M818 engine exhaust burns eyes and found a little oil in coolant

[998Junkie]

I did a search and found this in a reply from Will Wagner:


http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/29114-diesel-exhaust-color-meaning.html

_White that goes away the farther it gets away from the pipe, water or coolant..you'll smell the coolant!

When the truck is running I notice an acrid smell that burns my eyes emitting from the exhaust. There is no noticeable smoke though I do see a wisp of white smoke if I lightly blip the accelerator which quickly disappears.

The truck has been doing this since I acquired it and I made to the last camp dirt bag..it hasn't got worse, but I want to tow the trailer and I'm not sure what to do.

When I drained the coolant I noticed a little oil so I left it in the 5 gallon bucket and let it set for a week to let the oil settle out, there was about an ounce of oil at the bottom of the container.

So that would point to coolant getting into one of the cylinders? Would that point to a head gasket or one of the sleeves with a leak?


Thanks in advance.

 

[Wildchild467]

Im still new at deuces but i wonder if a compression test radiator pressure test would point to anything. I've seen little pumps that replace radiator caps to pressure check. I've worked on a lot of gas jobs, i know its not the same as a diesel, but would the exhaust smell sweet, the same as a gasser if it was burning antifreeze? Could it be a cracked piston ring? how much engine blow by is there if you remove the oil fill cap while it is running...that may be a better check than compression test and radiator pressure test now that i think about it. Im still puzzled about oil in the antifreeze though. On a side note, i did an oil change in my nieghbors John Deere 420 farm tractor and there was a couple drops of antifreeze in the bottom of the oil pan, who knows how it got there, but it still runs great 10 years later. Maybe somebody else will chime in with other suggestions. You could also just keep an eye on it and tow the trailer anyway, if you notice anything go wrong just shut it down? how long have you had the truck? Long enough to burn off possible bad fuel? Im just thinking of what it could be.... any pictures of the white smoke maybe?

 

[Stretch44875]

Check the oil cooler, I've heard of them leaking oil in the antifreeze. A search should have something on it.

 

[WillWagner]

If the o/c leaks, the radiator will fill with the oil from the engine and push out the overvlow. If you have run the truck much since the last Dirtbag and haven't lost oil or pushed oil out the cap, i'd say no on the cooler. Drain the coolant and put a couple of cap fulls of liquid laundry soap, let it get to temp, go run it on the freeway for a bit, then drain, re flush and re fill with coolant. As for the eye burning exhaust, it is usually attributed to a timing issue. A loose overhead can do that, the injection timing is late. One more thing that causes smoke and eye burning, only seen it once, too much compression, like installing a head with protruding valves instead of recessed valves, or the wrong pistons...seen that a hand full of times. Just a possibility

 

[pcblakeley]

Shouldn't exhaust be burning your eyes?....Have you been consistently using a diesel additive?....

 

[gunner01]

possible hairline crack in the head.because of the compression of a diesel on the compression stroke it will expand the drack thus letting a minut amount of oil escape. on the exhust stroke it recloses. Also another possibility would be cavitation of the block. hope for the first as it is the easiest and cheapest to fix.

 

[998Junkie]

You could also just keep an eye on it and tow the trailer anyway, if you notice anything go wrong just shut it down? how long have you had the truck? Long enough to burn off possible bad fuel? Im just thinking of what it could be.... any pictures of the white smoke maybe?

I’ve had the truck since last July and have about 300 miles on it. It’s hard to get it to make white smoke and take a picture at the same time but I’ll see if I can.

If the o/c leaks, the radiator will fill with the oil from the engine and push out the overvlow. If you have run the truck much since the last Dirtbag and haven't lost oil or pushed oil out the cap, i'd say no on the cooler. Drain the coolant and put a couple of cap fulls of liquid laundry soap, let it get to temp, go run it on the freeway for a bit, then drain, re flush and re fill with coolant. As for the eye burning exhaust, it is usually attributed to a timing issue. A loose overhead can do that, the injection timing is late. One more thing that causes smoke and eye burning, only seen it once, too much compression, like installing a head with protruding valves instead of recessed valves, or the wrong pistons...seen that a hand full of times. Just a possibility

I’ve noticed burning eyes since the first time I drove it and I haven’t noticed it get worse, the oil and coolant levels don’t appear to have moved but I’ll flush the radiator this weekend, perhaps a timing issue but I’ll know more this weekend, what is a loose overhead, where is that on the engine? The PT or somewhere else?

I might take it to the next meeting on the 11th, that would let me run it 90 miles two weeks before the trip.

Shouldn't exhaust be burning your eyes?....Have you been consistently using a diesel additive?....

I have been adding an additive but I’m not sure how much exhaust should be burning my eyes. Until 2009 I’ve never owned a diesel and my Step Van with a 6.2 liter doesn’t seem to bother me like the 5-ton does.

possible hairline crack in the head.because of the compression of a diesel on the compression stroke it will expand the drack thus letting a minut amount of oil escape. on the exhust stroke it recloses. Also another possibility would be cavitation of the block. hope for the first as it is the easiest and cheapest to fix.

I’ll have to monitor that…how do you determine a crack in the head? Pull it and put penetrating die on it?


Thanks again...

 

[WillWagner]

Overhead settings...loose injector adjustment.
There is one oil passage in the 855 head...never seen a crack expand to let oil in then close up. Cavitation of the liner CAN put oil in the coolant but will 99% of the time put coolant in the oil first

Flush it, give it a good tank of fresh dieselgas with NO additive and drive it. If you can drive it to the meet that would be good so I can see/smell it. If you want, leave alone and bring it. Sometimes if coolants are mixed it can cause a black sticky substance in the radiator top/surge tank.

 

[Parker2]

Is the eye burning when the engine is cold and sitting at idle. If so it's probably unburnt fuel. Wich I would think is no big deal.

 

[998Junkie]

Is the eye burning when the engine is cold and sitting at idle. If so it's probably unburnt fuel. Wich I would think is no big deal.

When I'm driving I don't sense it but if I have the passenger window open or a breeze takes the exhaust into the cab when i'm at a stop light, then I do notice it. Cold or hot it seems to be the same.

If you can drive it to the meet that would be good so I can see/smell it. If you want, leave alone and bring it.

Thanks Will.


On thing I didn't consider, what if someone was putting oil in and had a brain fart and poured a little oil into the coolant tank and then noticed the mistake...
I suppose that might be possible as well.

 

[nk14zp]

Oil in your coolant will float to the top not settle to the bottom.

 

[doghead]

Is you muffler bad on the back end? Do you have any exhaust leaks at all?