this is for a guy i work with. i'm very limited on information but this is what i have, please help me get some idea's. he had it is Bill Heard in Columbus GA but after they told him that it would cost $1000 to replace the starter BEFORE they could do anything else he had it towed back home. here is the story as i heard it and my suggestions to him.

he is new to diesel trucks all together.

he was towing his 32ft tag-along camper (NOT USING OVERDRIVE) not sure of speed but i'm betting 60-65ish. he said they stopped for fuel and checked everything, added some coolant to the resivoir, added a quart of oil as it was reading a lil bit low, and filled her up, with diesel, he verified with the reciept. everything was good but then he said the truck either hiccuped, poped, stumbled, something of that nature and all of a sudden it started smoking white out of the tail pipes. he said power wasn't down any but when they stopped to look it over the motor was idling real rough, and when they shut it off it was really hard to crank back up. he got it cranked and kept on gettin it. the truck ended up being left at his relative-in-law's house in Alabama and he (the relative) started to work on it himself. he ended up burning up the starter trying to get the truck to crank.

the motor is clean as a whistle, no leaks, nothing. i'd feel safe eating off the motor on this truck. litterally. i'm not kidding. i told him to replace the fuel filter but he couldn't find it behind the motor cover till i pointed it out to him. the old filter was BLACK and smelled rancid. he's getting a price on rebuilding the old starter (we have an awesome guy that does that locally for cheap) or getting a re-manned one from Autozone for $250......

there is no coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant, he's gonna change the oil before he tries to start it again so it'll all be fresh. he said it smells rich to him when it is smoking.

i'm thinking it could be a blowed head gasket between the cyl's, or it could have been the clogged up fuel filter.

what things does he need to check on to try to get his truck up and running?

 

oh ya smoke was WHITE, not blue or black. i went over that a few times with him.....

 

anyone got anything?

forgot to add but it's prolly obvious. 6.5L NON-Intercooled Turbo motor.....

 

Sounds like it was running good up until he filled up. Could be bad diesel.

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Try changing the fuel filter and see what happens

 

my inital thought also was a blown head gasket between the cylinders, same thing happened to my K2500 Silverado with the 350 gasser, although, i never got any white smoke....

 

aight that is step one. he bought a bottle of diesel conditioner to put in it. i just didn't know if this might have been something that has happened before to someone else. by the looks of the filter it could have been the one that came in it from the factory in 1999. once he gets it cranked i'll listen to it and see what i think first hand. he also said it sounded like an air leak around where the intake bolts to the head. i didn't see any gasket material around there pushed out nor any sign of any type of leak. may have to presure test the intake system. shouldn't be too hard to find a leak as there isn't mich intake to test......

he is dead set on it being an injector/injector pump..... his head is harder than an anvil when it goes to the KISS solution. i myself do the simple stuff that is cheap first that more than likely needs to be done anyway.

he is the type of person to re-wire a vehicle with one color wire because it won't start and come to find out the batteries are dead....

 

Buddy had an 83 6.9L that ran like crap, smoked and sounded like an air compressor. Head gasket was blown between #3 and #5 cyl. Heater didn't either.

 

Problem Sloved

 

ok he got it cranked today and i was there..... it sounds like it is running on 6 cyls when ideling. it is blowing a blueish white smoke, he has an exhaust leak where the turbo mounts up to the manifold.... i checked and the cooling system isn't presurizing is self while running, there is no blowby coming out of the oil fill.

the only thing i can think of is the exhaust leak caused low boost and he burnt through the gasket.... that's my thoughts.

anyone else got anything?

 

Sound like an air compressor? I mean does it pop back through the exhaust or intake?