Help-white smoke at 1800rpm?

mattbucher · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2019 11:24 am

Hello. Been a while since I had to post anything. First let me say thanks to Kelly for all of the help he has given me. I just had an issue with air in my fuel and installed a lift pump with that problem solved.

About a week ago (while still driving with air in the fuel before I fixed it) it started running very rough to the point the steering wheel and Jeep was shaking. I thought it was all from the air in the fuel. I fixed that with the lift pump but still have the problem with it shaking bad.

I put it in neutral and slowly pushed on gas pedal and it runs perfect till 1800 rpm then starts vibrating like crazy and blowing white smoke. If I accelerate past that point it calms down? I replaced MAP sensor and cleaned MAF sensor. New air filter. Checked all hoses and they’re fine?

Did see why I was getting air in (Bend in line back by tank was rusted and leaking a small amount of diesel. That part was cut out but wondering if I got rust particles clogging my filter or maybe even damaging an injector.

Ordered a new filter and some diesel purge but am doubting that will fix it.

Just have no clue why it starts fine and drives fine under 1800rpm and then goes to hell at 1800 rpm?

I did read some other posts about white smoke and don’t see any oil from my turbo and my oil level is perfect and I am not losing any coolant.

Also no CEL codes at all.

Thank you!

To recap I’ve done EGR delete, GDE tune, upgraded Sasquatch turbo, provent installed, new mishimoto turbo hoses, new air box intake hose, cleaned and pressure tested intercooler, new timing belt, new water pump, new serpentine belt and belt tensioner, new MAP sensor, new MAF sensor, new Mercedes sensor, k&n air filter, new glow plugs, Kennedy lift pump.

mattbucher · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:22 pm

A little more info. When driving it doesn’t vibrate as much (or pump out as much white smoke) as when sitting in park or neutral when I push on the pedal to get it up to 1800 rpm? The engine/steering wheel shuttering always coincides with the appearance of the white smoke. It starts and idles fine and drives ok at lower rpm/speeds. The amount of smoke reminds me of when I used seafoam to clean my injectors on my old gasoline Jeep Cherokee.

mass-hole · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:40 am

White smoke usually indicates unburnt fuel.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:31 am

How's your coolant level? If it's a bad injector, it can burn a hole through a piston, so I wouldn't drive it until you test that injector

mattbucher · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:12 pm

Thank you for the response.

Coolant level is fine.

Not sure how to test injectors. Any links or help there would be great.

Going to try and check motor mounts out today to see if that may be contributing to the vibration.

APC9199 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:31 pm

Seems to me like a bad injector would show SOME signs through basically all RPM's, but especially at idle. Most of the time they will clear up at higher RPM's when injection pressures are higher.

I would start by checking the turbo actuator for proper travel and make sure there is no binding. You will need a hand operated vacuum pump to check the travel. Many parts stores will rent them to you for cheap or free, upon return. Disconnect the small vacuum line leading to the turbo actuator. Find a series of tubes that will work to adapt the vacuum pump to the actuator. It is hard to do with the turbo in the vehicle, but you'll need to come up with a way to see or feel the actuator arm hit the hard stop that prevents it from moving after a certain pressure is reached. A feeler gage and/or mirror is probably the best method. I did mine out of the vehicle, so I can't say what is best here. You want the arm to hit the stop between 12 and 15 psi in my experience. I do not know if proper specifications are posted anywhere for this procedure, but I couldn't find them when I looked. Once you have verified that the arm moves to the stop at the right pressure, you want to quickly pump it up and release it repeatedly to check for smooth travel. If it binds or stutters at all it needs to be freed up. Unfortunately there is not much you can do externally to free it other than a little penetrating oil to make sure the linkage is not binding. Usually the stutter is the vanes inside the turbo binding on crud or debris and can only be free'd by repetitive movement of the actuator. Once everything checks out, the best thing to do it to drive the vehicle until fully warmed up then give it a few good rips at very high rpm to "burn" all the built up crud out of the turbo. Diesels like to work and need to be driven hard occasionally to keep things clean and working right.

Hope that helps!

APC9199 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:43 pm

mattbucher wrote:

Thank you for the response.

Coolant level is fine.

Not sure how to test injectors. Any links or help there would be great.

Going to try and check motor mounts out today to see if that may be contributing to the vibration.

There are only a few injector tests you can do without proper equipment. The first is to unplug the electrical connector on each of them in order and "feel" how the engine harmonics change. Unplugging a good injector will result in a large change in harmonics and a very rough running engine. Unplugging a failed or failing injector will show less of a change. This is a very subjective test. The other one you can do is to get a return flow test kit (Amazon, Ebay, etc) and check the return flow from all of the injectors simultaneously. The kits are fairly cheap and easy to use. An injector with a return flow significantly higher than the others is an indicator that it is going bad. There are also specifications for the total amount of return for a given time, just in case they are ALL bad and in roughly the same shape as each other. Check the service manual for those specs. Your only other option is to pull the injectors and have them tested at a Bosch certified shop.

To check motor mounts, park on flat dry pavement holding the brake, put the Jeep in drive, then reverse, then drive over and over. If you hear a clunk when changing from D to R or vice versa, you probably have a bad motor mount. If one is bad (clunk either direction), just change both. They are cheap and it isn't worth it to do one then have to do the other a month later.

mattbucher · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2019 1:12 pm

Great. Thank you. I’ll keep you posted.

TKB4 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:53 pm

I suppose it could also be the throttle sensor /accelerator pedal if it wasn't functioning correctly since its at about the same rpm and runs smooth before and after that rpm range. The sticking turbo actuator arm/ vanes also makes sense. I am very interested in what this turns out to be.

Good Luck!!

TKB4 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:54 pm

I would also like to see if gordonadocrd has any thoughts

rankom · **Posted:** Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:49 pm

some times this engine does that if you keep it at 1800 rps but not so bad like yours , so in your case my be fuel restriction ? try running it straight fuel from jarry can to fuel filter , bypass fuel tank and see what happens ,monitor fuel pressure with scan tool , see if any codes ? do basics 1 st ,

mattbucher · **Posted:** Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:59 pm

Ok. Thanks. I have been worried about the injectors and am in a little over my head so have it with a diesel mechanic (as much as I hate to let someone else work on it). Should hear something tomorrow and I’ll let the group know. Hate to feel like I’m at the end of the road because I love that Jeep so much. So hopefully they can help me with this. Appreciate all of the help so very much.

mattbucher · **Posted:** Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:04 pm

Honestly the hardest part is that this CRD is the last vehicle my dad ever drove and I inherited it. And tried to do it justice and keep it going. So hopefully I can get through this issue.

mattbucher · **Posted:** Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:02 pm

Update with good news!!!

Diesel mechanic checked injectors and couldn’t find an issue. The u joint was bad. He replaced with a greasable one for total of $128...

He explained the vibration and white smoke at 1800rpm in park (or neutral) when the engine sputtering as the engine “de-fueling” when it gets to that rpm and is not under load from driving it does that in all diesels. Even in the bigger trucks.

Runs great. Drives better than before. Drove it about an hour after I picked it up tonight!

Going to get a 2 micron filter on there soon and then hopefully a break from working on it!

Thank you all for all of the help.

LostJeeps is fantastic.

Thanks again Kelly. Hope you get a turkey!
-Matt

TKB4 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:50 pm

Glad to help and even more glad that it all worked out with good news!!

Help-white smoke at 1800rpm?

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