Signs of Nozzle Issues

caladash · Sep 8, 2013

Running 250/200s. This started yesterday. Parked the truck on base for about an hour and a half. Came back out and fired the truck up. Nothing but white smoke. No odd sounds or engine shaking. Drove away and it cleared up. Truck still pulls hard! Got home around 4ish in the PM. Started it up about 20 minutes ago nothing but white smoke. Fuel rich smell. Drove away and tried to roll into the throttle and heard like a back fire pop or two. Not very loud though. Drove a little further and it cleared up. Got home and just a lite white haze. She's parked now. Is this the sign of an injector going south? Compression issue?

01PSD · Sep 8, 2013

Regardless of what it is, I wouldn't drive it anymore. :lookaround:

mattman347 · Sep 8, 2013

Injector nozzle or copper washer issue. Try to identify the cylinder with a scanner

Dieselboy. · Sep 8, 2013

I don't think that's a failed nozzle... Yet.

You will know when you drop a nozzle lol.

Matt. Could it be something hung up internally ?

mattman347 · Sep 8, 2013

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, could have something damaged the pointless seat.

caladash · Sep 8, 2013

Well it's parked for now. I've only been running these injectors for a few months with no issues. Time to break out the laptop. Absolute bummer...

lincolnlocker · Sep 17, 2013

is there any popping/thumping noises coming from the intake or out the exhaust? what did ae say? torn orings too.... but matt would prolly know a thing or two more about the injectors themselves...

live life full throttle

superduty4x4 · Sep 17, 2013

I'll jump in since I have similar issues right now. Same symptoms as OP, white smoke on a cold start that clears up when warm, VERY fuel rich smelling at idle when cold (burns your eyes as well). I can hear some intake noise on this truck I haven't heard on either of my 2 previous 7.3's as well, kind of a whump sound. I usually get 4-5 "whumps" on a cold start and you can just barely hear it while driving if the radio is turned down.
Injectors were installed maybe 20K ago or so.

rascal · Sep 17, 2013

Sub'd

mattman347 · Sep 17, 2013

Im sure he will post up in here but we found he has a broken nozzle causing his issues.

greenthunder7.3 · Sep 17, 2013

sub'd to see what happened

02BigD · Sep 17, 2013

It was a broken nozzle, as stated above in post 9.

greenthunder7.3 · Sep 17, 2013

KBMKVIII · Sep 18, 2013

Did the broken nozzle cause any internal damage?

caladash · Sep 26, 2013

Finally an update! First off...a big high five to Full Force for the quick turnaround on a replacement injector! Again, thank you!*

Now, I fired the truck up and unplugged each UCVH to narrow down the side and the injectors one by one to narrow down the cylinder. Ended up being number 3. Received the new injector, fired it up and still smoking bad. Burn your eyes make you wanna yack fuel rich smell. So injectors were fine. For the heck of it I swapped number 3 with number 1 and it still smoked from number 3. Now im assuming i have a cracked piston. Checked blow by and its the same its been forever. Put the cap on the fill port and it just sits there. Almost in tears at this point I called DI and spoke to Dave. He asked for a video of the truck cranking with the IPR unplugged. Sent him the video and he said it sounds fine. If there was a compression issue there would be less of a load when that cylinder went on its compression stroke. Because it sounded fine what the hell else could it be? I have no fuel in my coolant, no excessive blow by and not a clue on what to do next. After I did the injector the first time I did drive it for a few miles and it felt fine. But, initial takeoff was very sluggish, a ton of huge smoke, and a backfire or two. Then it cleared up a little bit. Definitely white smoke mixed with black when accelerating and EGTs are a little higher than normal. Does anyone have any ideas?

caladash · Sep 26, 2013

So I snagged the borescope we have at work. Pulled the glow plug out and shoved it in there! Piston looked fine in my opinion. Looks like my spray pattern at some point in the past got a little out of control! Cylinder walls looked good as well. So WTF?!! I pulled the push rods and rolled them on a flat surface. No wobble wobble action. Again....WTF!! Anyone have any ideas or an arrow to point me somewhere?!*

For the heck of it, I thought maybe, just maybe that there is a .01% chance that I might have forged rods! So I pulled the plug and took a peek! No dice!