speed up hills, black smoke trailing behind

[chris&ahlye]

How fast do you cruise up a hill?
We are curious as to what the average is? As we have been travelling over the malahat and back we have been experiencing very slow acceleration up hills and mountains, i mean like pedal to the floor running at 80km and keeps slowing down...
Also lots of black smoke trailing behind us......
any comments anyone?
We will be checking out our EGR tomorrow ( as soon as we figure out what and where that is!!LOL)

the smurfette
'90 exceed delica
blue on white

[monstabishi]

check the throttle cable lock nut has not worked loose at the bracket allowing the cable to slide through .....it happened to me a while back....foot to the floor on freeway 90klm on the flat !!!!!!!!!!.


Mick.

[rdub]

5 speed or auto ,i have a 5 and i usally gear down with high RPM when going up large hills at 3000 to 3200 this seems to do no harm to the van i can keep it at 80k without speed lose in fourth or 60to 65k in third the higher RPM also keeps the black smoke down, the vans are tough they can haddle the higher RPM for a good while if it starts getting to hot then slow down a bit or pull over giver alittle break and look at the suroudings and enjoy ,that is whats best about these vans they look good in every enviroment.

[DelicaMark]

I have the same thing with my auto van over the Malahat. Going to Victoria I am lucky to keep 80km/h. Coming out of Goldstream I am doing about 70km/h. If I floor it nothing but smoke comes out. As soon as my speed drops to 80km/h I click the overdrive off and that seems to get the revs up and reduces the smoke.

I have been advised by a friend to get the compression checked to make sure all cylinders are firing properly. Mine kind of puffs smoke like it was maybe missing a little on one of the cylinders. I am no expert but I think it is worth looking into before my 3 month warrenty is up.

Other thoughts are as you said the EGR valve might need to be cleaned and others have said that the timing might be off and would cause these symptoms....lack of power and smoke. I asked the Coombs guys about this and they advised checking the air filter was new and clean and to add some injector cleaner for a few tanks before they would check the timing. I have done this and it didn't help much...it did help a little but not a wholesale change.

Hope this helps. If I learn anything else I will let you guys know as I have the same sypmtoms....us Duncan folks have to stick together!

-Mark

[Cowichan]

I've seen it too. It did lessen with injector cleaner for a couple of tanks but not gone. The puffs are there and not entirely predictable, just here and there. I've heard about closing the EGR but haven't finished checking out the info on that.

[patty]

i had the same black smoke com eup when i was pushin up hills and what not,my dad just said it was normell when breaking in a deisel engine,seals wearing and what not?im not sure how true this is,i usualy just try not to race up hills

[collector]

I'm not even sure this is applicable, but I work for an armored car company in Vancouver, and I regularly drive a 2004 International. (not sure of the model #) This truck has only about 56,000km on it (essentially brand new), and it always gives out a huge gout of black smoke whenever the accelerator is depressed. (even at idle!)
I'm not sure if this is due to the extra weight this unit carries, or if it's crappy diesel fuel, but unless your Deli(s) are constantly pluming black smoke (like some of our old pigs do with 300,000 + km on them), I don't think it's something to fret over too much...

[Schwa]

All except maybe the very latest turbo diesels will fart out a turd of black smoke if you stomp on the accelerator, you're better off gradually increasing the pressure on the pedal so the turbo has a chance to spin up before you start injecting lots of diesel.

If you get constant visible smoke either the injection timing is off and / or the EGR is malfunctioning and needs a good cleaning.

[jrman]

Totally agree with Schwa....it's a diesel, they smoke, we just have to get used to it to some degree. If it's smoking all the time - even on mild loads, then there could be a problem that needs addressing (injector timing / cleaning / replacement among others). But, the occasional belch of smoke, especially when stomped from a start is to be expected.

I've noticed an improvement since using Howes Diesel Treat. I didn't notice it at first, but I'm on my 4th tank and truly have noticed an improvement.

Regardless, I've got friends who are diesel mechanics, and though they say it's a good idea to watch it, and when it's happening - in the end, most diesel smoke is just normal. They are also the people recommending Howes (200ml per tank is what I'm using, and again - smoke is down after 2-3 tanks) - good for taking out water and lubrication of any gaskets & rubber parts the fuel comes into contact with (counteracting the negative effects of Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel)...it is apparently very popular with the trucking community.

As a side note, I've also heard many times that though there is smoke, it's still a hell of a lot less toxic than the things you cannot see coming from the tailpipe of a gas fuelled car...I'm no scientist, but that's seems to be the general understanding in the auto world.