New to me CRD Running a little smokey

quickcut · **Joined:** Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:57 am **Posts:** 15

Yesterday I did my first trial run of my freshly rebuilt engine. I bought this liberty CRD with a failed #1 cylinder piston combo and the prior owner had the head off. I never saw it run and really do not know much about it's history other then the previous owner did a bunch of upgrading (see signature below). It appeared that the Head gasket leaked and coolant made it into that cylinder. The cylinder and piston were scored pretty heavily. I replaced all the sleeves, rings, rod bearings a piston, and a bunch of other parts and gaskets while I was in there. Also a wicked wheel turbo compressor turbine assembly (not just compressor wheel) from Dieselsite.

So.. I did the trial run/ break-in of the rings yesterday and after and during the initial break in the engine continues to blow fairly thick black smoke on heavy acceleration or up hill loading of the engine. It appears to run normal-ish ( I do not know what normal is yet) in normal flat driving while not depressing the accelerator.
I do have a GDE Hot tune on the engine and a eco tune on Transmission.
When I installed the new turbo in the housing I was not sure where to set the wastegate.... I approximated as best I could but I think there is a chance it is not correct. Is there a procedure to follow? it is not in the service manual.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this? any help is greatly appreciated as I do not have a baseline and do not know this engine well.
THANKS!

RockyMountainYote · **Joined:** Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:32 pm **Posts:** 77

I have been working with dieselsite and the Wicked Wheel. I believe there is a design problem with it because the exducer of the compressor touches the compressor housing when installed. The only way to tell is to remove the compressor housing and look for any scoring, hopefully that is not the case for you.

The hot tune soots really bad under heavy acceleration. These are some dirty motors to be honest, especially if the light is hitting your exhaust just right. Its really hard to say without seeing it in person. Does it have good power?

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Feb 08, 2015 6:33 pm

Sorry that you are having troubles, but I have just two thoughts: Factory turbo. That really is the biggest thing, and I personally wouldn't have started messing with ANYTHING on the mod list until the engine was running correctly STOCK.

These "wicked wheel" turbos are so new that nobody (myself included) knows diddly about them or how they will perform over the long term. That is also IF they have a long term in them.

Second thought: The turbo DOES NOT HAVE A WASTE GATE in this application. If your turbo does... Then you have the wrong turbo. This is a VNT or Variable Vane technology turbo, and it varies the boost pressure by directly opening or closing the vanes inside the turbo housing. Are you certain you have the right device for the engine? Smoke is a sign of too much fuel / not enough boost for the current operating level, so you are either losing boost somewhere, or you don't have enough of it at all to match the fuel input and fuel is being wasted.

NO, this vehicle SHOULD NOT SMOKE when properly tuned. Anyone who accepts that, is simply sending dollars out the tailpipe! Diesels can happily operate all day long with an excess of air in the combustion chamber, but the instant you have more fuel than air (at the end of combustion) you have smoke and lost potential. Adding fuel (via a hot tune) has to be matched with adding air at the same time. One of the limiting factors in this design is that the factory turbo is too small to be turned up much, the boost will rapidly exceed the max RPM of the turbo itself and the turbo will fail shortly after. That is why the GDE turbo is a great upgrade, it addresses the problems with a finely engineered and designed solution.

Good luck with it, but I would start by figuring out exactly what turbo you have, and making certain that the computer has a good idea of the current boost levels (and that they are able to be managed by the computer) and go from there.

Iso_Bueller · **Joined:** Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:51 pm **Posts:** 20

Ok thanks for all the technical details. I bought the jeep with all the new parts and upgrades including the turbo assy from the prior owner. The prior owner just never put it back together. Does the oem turbo have a vacuum advance control of the veins?

this is the turbo with that line into it.

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Iso_Bueller · **Joined:** Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:51 pm **Posts:** 20

It is definitely the garret vnt turbo I cannot get to the model but I'm pretty certain it is the stock unit. I guess it is the vein actuator I'm referring to not wastegate. Does that make since?

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papaindigo · **Posted:** Mon Feb 09, 2015 9:40 am

Yes the variable vanes are controlled by a vacuum operated lever. In fact in you picture just above that right angle rubber thing on the left looks like the vacuum line that should be plugged into the vacuum advance lever housing on the turbo.

Stock the vehicle will smoke under acceleration but how much varies from vehicle to vehicle from a little to looking like a mosquito fogging truck. With a GDE tune the smoke is virtually gone under normal acceleration but can reappear as light smoke under heavy acceleration.

I agree with geordi I would not be modding much, other than getting a GDE tune, a redone engine until it was running right in stock configuration.

Iso_Bueller · **Joined:** Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:51 pm **Posts:** 20

Yeah I hear yeah on the modding. Unfortunately or Fortunately all the mods were done prior to me purchasing the vehicle with the exception of myself installing the wicked wheel turbo assy that he purchased. Does anyone know how to set the adjustable lever to the veins?

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papaindigo · **Posted:** Mon Feb 09, 2015 12:05 pm

As far as I know the rod that adjusts the variable vanes is set at the factory and not customer adjustable although I suppose a good turbo shop might could adjust it.

Cause of problems with the vanes:
1. stuck due to soot - per GDE "You can check the vane functionality at idle in park. Underneath the vacuum actuator on the turbo is rod extending downward connected to the vane mechanism. If you pull off the vacuum line at the turbo, the arm should drop about 1/2 inch and then raise back up after reconnecting the vacuum line. It is a bit difficult to see the rod, but this is the easiest method to check for proper VGT vane movement." If insufficient movement vanes need cleaning.
2. vacuum leak typically would throw a MIL/CEL and code but check vacuum line in silver heat protective cover under coolant tank (has been known to be heat fried) also is the vacuum line attached to the vacuum "motor" (see image at http://idparts.com/catalog/product_info ... ts_id=2823 ; enlarge image; "motor" is the thing with the green label in the upper left; vacuum line should be plugged into port in the center top of that "motor")
3. problem with the boost pressure solenoid (thing with small filter hanging off the bottom on the black vacuum reservoir tower behind the air filter box) or just that small filter clogged.
4. try vacuum reservoir bypass at viewtopic.php?f=5&t=70602&p=757348&hilit=boost+solenoid#p757348

quickcut · **Joined:** Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:57 am **Posts:** 15

Ok, very good I think this will help investigate a little better. I will plan on doing the vacuum test and see how she likes it. I need to get it licensed so I can do another test drive too. I did clean the veins while I was in there and felt that it did actuate smoothly before reassembly. I do have a obd2 code scanner coming so I will see what kind of codes it is throwing.
1. I do have one electrical connection that is not plugged into anything, it is one of two higher temp flexible conduit protected leads coming off the left side under the coolant resevoir. Anybody know where they both go?
Thanks for the help.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Tue Feb 10, 2015 2:04 pm

A picture would be helpful but it might be the plug for the coolant level sensor.

flman · **Posted:** Tue Feb 10, 2015 4:37 pm

Hot tune WOT = Black Smoke.

New to me CRD Running a little smokey

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