White smoke mystery!?!

[Knuckleballerr]

This problem has me totally lost.

1984 300sd is letting out loads of white smoke upon acceleration; enough that cars behind me have to stay a good distance away.. I'm talking a fog.. not a puff. I understand white smoke can be:

1. Coolant
2. Unburnt fuel
3. Oil

Its rather difficult for me to judge which of the three it is. I do know it lingers around for some time.. enough that it can float toward the car in idle. It definitely without a doubt has a burning effect to the eyes, nose and throat.. so I want to rule out water/steam.

It's not something that goes away after the engine warms up. It does remain regardless of the temp.

I can't figure out what the problem could be? I retimed the injection pump (drip method)... did a valve adjustment several hundred miles ago.. did a cylinder soak.. compression is good and it cranks up fine.. I did however install new nozzles (Monark) but they haven't been pop tested.

Playing with the ALDA allows it to smoke less at the cost of power, or more power for a greater amount of smoke.

What in the world could be the problem? Boost?

[Diesel911]

When I replaced the Fuel Injection pump on My Volvo it billowed copious white Smoke.
Although you did not say the smoke smelled like Diesel Fuel you did say your eyes were stinging and that makes it not sould like a Coolant issue. However, hold a piece of Card Board near the Exhaust Pipe and and get a good amount of smoke on it and step away from the area the Car is in and carefully smell the Cardboard. If it smells like Fuel that is it if it smells sweet People have said that is Coolant.

If it smells like Dlesel be tinking of things that would prevent a lot of the Fuel from burning.

In My case I had messed up and gotten the timing late. The White Smoke was unburned Atomized Fuel. It is the Atomized Fuel that makes it white.

Timing the Fuel Injection Pump fixe it.

I think if the Timing is advnced too far it can also happen.

You did not say if the Smoke puffed out or was continious. If it puffs out it could be you have a Cylinder with little compression. Is there a miss?

Look in the DIY section on how to line up the Timing Gear Marks with the Front Camshaft Bearing Tower and take a look at what degrees on the Cranshaft Dampener the Pointer is pointing too. This has to do with the Valve Timing.
Repair Links
DIY Links by Parts Category - PeachParts Mercedes ShopForum
PeachPartsWiki: Do It Yourself Articles - Mercedes Vehicles

[Diesel911]

Info on smoke:

Cost Effective Maintenance - Diesel Smoke tells YOU a Story...

[ah-kay]

My experience is 99.9% turbo when it is a smoking machine.

[Knuckleballerr]

[QUOTE=
You did not say if the Smoke puffed out or was continious. If it puffs out it could be you have a Cylinder with little compression. Is there a miss?

Look in the DIY section on how to line up the Timing Gear Marks with the Front Camshaft Bearing Tower and take a look at what degrees on the Cranshaft Dampener the Pointer is pointing too. This has to do with the Valve Timing.[/QUOTE]

Definitely continuous smoke.. its light at idle and heavy upon acceleration. I've never had a miss.. maybe perhaps up a hill under intense load it's happened perhaps once or twice.

Are you referring to this?

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/352650-how-do-i-time-injection-pump-after-losing-timing.html

So to get this correct: I'm to line up the camshaft gear timing marks with the marks on the camshaft bearing tower ~ and then take out the ip & line up the marks on that as well.. re-assemble.. drip-time and fire her up?

[Knuckleballerr]

Originally Posted by ah-kay

My experience is 99.9% turbo when it is a smoking machine.

One thing that has been puzzling me is indeed my boost readings. I had it tapped into the boost gauge hole near the back of the intake manifold.. the needle does go back-and-forth.. I believe there is a "kink" in the line (the gauge is from advance.. they give you juuust enough tubing to reach the speedo) and since its near a valve I haven't thought too much of it. Maybe related?