2001 f250 7.3 smoking blue at low speeds and idle

[jbuller]

ok i tested the turbo thery

ok heres what i did to test it just now. i disconected the intercooler pipeing from the turbo on the cool side so that it is just blows into the air. well i ran it like that for 5 minutes or so and no change in the smoking? the compressed air that the turbo was blowing was not oily so i dont think that is where my problem is plus it still smoked while the turbo was not blowing into the engine.
i still may be missing somthing with the turbo i dont know if it has another way of getting oil into the combustion chanber?

only 2 or 3 more ways oil is geting to the exaust in my opinion

1. badly wore rings on the pistons
2.umbrella seals on valve stems are cracked/dryrotted/not on right
3.some sort of tear or hole in the headgasket seal.

i can put a compression test on it but how will that tell me the problem?

 

[dmd]

Key points...

- Hard start when cold with new glow plugs
- Blue smoke when started
- Cleans up a bit when warm

I say worn rings or a dusted engine..

What does the air filter look like?
How often has it been changed?
Is it a gauze/oil filter like a k&N?
Have you made sure it is sealed good? Clips all present and connected?

Take off the filter and the disconnect the cover from the plenum to
the engine.. Is there any grit in it? (any at all)
Are the turbo blades shinny and maybe dinged from grit hitting them?

 

[jbuller]

ok i checked the intake there is no grit at all just a little bit of oily residue. it has a fram airfilter in it(not saying much cause i just bought the truck 2 weeks ago. the turbine blades on the turbo arnt shiny or excessivly worn but definatly dont look completly trashed but still not new looking.
what do you think abou t me putting in that "miracal" oil additive thet says it resores compression and all? i cant think of the name but comes in a silve can and is a pop top kindof like a soda can.

oh yeah what do you mean a dusted engine?

 

[fordfury]

i could be leaking on the exhuast side of the turbo, but to me it sounds like you need to do a compression check before you touch anything. compression testing the engine will tell you what the cylinders are doing, you get the specs on what they should be and then see what you have.dusted engine means you got dirt in it and toasted your rings,

 

[jbuller]

glow plug relay testing

how do i check to see if the glow plug relay is working? i put the multi meter on it when you first turn the key on it clicks and gets 12 volts for about a half a second on the two small terminals and gets 12 volts constantly on the one big terminal when the key is on. i thought the 2 small terminals should get 115 volts for a few seconds to heat up the glow plugs? am i wrong? thankns

 

[redwrench]

Hello, Your Glow plugs and intake heating element operate on 12v DC. the only 115 v heater on the engine is the plug in block heater.

In the interest of keeping things simple what is the condition of the engine oil, and what spec and viscosity is it? I have seen inferior quality engine oil cause this type of complaint..

 

[Zookie400]

do a compression test.

don't worry about glow plugs at all, they have nothing to do with a hot engine smoking.

i would recommend staying away from the engine in a bottle, who knows what it will do to the heui system.

 

[jbuller]

thanks for the help

My engine oil is brandnew as of 3 days ago, it is the rotella 15w-40 diesel oil. the compression check i did was low compresion on most of the cyclinders so there you go for the smoking problem. now i just want to make sure the glow plugs are working right. i realy dont think they are working at all because it is realy hard to start first thing in the morning. after i warm it up it starts fine the rest of the day. i plan on pulling the engine and tearing it down round the first of the year to replace the pistons/rings and all the bearings, so that will be nice i just want to make sure eevry thing else is working on the truck correctly.

 

[redwrench]

Well the glow plugs are easy enough to test. either they work or they don't.

Disconnect each glow plug, At the glow plug connect the clip end of a test light to the glow plug and briefly touch the test end to the positive battery post. if the test light lights up its a good plug (this works for all engines with glow plugs).

Since you know you have a low compression condition I would plug in the block heater overnight (if you plan on using the truck the next day) this should help save some wear and tear on the starter.

 

[Zookie400]

low compression will make it very hard to start a cold diesel, but it is common for the glow plug relay to poop out. with the test light, have someone turn the key to on when the engine is cold. there are 2 large posts on the GPR, one hot one cold....the cold one should light up when they turn the key on, and may click off after a few seconds depending on how cold the engine is.