How to deal with the problem of excessive white blue smoke from Caterpillar 3208 Diesel Engine
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1. Engine Used in a Lug Condition.,."Lugging"(when the truck is used in a gear too high for engine rprm to go up as accelerator pedal is pushed farther down, or when the truck is used in a gear whereengine rpm goes down with accelerator pedal at maximum travel) the engine causes a reduction inthe intake of air with full tuel delivery to the cylinders. Because there is not enough air to burn all the fuel, the fuel that is not used comes out the exhaust as black smoke. To prevent lugging the engine, use a gear where engine can have acceleration"(increase in speed) under load.
2. Dirty Air Cleaner,.. If the air cleaner has a restriction indicator, see if the red piston is in view. It there is no restriction indicator, restriction can be checked with a water marometer or a vacuum gauge(which measures in inches of water). Make a Connection to the piping between the air cleanerand the inlet of the turbocharger. Check with the engine running at full load rpm. Maximum restriction is 635 mm(25 in) of water. If a gauge is not available, visually check the air cleaner element for dirt. If the element is dirty, clean the element or install a new elerment
3. Air Inlet Piping Damage or Restriction... Make a visual inspection of the air inlet system and check for damage to piping, rags in the inlet piping. ordamage to the rain cap or the cap pushed too far on the inlet pipe. If no damage is seen, check inlet restriction with a clean air cleaner element.
4. Exhaust System Restriction... Make a visual inspection of the exhaust system. Check for damage to piping or for a bad muffler. If no damage is found, you can check the system by checking the back pressure from the exhaust (pressure difference measurement between exhaust outlet and atmosphere). The back pressure must not be morethan 1016 mm(40 in) of water. You can also checkby removing the exhaust pipes from the exhaustmanitoids. With the exhaust pipes removed, start and load the engine on a chassis dynamometer to see it the problem is corrected.
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5. Fuel Injection Timing Not Correct.. Check and make necessary adjustments as per Testing and Adjusting section of this Service Manual.
6. Fuel Setting is Not Corect... Check and make necessary adjustments as per Testing and Adjusting Section of this Service Manual. See the Fuel Setting And Related Information Fiche for the correct fuel setting.
7. Low Quality Fuel.. Test the engine with fuel according to recommendations by Caterpillar.
8. Valve Adjustment Not Correct or Valve Leakage... Check and make necessary adjustments as per Testing and Adjusting section of this Service Manual. Intake valve clearance is 0.38
mm (.015 in) and exhaust valve clearance is 0.64
mm(0.25in). Valve leakage normally causes the engine to "misfire'(injection not regular) and run rough. Valve leakage can be checked using the cylinder leakage tester. Special Instruction, Form No.
GMG00694 gives the test procedure.
9. Bad Fuel Nozzles.. Bad fuel nozzles will normally cause the engine to "misfire"(injection not regular)
and run rough, but can cause too much smoke withengine still running smooth. Remove and test the fuel nozzles.
10. Misfiring Cylinder(s)... See Misfiring and Running
11. Fuel Injection Timing Not Correct.. Check and make necessary adjustments as per Testing and Adjusting section of this Service Manual.
12. Automatic Timing Advance Does Not Operate Correctly... Check with engine warm. Use the8T5300 Timing Indicator Group to check the automatic timing advance unit. Check to see that the advance is smooth and that the amount of advance is correct. See Fuel System of the Testing and Adjusting section of this Service Manual for the subject Checking Engine Timing And Automatic Timing Advance Unit With 8T5300
Tirming Indicator Group. If the timing indicator is not available, make rapid "acceleration'(increase in speed) from low idle to high idle. Engine must have smooth acceleration.A timing advance that does not operate correctly can cause delays of the engine acceleration at some rpm before high idle.
or possibly cause the engine to run rough and have exhaust noise(backfire) during acceleration.
This condition is difficult to find if engine acceleration is slow or at a constant engine rpm.
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13. Air in Fuel System,.. With air in the fuel system the engine will normaly be difficult to start, run rough and release a large amount of white smoke.
To remove the air from the fuel system open the manual bleed valve on the fuel injection pump housing. Operate the priming pump until the flow of fuel from the manual bleed valve is free of air.
Close the manual bleed valve and fasten the fuel priming pump. Start the engine. If the engine stilldoes not run smooth or releases a large amount of white smoke, loosen the fuel line nuts one ata time at the cylinder heads, and permit the fuel to come out until it is free of air. Tighten the fuel line nuts. If air is not removed in this way, put 35kPa
(5psi) of air pressure to the fuel tank.
NOTICE Do not use more than 55 kPa(8 psi) of air pressure in the fuel tank or damage to the tank may result.
Check for leakage at the connections between the fuel tank and the fuel transfer pump. If leaks are found, tighten the connections or replace the lines. If there are no visual leaks, remave the fuel supply line from the tank and connect it to an outside fuel supply. If this corrects the problem, the suction line(standpipe) inside the fuel tank has a leak.
