Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > POWER TRAIN GARAGE FORUMS > Cummins Engines
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 11-20-2013, 05:37 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Birmingham AL
Posts: 135
Engine Chugging

I took a 350 mile trip six weeks ago and then parked the MH in storage with about half a tank of fuel remaining. Tried to start the engine this week and it chugs heavily with lots of white smoke out the exhaust. I then replaced the fuel filter at the right side door near the air filter and engine still chugs and emits white smoke. I then added some diesel fuel additive for gel and water and plan to go try the engine again tomorrow. Any other suggestions for trouble shooting?

This is a 2004 40' Alpine with 400 HP Cummins.
__________________
Dan, MJ and Tucker Dobbins
2004 Alpine 40 MDTS
2013 Honda CRV
djdobbins1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 11-20-2013, 05:42 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
palehorse89's Avatar
 
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 10,308
White smoke occurs when raw diesel comes through the exhaust completely intact and unburned. Some causes of this include…
  • Faulty or damaged injectors
  • Incorrect injection timing (could be a worn timing gear or damaged crankshaft keyway).
  • Low cylinder compression (eg caused by leaking or broken valves, piston ring sticking, cylinder and/or ring wear, or cylinder glaze)
When white smoke occurs at cold start, and then disappears as the engine warms up, the most common causes are fouling deposits around piston rings and/or cylinder glazing. Use of our Flushing Oil Concentrate and FTC Decarbonizer address these respective problems. Water entering combustion spaces will also create white smoke. Faulty head gaskets and cracked cylinder heads or blocks are a common cause of water entry, and are often to blame. Unfortunately, expensive mechanical repair is the only proper solution here.
__________________
2012 Essex 4544 2011 Jeep JK, M&G Braking, 2014 MTI 27' Hog Hauler, Wireless brake control, 2006 Ultra & 1989 Springer, 2003 Harley-Davidson
FLHR Road King Anniversary
palehorse89 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-20-2013, 06:02 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Auburn, CA, Havasu, AZ & Mulege, BCS
Posts: 5,385
I hope its not a head gasket. You can usually smell the coolant in that type of "white smoke."
If not the above, just for drill, since you have an electronic engine, try shutting off the chassis battery, then cycling it back on. Its cheap & fast. Just might clear a brain fart.

Then also just for fun, see if something is restricting your air intake. It would have to be pretty severe to do this at idle. Could be you sucked in a pregnant bat, and it has hatched out a buncha little batlets (or would that be batlings?).

If the above (or additional feedback on this thread) is no help, I'd move this discussion to the Cummins forum.
__________________
Baja-tested '08 2-slide 36'
Alpine: The Ultimate DIY'er Project
EngineerMike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-20-2013, 08:39 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
tiredvet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 442
Have you looked at the oil dip stick for any milky looking subatance?
__________________
Jim & Elissa Edmonds
2003 34FDDS Alpine Banks 430hp #74869
Viola, Idaho 3rd Armored Cav & 3rd Infantry Division
tiredvet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2013, 03:01 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Birmingham AL
Posts: 135
thanks all for the input. The oil on the dipstick looks normal. Removed the air filter and don't see any blockages and the engine still chugs when I try to run it with the air filter removed. Turned off the battery disconnect, then back on and still chugs. I will move this to the Cummins site.
__________________
Dan, MJ and Tucker Dobbins
2004 Alpine 40 MDTS
2013 Honda CRV
djdobbins1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2013, 03:16 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
palehorse89's Avatar
 
