inches. It has a 4" turbo back exhaust (no cat) but other similar trucks don't smoke like this one. This truck runs fuel from the same supplier as most of our other locals but I have still drained the tank and added 5 gallons of KTP fuel to eliminate that variable.... It was another 12 hour day today so I wont be running it until morning. At this point, with the way the truck runs (aside from the smoke) and pulls (without the chip), I'm inclined to think that it is likely something the other tech has overlooked as inconsequential.... Anybody give me a kick in the ass to stimulate the brain cells???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 When it smokes, does it smell like fuel or oil? Unless you smell oil, the only thing I can think of if all sensors are in range is an injector problem. Does the engine continue to run smooth as it begins to smoke while idling? Your description sounds like the classic extended idling smoke... but you are smarter than that. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 My nose isn't ever as good as it really could be.... (hmmm, as time passes, I find the same applies to my eyes and my ears). I'm reasonably sure that the smoke isn't fuel.... there's none of that "bite" to it and it doesn't make your eyes water. Oil is my best guess.... the smoke has a bit of a blue tinge to it but it doesn't leave me coughing and gagging if I walk through it (missing my morning cigarette WILL leave me coughing and gagging - I wish I could curb my excesses....). The engine continues to purr like a kitten a the smoke develops - no changes in the way it's running that I have noticed - and the smoke is the only sign that anything is amiss (again, I have no scan tool data to refer to - something I will attend to this AM). As for the amount of smoke.... this is certainly not your typical cold chamber smoke. It starts out as a haze but quickly gets to the point you could just about cut it with a knife - once it gets like that, stabbing the throttle will about obliterate anything behind the truck. I'll post more at lunch time if I learn anything more.... I am resisting the urge to pull the manifolds to see if it is all or only some cylinders.... but it may come to that. Of course, my "dance card" for the week was already full... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselD Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 it sure sounds like a turbo burning oil, I have had a couple that dont seem to have oil in the intake or exhuast side but as soon as your rip on the throttle it fogs the street. sounds like you have a stumper there. how about left over coolant in the exhuast? nothing nasty liquid coming from the tailpipe? did the other tech replace the coolers/gaskets for this problem? or was it a popped egr cooler? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregH Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 Possibly a bad EGR cooler right out of the box? Any excessive coolant pressure? EGR valve nice and dry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErickBaker Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 I had a truck in that the EGR cooler had failed on and the turbo had the normal amount of coolant in the exhaust/turbo. I dried the turbo out as I normally do. I drove the truck and the smoke cleared out unless I let it sit and idle for a while in which case the smoke became continually thicker until driving. To make a long story short I believe the coolant in the exhaust damaged the turbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted June 1, 2007 Author Share Posted June 1, 2007 Yesterday, I took some time to play with power balance to see if the smoke changed as I killed various cylinders.... A couple looked promising but not enough to "make book" on.... Today we had another tech peel the exhaust manifolds off... and we ran it for over an hour... more than long enough to make it produce the smoke..... The smoke that didn't appear - not one bit. Now - the previous tech had run the truck without the hot side CAC tube connected as well as with the down pipe disconnected... Looks like I will have to rerun these tests..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted June 3, 2007 Author Share Posted June 3, 2007 We can call this one a fix..... Now, remember that we had the manifolds undone at the heads, the hot side CAC still connected and none of the smoke we expected.... Reinstalled the manifolds and undid the downpipe..... smoke - lots and lots of smoke. Remove the hot side CAC and the smoke disappears. Reconnect - smoke.... disconnect no smoke. I would have thought that a concern associated with the compressor side would have made smoke from the cylinders...Instead, connecting the CAC tube somehow caused the compressor side to force oil into the turbine side... Anyway, a new turbo and this one is gone.... FWIW, this new turbo came without the VGT solenoid.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 FWIW, this new turbo came without the VGT solenoid.... They have been coming that way for quite a while now, or at least in my area they have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselD Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 yeah they dont come with VGts anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Bruene Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 I can't help but laugh... for the past day, I've been chasing what sounds like the EXACT same problem. Tonnes of white/grey smoke, which smelled like fuel, and not at all like oil. I was balloon testing, trying to cut out cylinders to identify a dumping injector. I was going to remove the manifolds, but since it's an E-box, I thought I would just remove the Y-pipe to figure out which manifold to remove, but then the smoke stopped. When I reinstalled the Y-pipe, it started to smoke like a cheap hooker again. Turns out to have been the turbo leaking on the turbine side. I guess that when the oil isn't being burned in the combustion chambers, but being burned up in the exhaust, it just doesn't have the same smell... lesson learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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