LLY: Black Smoke and no power

02dirtymax

Member
Jul 3, 2009
149
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16
Ohio
Picked up an 05 LLY with 189K that a guy was tired of messing with with the hopes of getting it running for a beater truck. It was a trade in and then supposedly went in for headgaskets at a local shop and it still doesn't run right. I don't know all of the details, but it has definitely been taken apart and I can see that it has new head gaskets. The workmanship was crude at best, as there are bolts missing out of most of the brackets and the glow plugs leaked because they were not tight and they didn't even bother to clean the intake horn or anything when doing the headgaskets.

It blows lots of black smoke under throttle and has no power. In 1st or 2nd gear it will redline, but in 3rd or D it won't hardly get above 2000 rpms (both with tons of black smoke - reminds me of my old truck with 60% injectors and dual cp3's - minus the power) It will also blow black smoke in park under throttle, but none at idle. It idles a little rough and is kind of hard to start like it is starved for fuel.

The codes I got were P0046, P2563, P0101, P0404 and P1404. All related to turbo nozzles or EGR. I looked at the intercooler boots to make sure they were tight and in tact. I pulled the EGR and it is moving freely - not stuck open, I tested the turbo vane sensor with efi live and it was smooth from 0-100%. I also pushed the plunger on the turbo and it moves freely. I watched the egr and turbo vanes and actual position followed commanded position on both. I then checked balance rates and #2 was at around 12 in park and drive and #2 was -4 in park and -7 in drive. All of the other ones were close to 0. I suspected a stuck injector so I pulled the injector harness plug and removed the glow plug on #2 and #7 one at a time and cranked and got no fuel out of the glow plug holes. I then swapped #4 and #7 injectors to see if the problem with #7 stayed with the cylinder or followed the injector. The balance rates stayed about the same as before swapping injectors so I believe it is something to do with those cylinders.

Any ideas on what to check next?
 

Awenta

Active member
Sep 28, 2014
4,090
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CT
Compression and leak down tests.

How are rail and boost pressures?

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henery97

Member
Apr 4, 2011
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Nebraska
Have you verified if it has a stock tune in it? Other than that compression/leak down on 7 would be my next step.
 

Chucky797

Member
Oct 30, 2013
81
1
8
New Bern, NC
Is there any exhaust leak pre turbo. It sounds like the truck is dumping fuel and the turbo isn't spooking. Can you hear it spool up?

You say it was crude work, I would look at the connections around the turbo to make sure nothing is missing or unplugged. I am not familiar with what type of turbo it had in it.
 

02dirtymax

Member
Jul 3, 2009
149
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16
Ohio
I'll check compression on #7 in particular and try to do a leakdown test I guess.

I haven't found anything not plugged in and I reseated most of the connections around the turbo, injectors, main harnesses, etc.

Rail pressure looked fine revving it up in park.

I don't know if it has a stock tune it - it has no signs of any performance mods and it was just a plow truck with full stock exhaust and 245's.
 

murguia

New member
Feb 29, 2016
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Hello I have a 2005 duramax that is blowing black smoke since I bought it a 3 months ago long story short 3 mechanic's new turbo, new injectors, new ecm due to locked ecm previous owner, new mass sensor, reflashed and still black smoke I've spent so much money I don't know where to go from here.

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02dirtymax

Member
Jul 3, 2009
149
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Ohio
Well, the compression results are in. #7 is 100, #2 is 300 and the rest were 360-370.

#7 went to 100 on the first rotation and just stayed there after that. #2 was incremental like the other cylinders but never got as high.

I'm assuming that the heads are going to need to come off again to see what is going on in there.
 

02dirtymax

Member
Jul 3, 2009
149
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16
Ohio
So I took the valve covers off of the passenger side and I don't see anything obvious. The valves appear to be working properly and the pushrods appear to be straight. I checked the clearances quick to make sure nothing was way out of wack and everything appeared to be close. I didn't loosen any of the adjusting nuts, just tried to .012 feeler to see if it would go or was at least close to going on the appropriate valves using #1 cylinder position.

Any other ideas before I pull the heads and have to eat the cost of new headgaskets and bolts?
 

The Kansan

New member
Aug 30, 2013
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Topeka, KS
Can you get your hands on a borescope? Might be worth it to pull the injector out and try and peek in there before pulling the head.
 

02dirtymax

Member
Jul 3, 2009
149
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16
Ohio
I found a boroscope but it wouldn't fit in the injector hole. It did allow me to see the top of the pistons and I didn't see anything.

I think I did find the culprit for my lack of air and corresponding black smoke. I was starting on the rest of the teardown to pull the heads and happened to try to spin the turbo by hand. I couldn't get it to go so I put a ratchet on the compressor and it would spin a few turns and get real hard and stop, I spun it back the other way and it would go a few turns and get real hard and stop. I tried that a few times and decided to give it some more grunt as it should spin around no problem. Well I heard a loud snap and it broke free, allowing me to spin the wheel all I wanted. Only problem is now the compressor spins and the turbine does not!!!! Looks like I'll be looking for a new turbo. I'm glad I found this issue, but I wish I would have looked at boost while I still had the engine together and running.

I've still got an issue with the compression on #7 cylinder so I will have to go through with pulling the heads anyway. I wonder if something came apart in the turbo and messed up a valve or something. There weren't any marks or damage on the compressor wheel and it still doesn't really have any play in it even though it is obviously broke.
 

LBZ

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jul 2, 2007
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Plugged muffler or rag in the intake or intercooler maybe? Plastic bag around the air filter?
 

02dirtymax

Member
Jul 3, 2009
149
0
16
Ohio
Well, I got the heads off and 2 cylinders / pistons are beat up. I'll be putting this truck up for sale as is or parting out soon.
 

02dirtymax

Member
Jul 3, 2009
149
0
16
Ohio
The turbo is junk. I now have the truck listed for sale. I'm trying to sell it whole or whole minus the engine and transmission before I start to part it out.
 

Hot COCOAL

May the farce be with you
Jun 9, 2012
4,433
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0
Judging by the title, I thought this would be a Cummins thread:rofl:
JK, sorry about your luck man:(

Is the block usable?