Crossy's son

ah ha!! thats your white smoke problem (or part of it)

Thats your Kalt Start Beschlenniger!! (refered to as KSB)

It Advances the timing about 6-8 degrees by closing off the bleed port of the pump's internal pressure regulator. Pump pressure increases and moves the advance piston against its spring. By doing so the piston rotates the cam ring kinda like a plate inside of a distributor w/points ignition. The injection pump rollers hit the cam lobes earlier and timing is advanced.

basicly- It advances the timing on cold startups

Hook the wire back up and start it cold and it should be better.

wannadiesel

That's the KSB solenoid. It advances the timing at low RPM when the engine is cold. If you are running stock timing, having that disconnected could cause white smoke on a cold start in the 50's. In colder weather it would definitely cause a white smoke issue even with advanced timing.

SeanB23

Yep, it was the KSB. Learn something new every day here. Starts fine now with no smoke...I had to crimp the plastic doo-dad on the end of the wire pretty hard to keep it on there, the fan was just blowing it right off.

Round and round I go with this engine, but at least it runs well enough to get me to work and back, and around town. I am losing a little coolant every time it sits, though, not sure where.

Now, the very rear driver's side corner of the engine is a little wet, so I cleaned and dried it, drove for a day, and it's a little wet again. Absolutely dry everywhere else. Not sure if this is oil or water. The gray Cummins brand valve cover gaskets have been on and off like 8 times now over the course of this excellent adventure, and they don't quite fit the covers like they used to, they are a bit worn out. I sure hope that is oil and not water...then again, at this point, should I have to redo the gasket due to stretched bolts or a warped head or whatever, I could do it in like 1/4 the time.

I'm gonna try winching down those back bolts more, see what happens. The thing is, the last head bolt on the end (#24) is just impossible to get to with a torque wrench, even with the wiper motor removed and flexible extensions and everything. Got it to 69 pounds in sequence, and then maybe another 45 degrees with the final torquing. Maybe a box end could fit on there, who knows. Maybe it's just oil at the rear corner and the water loss is from a bad hose that I just cannot see...

At any rate, thanks to all who advised me and held my hand along the way here. One complex project with one roadblock after another, but I sure learned a lot about the Cummins 6BT, especially considering it's my first one and I had just bought it.

Ace

Something like this holds my KSB wire: