My 04.5 will blow white/blueish smoke at startup for about three seconds... I'd say around a 2 to 3ft plume.

I took a video of it at startup..just can't post it.


The reason I ask is that I get around 11.5mpg to 12 around town (hand calculated) and i hear that similiar truck owners say 14 to 16.

Its been to a reputable dealer now 3 times..all tsb's done and computer updates...3.73 auto with 60psi tires and stanadyne. Only does it in the am.

normal or not? One aftermarket dealer said it shouldn't do it and recommended no aftermarket parts till its resolved.

Problem? Old Dealer says nothing he can do..refuses to do any other checks because it hasnt thrown any codes.

Resolve? for now..wish me luck with the newest 5 star dealer

 

This has been covered quite a bit. I would use an additive like Stanadyne, Power service, or something similar. Then stomp the living @#$! out of the throttle. Most times it's just a dirty injector that is leaking like a 2 year olds nose in the middle of winter. Just needs blown out good. If the problem keeps on they may have to replace an injector. Dealer most likely won't do anything other than tell you that you idle the truck too much and don't work it hard enough. Keep your eye on the problem and don't let it get bad enough to start leaking fuel into your crankcase. JMO.

Do a search for this same thing on this forum, I'm sure it has been covered much better in other posts. There is also a TSB for this problem along with fuel mileage and the overhead not reading properly. You may want to look into that.

 

thats just it..like I said above..

I've done all the things that everyones tried..tsb's (18-037-04), reflashed software (newst update 3weeks ago) , I run stanadyne on a regular basis, filter changed already... blah blah blah

it still gets crappy economy..Im hoping this new dealer will do an individual injector test to see if anything shows. The other dealer says he "cant" do anything because it isnt throwing a code.

thats why I brought him a video of it...

 

FWIW mine does the same thing as well as two other guys in my area. I haven't approached the dealer about it and I'm not going to. I'm just gong to run it like it is. It's a diesel so in my opinion it's supposed to smoke, rattle, and carry on. Funny thing is that now that it's getting colder here, the rough idle and smoke is going away. This morning it was about 34 and I hardly had any smoke and no rough idle. I have not done any TSB's or reflashes to my truck even though it falls within the manufacturing dates. My overhead has always been fairly close for the overall average even though I've run either the ez, juice or both since new.

 

see..the smoke doesnt necessarily bother me...the fuel economy does.

heck if they told me they could get back another 2 mpg and it was due to a leaky injector..at least I would know why my truck is running subpar to others.

Ive also read other posts where ignoring a bad injector caused owners serious long term problems.


I'd like to do add something like a box for fuel economy..but not if its having an issue that might worsen with a box

 

I think some of the problem is just that the motor is cold and with no glow when it's warm it will smoke untill it warms up a little. Now that it is a little colder the grid fires up in the morning and it runs better than without the glow.

 

Mine bellows a nice cloud of smoke on the first start of the day... I drive the you know what out of it too. I am really curious to know what my idle time is... I get 99.9 mpg going down the mountain and about 6-7 coming back up. The mileage averages out to about 17 to 18 with mixed driving... that includes everything from 0-90mph on the freeways to 35-65 on the mountain roads. And when I'm at a light or stop sign I get on it just because I can I don't think the startup smoke is having an effect on my mileage. That's not to say your problem isn't somehow related. Startup smoke doesn't really concern me. Everything I've ever owned or driven that was diesel powered had a nice little salute at startup to let everyone know around it that it's running. Again, until this thing won't do its job I'm not taking it to the dealership for any reason... not even the "free" oil changes.

Aloha

 

I got a call from the service manager mid-day. He fired it up and found #2 injector causing diesel knock. He approved the findings with Star and a new injector is on the way. He says they still have to retest and go from there.

we shall see..but he definitely thinks its the culprit for my low mileage.

bc3

 

Glad to hear you are getting somewhere.

 

Glad to hear!

I've got a similar issue. It's worse in the summer than the winter, which is annoying. And it fogs out my neighbors house. It didn't do this new.

I'm going to try some injector cleaner, swap the fuel filter (paranoia), and then let the dealer have at it.

 

The one thing this "new" dealer advised me of was that Dodge was very specific about not using cleaners/additives. I could read between the lines enough to know that he was not necessarily in agreement with this..but said it could potentially affect warranty claims.

Funny how I was advised TO use it by the first dealer.