Smoke + No Go

[SteveP]

Hi

I have a problem with my 80 Series DX 96 straight deisel Wagon that I'm hoping you guys can help with. This afternoon it decided to play up for the first time. The symptoms are:

Loss of power until vehicle stall.
Lengthy key start to get it going.
Noticable blue (possibly white) smoke from exhaust.
Sub drained to main.
Vehicle was started cold.

I was using the sub as the main was empty (5 litres or so left at a guess) then the sub drained in to the main which is very unusual as this does not happen on my vehicle. I run each tank down individually and always have (put over 100 000kms on the vehicle) this is very strange.

If I waited I was able to start the vehicle again and drive for a minute or two then it would loose power and stall again. It was almost like fuel starvation when you run out of sub fuel and have to flick over but there was no flicking over and there was fuel in the tank. The smoke was very concerning.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.
Steve.

[tomster]

blue smoke means she is burning oil mate and it wont smell like a dirty ol diesel it will noticeabley smell like oil. white smoke means she isnt burning the diesel efficiently

[oldmate]

I'd start with the fuel basics. change the main filter, blow the lines back into the tank, and clean the filters on the end of the pickup in each tank.

It sounds like fuel starvation, white smoke is indicitive of that.

Blue smoke is oil, but if you were getting enough oil into the cylinders to cause alot of smoke, the engine would actually run on the oil. (and uncontrolled)

Also it's bad habit to run the tanks dry. You should ideally fill up on the 1/4 mark. This avoids picking up the shit that floats on top of the fuel. But also the injection pump is cooled by the diesel fuel recirculating to and from the tank. Less fuel means less heat transfer efficiency.

[BadMav]

Blue smoke: Oil
Diesel White smoke: Unburnt diesel (usually when cold) with a raw diesel smell.
Water white smoke: Water entering the combustion chamber, if it is coolant, it will be moist and have a sweet smell.
Black smoke: Overfuelling

I'd say that as you've run the tanks down, some crud has picked up and clogged the filter/s. Also the water trap (if they have one) may be over full and the white smoke could be water entering the combustion process.

[the_4br]

That same thing happened it my car I got told it was Black death
it's from bad fuel I put a hose off the in take of the fuel filter
and in to a new fuel drum full of deisel then prim it all up and run it
4 a bit I got enough hose so I could put the Jerry can in the cab and
went around the block and if that fixes it. Its porbley the little fliter in the
tank all that needs is a wash in deisel/kero

[SteveP]

Thanks to all that replied. I've just done a service (oil filter, fuel filter and air filter plus oil) and filled both tanks up with new diesel and it seems to be running well. I put a cup of metho in each tank to see if that helps with the water, if thats what the problem was.

Cheers for the help.