White smoke at idle and driving.

[flyn2low737]

Hoping for guidance. Alright 04 M1123 6.5 NA motor. Just got it done and I have been driving around. Noticed what I thought was an exhaust leak so I snugged all the exhaust bolts but there was no soot and the noise remained. While working on a separate AC issue I fired it up and noticed what looked like smoke emanating from the passenger side of the block. Upon closer inspection I found smoke to be puffing out from underneath the CDR valve. Didn’t smell like engine oil smoke but thought maybe something is loose. Ended up pulling the CDR valve and found soot on the intake manifold and almost all the intake bolts to be loose…by a lot. What is baking my noodle is why do I have exhaust coming out from a loose intake manifold? I torqued everything down and the exhaust tick is gone but I now have a noticeable stumble/misfire and a nice haze of white smoke out the pipe that smells of raw fuel. No loss of coolant and engine oil looks normal. What are the chances I have a messed up valve or pushrod? Anyone seen this or have advice on what to check?

 

[osteo16]

Probably why it was decommisioned. JK,,, I acually have no idea,,, Does sound like a bad valve maybe..

 

[flyn2low737]

Probably why it was decommisioned. JK,,, I acually have no idea,,, Does sound like a bad valve maybe..

Weird part is it was kinda ok till I tightened the intake manifold back up.

 

[Mogman]

Remove the oil fill cap and see if there is allot of vapor (puffing) coming out at idle.
If anything got into the manifold or the CDR valve port of the manifold you may have serious problems.

 

[papakb]

It's winter and that's when the cold advance starts working. Maybe your issue is with a bad switch. In mine I saw white smoke for about 10 minutes until the engine warmed up. It's tucked away on the rear and of the right side of the engine. It's easy to check by removing the engine cover and testing with a multimeter. If you want to remove it and test it in a pan of boiling water you should see the continuity change between hot and cold or since you have it out just change it with a new one. It does go into the coolant chamber so you will lose coolant when you remove it.

pn: 5930-01-183-6637 12338596 5569700

 

[flyn2low737]

Remove the oil fill cap and see if there is allot of vapor (puffing) coming out at idle.
If anything got into the manifold or the CDR valve port of the manifold you may have serious problems.

There is zero blowby. Nothing coming out of the oil fill cap.

 

[flyn2low737]

It's winter and that's when the cold advance starts working. Maybe your issue is with a bad switch. In mine I saw white smoke for about 10 minutes until the engine warmed up. It's tucked away on the rear and of the right side of the engine. It's easy to check by removing the engine cover and testing with a multimeter. If you want to remove it and test it in a pan of boiling water you should see the continuity change between hot and cold or since you have it out just change it with a new one. It does go into the coolant chamber so you will lose coolant when you remove it.

pn: 5930-01-183-6637 12338596 5569700

Even when the engine warms up there is still a lot of white diesel smoke coming out the tail pipe. When I take it around the block I white out the road behind me.

 

[Mullaney]

Even when the engine warms up there is still a lot of white diesel smoke coming out the tail pipe. When I take it around the block I white out the road behind me.

.
My SWAG is that you might have a bad injector. You could remove the valve cover and look carefully at the moving parts since there might be something bent or broken. If you remove the exhaust manifold - you should be able to easily SEE the soot and determine which injector could be having problems (if that is the problem).

Just remember... It's just a guess and parts are not cheap.

 

[flyn2low737]

.
My SWAG is that you might have a bad injector. You could remove the valve cover and look carefully at the moving parts since there might be something bent or broken. If you remove the exhaust manifold - you should be able to easily SEE the soot and determine which injector could be having problems (if that is the problem).

Just remember... It's just a guess and parts are not cheap.

I’ll try pulling the valve covers and see if something looks weird when it’s running. What I can’t get my head around is tightening up the intake manifold eliminating an exhaust leak ticking sound. If I were to guess I would say bent pushrod or valve problem.

 

[Mogman]

I’ll try pulling the valve covers and see if something looks weird when it’s running. What I can’t get my head around is tightening up the intake manifold eliminating an exhaust leak ticking sound. If I were to guess I would say bent pushrod or valve problem.

It is fairly common to get stuck lifters after sitting for decades, fresh oil and a little time generally clear them up.
Pulling the valve cover may be a little more involved than you think.

Curious were both sides of the intake loose?
If you suspect an injector or a bad cylinder you can break the injection lines open one at a time and measure the amount of RPM drop per cylinder.

 

[flyn2low737]

It is fairly common to get stuck lifters after sitting for decades, fresh oil and a little time generally clear them up.
Pulling the valve cover may be a little more involved than you think.

Curious were both sides of the intake loose?
If you suspect an injector or a bad cylinder you can break the injection lines open one at a time and measure the amount of RPM drop per cylinder.

I had been driving it with no issues for about 300 miles. The smoking started the next time I started after tightening the intake back up. Maybe it’s a coincidence but I don’t know. Thing that’s weird is I had soot on the intake leaking between the head and intake manifold. Only the passenger side was loose. I don’t have an RPM gauge and I’m not sure how to add one.

 

[Mogman]

I had been driving it with no issues for about 300 miles. The smoking started the next time I started after tightening the intake back up. Maybe it’s a coincidence but I don’t know. Thing that’s weird is I had soot on the intake leaking between the head and intake manifold. Only the passenger side was loose. I don’t have an RPM gauge and I’m not sure how to add one.

Get one off of fleabay, the laser kind and just add a reflective piece of tape to anything that rotates, you only need a reference not an accurate RPM count.
One like this will work,

Digital Tachometer Non Contact Laser Speed Tester Photo RPM Tach Meter Tool Kit | eBay

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[Mogman]

I had been driving it with no issues for about 300 miles. The smoking started the next time I started after tightening the intake back up. Maybe it’s a coincidence but I don’t know. Thing that’s weird is I had soot on the intake leaking between the head and intake manifold. Only the passenger side was loose. I don’t have an RPM gauge and I’m not sure how to add one.

Curious have you checked the air filter?

 

[Coug]

Sometimes you can use a laser thermometer to check the exhaust manifold right at each cylinder as it's running/warming up, to see if one or more is cooler than the others. Not sure if that works with these engines or not, as I mostly do it on smaller engines with tubular type exhausts.

 

[MarkM]

Yes I concur from a previous poster it may be an injector issue and using a laser temp gun may identify a cooler exhaust.

Mark

 

[flyn2low737]

Curious have you checked the air filter?

It’s new

 

[flyn2low737]

Yes I concur from a previous poster it may be an injector issue and using a laser temp gun may identify a cooler exhaust.

Mark

I will try temping the exhaust Monday. Got church and fishing with my kids tomorrow. I will report back.

 

[flyn2low737]

How much of a temp difference should I be seeing between cylinders? Also do I temp the head at the exhaust or the exhaust itself next to the head. I’m seeing wide variances in temp between the head and the exhaust manifold but not much difference between the cylinders.

 

[Coug]

as long as you are being consistent with how you are measuring the temps it doesn't matter as much exactly how you do it.

There will be a little difference, but not a huge amount.

 

[Coug]

Next thing I would probably try is doing a cylinder compression test. It does require a diesel compression tester, and pulling glow plugs to do, but in theory will tell you if you have a valve issue