1988 International DT360 smoking

[Lwt52168@gmail.com]

Hello all, i am in the middle of my conversion project...I have been taking the bus out for little trips to gain confidence in it mechanically before i load the family up and head out. There are 150,000 mile on the engine. It smokes pretty bad. It does get better after its been running for a while....but also, a little embarrassing. Any suggestions, thoughts or direction would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Lance

[Dead pirate]

What color is the smoke. Does it stop when the engine warms up on the road. It won't heat up idling. Only when ran

[Ronnie]

Little trips? how far? short trips without getting fully hot dont burn off fuel /oil. My old Dodge with the 5.9 would make smoke(a lot) for the first mile then clean up. This was also only after sitting for a while. If used everyday it never smoked.

[Lwt52168@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by Dead pirate

What color is the smoke. Does it stop when the engine warms up on the road. It won't heat up idling. Only when ran

The smoke is somewhat white (ish) it don't stop when warm but does decrease. Example. Last night (40 degrees) i picked up the youg’ins and went looking at Christmas lights after driving around for 2 hours we stoped at a playground and i left it idle so i could leave the spot lights on and the smoke was...in my opinion pretty bad. Also, when i first fire it up it leaves nasty black marks on the shed I’m parked against.

[Lwt52168@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by Ronnie

Little trips? how far? short trips without getting fully hot dont burn off fuel /oil. My old Dodge with the 5.9 would make smoke(a lot) for the first mile then clean up. This was also only after sitting for a while. If used everyday it never smoked.

On the highway running at 55 mph for an hour and also little trips around town...30 min here 45 min there etc...

[bus-bro]

A bad injector can cause the whitish smoke that you describe.

[Dead pirate]

That's where i was headed. Or a blown head.

[Dead pirate]

That black smoke is normal

[Lwt52168@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by Dead pirate

That's where i was headed. Or a blown head.

The guy i bought it from showed me where a garage did a compression test and all checked out good. Another guys suggestion was the turbo charger?? Also a recommendation was to send an oil sample to Napa auto parts for evaluation? Do you all agree with this?

[Lwt52168@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by Dead pirate

That black smoke is normal

Okay cool, thanks.....

[Dead pirate]

Im towing my bus. Ill get back at ya.

[Dead pirate]

The turbo has me baffled but the oil sample couldn't hurt

[bus-bro]

Blowing out white smoke from an injector not atomizing the fuel during injection is a common diesel engine problem.

[Ronnie]

A blown head gasket will show up as low compression on one (or more if between two )cylinder and coolant disappearing. So unless coolant level has changed don't think this is your problem.


Since you have had a compression test and it is good? have you checked the compression numbers with any one else or a manual to verify they are within specs?


Injector(s) could well be. at this point it would be worth taking them all out and having them tested/serviced. A good idea anyway.

[bus-bro]

Unfortunately, most smaller engines do not have cylinder exhaust pyrometers. A low temp cylinder would tell you what injector ain't working right.

I worked on boats in commercial service. We would change injectors annually, though we'd put 5000 hours a year on an engine. But even with that, we would sometimes see that white plume.

[Booyah45828]

What's the smoke look and smell like? Color and smell can tell you a lot about what's being burnt. Does it smoke when under power or only at idle?