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akeyzoo · 04-21-2014, 03:17 PM

Ok,
So whilst camping (many glasses of FireBall later) I decided to drain the bowl on my fuel/water separator. I let a few ounces of liquid out and got back to some campfire watching.

Consider the previous text a spoiler.

When I went to leave my C9 took about 2x the amount of cranking time it typically needs and when she fired up she was a smokin. I don't mean a little. I mean, have you seen the 2500 HP Cummins at a tractor pull smoke. I needed to pull out and get to a place to hook up my Toad and did. I shut her off and went about my business of connecting my Toad while scratching my head. What the hell was going on. Got the Toad hooked up and fired her back up to get her warm. No smoke. I then remembered I had drained the bowl on the separator and that was the culprit.

Am I supposed to prime the system (using the priming pump) AFTER draining any fuel from the bowl? I am assuming, given what happened, that I should have.

Chris

Rook · 04-21-2014, 03:59 PM

Chris, did you remember to close the filter drain? Some of that "Fireball" vapor you were breathing out could have gotten in there. That would do it! :-)

No, You dont you need to prime when you drain the fuel filter a little. Something else upset the C9. Rook

Mikey143 · 04-24-2014, 05:43 AM

Did you let it drain on the exhaust? that'll make her smoke.

akeyzoo · 04-24-2014, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey143

Did you let it drain on the exhaust? that'll make her smoke.

Nay, was black smoke from engine. I see Rook's response, but I have to follow ye-olde cause and effect here. I opened the bowl for about 7 or 8 seconds, closed it. Then 2 days later when I fired her up there was a very long crank (like when I replace fuel filters) and a TON of smoke. If I were opening a really crappy disco that used black smoke, this would be the machine to use. I let her high idle for a few minutes, then drove about 200 feet. When I parked the smoke was less but still very evident. When I restarted a few moments later, no problem. The ONLY thing that was "atypical" was me opening the drain on the bowl.

When I open the drain on the bowl, is it drawing air somewhere to allow the fuel to drain, or is it "pulling" fuel from the tank to replace that which I am draining. My guess is that it is somehow allowing air into the filter or separator whilst draining. That air is causing the injectors to not work properly and hence the smoke.

Next time I drain ye-olde bowl I will prime first and see what happens. I am ready for my yearly maintenance and need to replace filter and separator anyways, so that test case will be a ways off.

Chris

Mikey143 · 04-24-2014, 12:37 PM

I had a 97 ford 7.3 diesel truck, I would drain the water bowl into a bucket with the engine running. It would hiccup a little but never smoked. Is hard to tell if there is water in the bowl sometimes. Mine doesn't have a water sensor attached to the filter bowl. Thanks for the info.

bigdog · 05-19-2014, 12:04 AM

My 3126B started blowing a large amount of bluish grey smoke and we found that I had an exhaust manifold leak caused,evidently,by a couple of studs breaking. It only did it on startup of a cold engine and once started didn't do it again. Now that I've had the exhaust manifold leak repaired and a new "S" pipe and crossover pipe installed,it pumps out a smaller cloud of really dark smoke on starting when cold. It seems to be blowing a bit less now,but it's still pretty dark.It seems as if the engine start lite stays on longerand mebbee she's overfueling on the start.
I also had a good amount of blowby after having it serviced at the CAT shop in Fife. They put 22 qts in her and she just didn't appreciate that. Now,even though we sucked about 3 qts out, she's still blowing a bunch out the slobber tube.

OLYLEN · 05-19-2014, 08:59 AM

Next time you check the water separator use a shot glass. Like on air craft that is all you need to drain to see if you have water and then need further inspection if there is. My 3126 will belch a black smoke cloud once in a while, but just a very short time.

LEN

akeyzoo · 05-19-2014, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigdog

My 3126B started blowing a large amount of bluish grey smoke and we found that I had an exhaust manifold leak caused,evidently,by a couple of studs breaking. It only did it on startup of a cold engine and once started didn't do it again. Now that I've had the exhaust manifold leak repaired and a new "S" pipe and crossover pipe installed,it pumps out a smaller cloud of really dark smoke on starting when cold. It seems to be blowing a bit less now,but it's still pretty dark.It seems as if the engine start lite stays on longerand mebbee she's overfueling on the start.
I also had a good amount of blowby after having it serviced at the CAT shop in Fife. They put 22 qts in her and she just didn't appreciate that. Now,even though we sucked about 3 qts out, she's still blowing a bunch out the slobber tube.

Have you had your valves lashed? Helped my smoke when cold condition (not the one in this thread).

Chris