6.0 white smoke. Runs fine. No codes.

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
Hey guys,
So I have an 06 250 w/ 266k miles. I'm the 3rd owner. Recently it developed this white smoke issue. I normally have minor stiction issues when it's cold, this "winter" not as much. Anyway, the last 2 months it started smoking a LOT.
Usually anytime I come to a stop in traffic at a light. When I get on the gas to accelerate pooof. Huge cloud of white smoke. If I floor it I get black smoke, but you see the white smoke with it.
Trucks cranks fine. Always on the 1st try.
Idles smooth. I haven't noticed a change. Still gets 17/19mpg on the HWY and 14s around town. (According to the dash)
Still pulls hard.

Truck has an Edge CS tuner that I run in the normal tune. The one 1 up from stock and towing.

Has 4-5" straight pipe. Upgraded cac tubes.
Turbo is a rebuilt unit.
I've got blue spring update.
Recently replaced a bad glow plug and entire driver side harness.
Occasionally I get a EBP sensor error, as I changed that back in dec? But I think I need to change the connector too.
EGR ******d.
CVV ******d. Routed to catch can then atmosphere.
Water pump and fan clutch and coolant changed last fall.

And I recently replaced the cabin hvac coolant valve as it was leaking coolant all over that Injector plug right below it.

FICM stays 48-48.5v all day.
Battery voltage reads 13.3-14v most days.

My oil cooler is going to crap. I have an oem one at the house I'm gonna put on when I get back into town. Delta's at 13-15 these days. But the oil temp never exceeds 210. So not super hot.
I'm also gonna get a buzz test done too.

So I get white smoke at move off pretty much anytime I go from idle to move off.
Sometimes when I've been driving all day, it will puff white smoke at idle, just sit there for like 2-3 minutes with white smoke. Then it'll stop. Then u move off and it will puff a huge cloud.
Then another day it will do light clouds of smoke at move off then nothing.
The smoke doesn't smell like oil. I mean it smells like an old diesel truck, but not like I'm burning oil. Always white. Never seen blue-ish color in the smoke.

I'm guessing that Injector that got leaked on is f-ed. I didn't catch it in time as my wife has been driving it lately and doesn't tell me when stuff isn't right, till like a month later.
I'm also thinking turbo seal based on some googling I did.
I'm hoping it's one of these two, but a Diesel tech I know says he's never seen the seals really go bad on the 6.0 and that since it's not idling funny, or rough then I might have blown rings.

Anyone ever experience this kind of white smoke. I can't afford to rebuild the motor I it's bad piston rings. I'll take a loss and let the truck go. I'm hoping it's injectors and/or turbo seals.

Any similar experience.

Oh, and I have 0 coolant loss. And oil consumption is as it has always been. Nothing excessive.
My last Blackstone labs oil analysis had nothing irregular. No unusual wear, actually less than most 6.0 trucks with this mileage, according to them.

Thanks in advance.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
Here are my oil analysis results.
d728a29fe7b16576203a8231aff0cd03.jpg


Basically what I'm looking for is, has anyone that has had shot rings, did you have this behavior/symptoms that I have?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
More than average I'd say? But it's always been that way since I've had the truck the past 2 years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

powerlifter405

Active member
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Messages
1,604
Reaction score
2
Location
Butt Town
White smoke was what happened when my 7.3 had a ring issue. Check your compression and that will tell you if it is a ring issue.

If your #'s are good, I'd venture it's an injector issue. If you can do a cylinder contribution test look to see if the injector that got coolant on it is the bad cylinder. You can also take electrical cleaner to clean your injector side connector and then the harness side connector. Use di-electric grease and little wd-40 to take care of moisture issues. I di-electric every connector now and I've had ZERO corrosion and moisture issues on any car of any age over the last 10+ years.
 

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
White smoke was what happened when my 7.3 had a ring issue. Check your compression and that will tell you if it is a ring issue.

