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Can a bad valve cover gasket injectors wire harness cause white smoke during start up

9K views 30 replies 10 participants last post by  OL-AZ-OL 
#1 ·
I’m having white smoke puff (A lot)in the morning on my truck after I changed all six injectors still.. a lot of people are telling me it could my my wire harness to my fuel injectors? I never replace the wire harness btw I used the same one

2006 Dodge Ram 2500 5.9
 
#4 ·
Yes it was smoking slightly before I installed the new injectors but now it’s puffing white smoke like crazy only when the engine is cold but it’ll be running good when it’s in running temps.. I keep getting told it’s my wire harness.. and yes it has new feed tubes
 
#7 ·
Could be wires. Pull the injector wire plugs at the valve cover and measure the resistance to the injectors there. If the wires are good, they should all match abd be less than 1 ohm. Found this on mine, the crimped end that connected to the injector was not tight and caused a wondering reading. Redid all the terminals and now all the injectors read the same whether I am at the injector or at the plug.

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#9 ·
Not sure. The system on these trucks is really primative compared to new gas vehicles. Kinda like being in the early 80's. The system does not seem to have hard set values and works even out of range so it could be adjusting for an injector solenoid that changes with temp. Easy way is measure the injector solenoid resistance through the harness connection. If it is less than 1 ohm and more than 0.1 ohm then that is not the problem. Just another box to check off, especially since these rams are so sensitive to electrical conditions.

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#15 ·
And I have seen done strange things happen. I know it sounds like a leaking injector but why would it get better with temp unless the OP has lost compression when cold in one cylinder and regains it when Temps increase. That is another option, but if you are at the point of questioning the wires, just check it and be done with it to either rule it out or solve it.

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#16 ·
Verify your feed tubes are seated in the injectors correctly and then torqued to spec. If you are still having issues, write down the number off your injectors and verify they are new, not remans, as long as new is what you had purchased. You might have a leaky injector.
 
#18 ·
Sounds exactly like my truck when one of my piston rings broke. Fuel doesn't have compression ignition. A compression test indicated the problem . The fix was to bring the engine to a machine shop have them hone all 6 cylinders and I install new rings gaskets and bearings. Ran fine after that . I opened up my top rings a bit because I new I would be doing performance mods.
 
#21 ·
I had the same issue with my 2006. Had white smoke on startup but ran fine. Ended up being cracked rings in the #3 cylinder. Ended up pulling all the pistons, honed the cylinders and installed all new rings & bearings at 160K miles.
My truck was 10 years old when I bought it so I don't know any history on it. However there were tell tale signs it had a tuner & exhaust temp sensor previously. So guessing power levels were cranked up which may have lead to the cracked rings?
 
#23 ·
Not really and no signs of any at the vent tube. However, I only drove it a few times once it started smoking. After diagnosis of cracked rings in 1 cylinder I repaired the engine right away.
 
#28 ·
Put My 05 5. 9 Truck pulling our 14K lbs RV through some very HARD uphills in the Midwest with some whining and whoosing in June (165K miles).
Since then started smoking on startup/idling. Now at 167K Miles. Have run Shell Rotella T Synthetic since I bought the Truck at 36K miles and have it analyzed every oil change. A few minor / temporary analysis "issues" before the Engine got broken in about 140K miles.
My Shop thinks maybe a stuck ring. EM and Turbo are still good. They performed an injector cleaning. They changed my Synthetic Oil and I had it analyzed and nothing significant showed up...They refilled with regular oil and put Seafoam in. Suggested I put another bottle of Seafoam in 200 miles before next oil change...
Currently its still smoking on startup and idling or parking the RV. But has pulled my RV far in the flat Southeast OK - Aug/Sept. Boost never went above 22.8 either at 18/1900 RPM loafing along at 65 or even 2500 RPM when Cruise Control briefly downshifts for "hills" (Tow Haul Mode).

I assumed EM or Turbo were going bad so I bought a new BD IronHorn low end EM and Turbo kit but have yet to install them.
Wonder what time will tell....
 
#29 ·
Put My 05 5. 9 Truck pulling our 14K lbs RV through some very HARD uphills in the Midwest with some whining and whoosing in June (165K miles).

Since then started smoking on startup/idling. Now at 167K Miles. Have run Shell Rotella T Synthetic since I bought the Truck at 36K miles and have it analyzed every oil change. A few minor / temporary analysis "issues" before the Engine got broken in about 140K miles.

My Shop thinks maybe a stuck ring. EM and Turbo are still good. They performed an injector cleaning. They changed my Synthetic Oil and I had it analyzed and nothing significant showed up...They refilled with regular oil and put Seafoam in. Suggested I put another bottle of Seafoam in 200 miles before next oil change...

Currently its still smoking on startup and idling or parking the RV. But has pulled my RV far in the flat Southeast OK - Aug/Sept. Boost never went above 22.8 either at 18/1900 RPM loafing along at 65 or even 2500 RPM when Cruise Control briefly downshifts for "hills" (Tow Haul Mode).



I assumed EM or Turbo were going bad so I bought a new BD IronHorn low end EM and Turbo kit but have yet to install them.

Wonder what time will tell....
What's EM?

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#31 ·
Old school, heavy black smoke caused by over fuel, white smoke caused by water (coolant) in cylinder being burned off at startup. Pressure test cooling system or may see bubbles in radiator also may have a pressure in cooling system run engine w/pressure tester on radiator to see if pressure builds on tester gauge. You are looking for coolant getting into a cylinder through a bad head gasket or a injector sleeve. I am not quite sure if this engine has sleeves or not. As I stated earlier old school white smoke is a signal that coolant is being burned at start up. Leaks in over night. Not good for cylinder lubrication.
 
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