wileycoyote
03-11-2013, 15:53
Hey diesel forum - gleaned a lot of tips out of here over the past few years - hoping you could help me out
I'm the owner of a 1992 6.2l diesel chevy G30 sportvan, which I have come to love, and I'm having something of a problem. It's got 230,000 miles on it and I've never had any real problem with the thing before now.
All of a sudden, the other day, the van started blowing white smoke out of just one of the tailpipes (dual exhaust, driver's side cylinders). It only does this while revving the engine otherwise its fine at low speed and idle. This is resulting in something of a loss of power which prevents the transmission from shifting gears (as I can't quite get to speed, even though the engine is revving). I can get it to shift if I ease off of the pedal and then get back on it again, but this is a pain in the ass and makes it all pretty impossible to drive.
A few passing conversations in the parts store and with some mechanically minded buddies have suggested coolant leaking through the head gasket into the cylinder. I am losing some coolant, but this problem pre-existed the white smoke by some years. It has perhaps accelerated but I didn't have a chance to pay attention to it. People are generally in agreement that this is the best diagnosis given that smoke is coming out of just one, and not both tailpipes.
I did replace the fuel filter, and it had no effect on the problem. As far as I can tell fuel is being delivered to the engine as normal.
I thought I would post here on the diesel forum as most people and mechanics i run into are unfamiliar with diesel engines and I suspect some symptoms are not transferrable. As you might imagine I am pretty bummed out at the diagnosis, not being too anxious to try my hand at pulling the engine out of a van. So what do you all think and what's the best way to go about making sure I have the right diagnosis?
This van has been my bread and butter for the last couple years - don't want to see it go!
Thanks a ton!
-wiley
I'm the owner of a 1992 6.2l diesel chevy G30 sportvan, which I have come to love, and I'm having something of a problem. It's got 230,000 miles on it and I've never had any real problem with the thing before now.
All of a sudden, the other day, the van started blowing white smoke out of just one of the tailpipes (dual exhaust, driver's side cylinders). It only does this while revving the engine otherwise its fine at low speed and idle. This is resulting in something of a loss of power which prevents the transmission from shifting gears (as I can't quite get to speed, even though the engine is revving). I can get it to shift if I ease off of the pedal and then get back on it again, but this is a pain in the ass and makes it all pretty impossible to drive.
A few passing conversations in the parts store and with some mechanically minded buddies have suggested coolant leaking through the head gasket into the cylinder. I am losing some coolant, but this problem pre-existed the white smoke by some years. It has perhaps accelerated but I didn't have a chance to pay attention to it. People are generally in agreement that this is the best diagnosis given that smoke is coming out of just one, and not both tailpipes.
I did replace the fuel filter, and it had no effect on the problem. As far as I can tell fuel is being delivered to the engine as normal.
I thought I would post here on the diesel forum as most people and mechanics i run into are unfamiliar with diesel engines and I suspect some symptoms are not transferrable. As you might imagine I am pretty bummed out at the diagnosis, not being too anxious to try my hand at pulling the engine out of a van. So what do you all think and what's the best way to go about making sure I have the right diagnosis?
This van has been my bread and butter for the last couple years - don't want to see it go!
Thanks a ton!
-wiley