If your #'s are good, I'd venture it's an injector issue. If you can do a cylinder contribution test look to see if the injector that got coolant on it is the bad cylinder. You can also take electrical cleaner to clean your injector side connector and then the harness side connector. Use di-electric grease and little wd-40 to take care of moisture issues. I di-electric every connector now and I've had ZERO corrosion and moisture issues on any car of any age over the last 10+ years.



I did clean it up, it seemed to improve things but eventually didn't stop the smoke.
I'll talk to dude about doing a compression test for me when he checks the injectors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

powerlifter405

Active member
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Messages
1,604
Reaction score
2
Location
Butt Town
I was plenty of white smoke when I had a bad cylinder. Under load it wasn't too bad but at idle or start up it was horrible.

Before you even deal w/ pulling injectors, pull the glow plugs then check compression numbers. You can make or buy 7.3 compression testers now. If someone says the 7.3 can't be compression tested they aren't as familiar with the 7.3 as they'd think.
 

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
It's not a 7.3
There's no smoke at startup and idle. Mainly moving off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

SICKS LITER

New member
Joined
May 3, 2012
Messages
440
Reaction score
0
Location
Salem, NH
Disconnect the down pipe and look inside the turbine housing and downpipe for oil. You may have to take the turbo off and remove the turbine housing to see the oily goo behind the turbine wheel.
 

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
I was thinking about that, but I will just wait till I do the oil cooler to check that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

powerlifter405

Active member
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Messages
1,604
Reaction score
2
Location
Butt Town
I realize its not a 6.0 but the mechanics behind the motors are the same, even compression.

And when my exhaust housing on the turbo was leaking, no smoke. Only a slow drip between the exhaust housing and the DP.

good luck
 

Mdub707

Active member
Joined
May 18, 2011
Messages
5,079
Reaction score
0
Location
Mohawk NY
I had a funky condition once with a bad injector that would only show up on stock tuning. If I tuned back to stock, the truck would dump white smoke under full throttle. I mean, borderline looked like a headgasket failure. Tune it back to any of my ********** tunes and it would go away. It was quite strange. One morning I fired the truck up to go to work and that injector just flat gave up. Ran on 7 cylinders and hated life. Drove it straight to the dealer (maybe 5 miles away) and parked it. They replaced that injector for me and the issue went away.

I've also had issues with white smoke at idle and on the throttle that a fresh FICM fixed.
 

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
Hmmmm. I like what I'm hearing. I really hope it's not a dead cylinder. We Will see what happens.

I'm your case, did the buzz test reveal which Injector it was?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Mdub707

Active member
Joined
May 18, 2011
Messages
5,079
Reaction score
0
Location
Mohawk NY
Nope, honestly the truck still seemed to run OK despite the white smoke issue. I was pretty heavy into repairing FICM's at the time so I was constantly listening for injector buzz and monitoring injection stuff with AE. Truck seemed to run OK other than the smoke. As soon as it gave up on me the CEL came on and I scanned and it immediately knew what injector it was then.
 

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
Ok. Hope that's all it is. I just got back home this week. It's gonna be a busy week, but I want to try to get it to a local diesel specialist and see if they can diagnose it.
I had to stomp on it this morning, and good god man. The trick still pulls stupid hard. White smoke then a ton of black smoke and wheel spin. I'm looking for something conclusive in the symptoms but nothing.
Only code that ever comes is the stupid EBP sensor.

I'm gonna switch maps and see if it makes a difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
Well I'll be damned. So this morning I switched maps to the tow map, shortly after getting to work. Driving home now and significantly less white smoke. Hug difference. It was still smoking a bit when I drove to lunch,but now there's barely any, and I'm seeing it maybe 1/20 times.
Does this basically confirm it's an Injector issue?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

snik

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
0
I didn't follow up and have since fixed the truck and sold it, but it was in fact the turbo that was leaking.
Was pretty bad too. Burnt and wet oil all on the hot side turbine and down the downpipe.
Rebuilt the turbo, changed the oil cooler and sold it about a month ago.
Kinda miss it. Well, yeah. Not kinda. I miss it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Latest posts

Members online

Top