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 10,308
Quote:
Originally Posted by djdobbins1 View Post
thanks all for the input. The oil on the dipstick looks normal. Removed the air filter and don't see any blockages and the engine still chugs when I try to run it with the air filter removed. Turned off the battery disconnect, then back on and still chugs. I will move this to the Cummins site.
Do you still have the white smoke out the exhaust?
If you are trying to down power the TCM,ECM modules, unhook your battery terminal as they have power to them even with the disconnect switch off I think.
__________________
2012 Essex 4544 2011 Jeep JK, M&G Braking, 2014 MTI 27' Hog Hauler, Wireless brake control, 2006 Ultra & 1989 Springer, 2003 Harley-Davidson
FLHR Road King Anniversary
palehorse89 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2013, 03:34 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Birmingham AL
Posts: 135
Yes, still getting lots of smoke (maybe its gray and not white) and engine shuts itself down after approx. 10-20 seconds. I will disconnect the engine batteries and check again.
__________________
Dan, MJ and Tucker Dobbins
2004 Alpine 40 MDTS
2013 Honda CRV
djdobbins1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2013, 08:26 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 260
Quote:
Originally Posted by djdobbins1 View Post
Yes, still getting lots of smoke (maybe its gray and not white) and engine shuts itself down after approx. 10-20 seconds. I will disconnect the engine batteries and check again.
Try replacing the secondary fuel filter. You will find it on the passenger side of engine in the middle just above the starter.
__________________
Jim & Sandy
2008 34' FDDS Alpine
Limited SE
JLMunsil is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2013, 09:56 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Auburn, CA, Havasu, AZ & Mulege, BCS
Posts: 5,385
Also check the air path between the filter & Air Intake on side of the coach.
__________________
Baja-tested '08 2-slide 36'
Alpine: The Ultimate DIY'er Project
EngineerMike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-23-2013, 06:54 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Birmingham AL
Posts: 135
Engine Chugging

I have a 2004 40' Alpine Coach with a Cummins 8.9L ISL 400HP engine.

I took a 350 mile trip six weeks ago and the engine was running just fine. I then parked the MH in storage with about half a tank of fuel remaining. Tried to start the engine this week and it chugs heavily with lots of light gray smoke out the exhaust. The eng maint light comes on and the engine sully shuts itself down in 10-20 seconds. I then replaced the main and only fuel filter at the right side door near the air filter and engine still chugs and emits gray smoke. I then added some diesel fuel additive for gel and water, checked the intake for restrictions and it still chugs and smokes. I tried running the engine with the air filter removed with no help. I disconnected the chassis batteries to try and reset the electronic engine control with no help. I don't have a secondary fuel filter, so can't replace that. I looked at the oil dipstick and it looks normal with no signs of milky fluid or engine coolant. I don't have an engine monitoring system, so don't have any fault c
odes.

I replaced the engine air filter and fuel tank level sending unit after the last trip and just before this problem started.

Any other suggestions for trouble shooting?
__________________
Dan, MJ and Tucker Dobbins
2004 Alpine 40 MDTS
2013 Honda CRV
djdobbins1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-23-2013, 08:46 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,512
Engine Chugging

If the check engine light came on then there is a code in the computer which would be a place to start. You could go to a Cummins shop our an independent diesel shop to have codes read. I purchased a HD diesel scan gauge for around 500$ but I can use on other diesels so I thought money well spent. Those codes will most likly be able to find your problem.
tom chelbana is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-24-2013, 03:12 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
Cat320's Avatar
 
Fleetwood Owners Club
American Coach Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,759
Other causes of white smoke:

- Lack of compression.
- Water in fuel.
- Air in fuel.
- Defective injector.
- Leaking head gasket.
- Cracked cylinder head.
__________________
2014 American Eagle 45T
DD 13, 500 HP
Pulling a Honda CRV
Cat320 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-24-2013, 03:28 PM   #13
Senior Member
 
Loren Rice's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Ridgefield, Wa.
Posts: 273
I wounder if it's cold there? If is and you have an engine heater you might try turning that on. Or if you have a aqua hot turn on the burner and then the engine warmer sw and let it warm up the engine. Then see what you get.

Loren
__________________
94 Monaco Sig m11 elect fuel inj
95 Jeep toad
Loren Rice is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-24-2013, 05:30 PM   #14
Senior Member
 
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Birmingham AL
Posts: 135
It is not that cold here in the Birmingham area, so that is not an issue.
I did have the fuel level sending unit removed from the side of the tank, near the top for about three weeks while I awaited a repair and finally replacement unit. I had a rag stuffed in the open hole in the tank to keep debris out. Is it possible that I gained a lot of condensation/water in the tank during this time? If so, what is a good way to get the water out of about 60 gallons of diesel?
__________________
Dan, MJ and Tucker Dobbins
2004 Alpine 40 MDTS
2013 Honda CRV
djdobbins1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:47 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.