Neighbors problem

[AndyTblc]

My neighbor has a 2002 Chevy D-Max, and he ran some fuel injector cleaner in his truck last week, and ever since then, his truck has been blowing a little smoke, it's not blue, but it's not black either, it's almost like a brown smoke, brownish black. It does it at idle and when accelerating, but it's not the thick smoke like you see when people take off. He things an injector might be hanging up or something, he's only got 100,000 miles on it.
Do you guys have any info I can pass onto him?

[foreman00081]

bad injectors will usually smoke white at idle but it sounds like that could be his problem. 01-03 dmax's are notorious for bad injectors thats why GM extended the warranty on them to 7 years or 200K. its pretty unlikely but hopefully your buddies is still within that. its from when the truck was first put into service so if his truck wasnt bought untill late 02 then he might have a chance. more than likely though hes out of warranty. injectors are not cheap so tell him to be prepared. a full replacement at the dealer can run $4k+ just to give you an idea because the injectors are buried within the heads which makes it a lot of work to replace and is generally thought to be why they go bad because of rapidly changing temps. the amount of miles on them doesnt matter. some go within 30K and some last 200K. im at 130K with stock injectors, guess ive just been lucky so far. on later models they moved the injectors to the outside of the heads and they dont seem to have the same problems. so i would tell him to get it to the dealer and have the balance rates checked. that should give an indication of whats going on.

[AndyTblc]

The guy he bought it from already had replaced the injectors, and he had ran injector cleaner threw it and thats when it started smoking, and the tail pipe is blacker than normal, so he said it could be just blowing carbon out. But since Wayland Chevy closed down, he hasn't had time to get it to a dealer, so he's gonna try and talk to a mechanic one of these days.

[dozerboy]

Has he gone through that tank of fuel yet and it still doing it?

[AndyTblc]

Has he gone through that tank of fuel yet and it still doing it?

Umm, I don't think so. He doesn't drive it all the time. he said he thinks he dumped to much injector cleaner in there, and I have thought of that, but I rode in it today with him and I didn't see it do it. So I'll see him tomorrow and talk to him, since this is his first diesel truck. He's had it for a while, but never had problems with it.

[foreman00081]

The guy he bought it from already had replaced the injectors, and he had ran injector cleaner threw it and thats when it started smoking, and the tail pipe is blacker than normal, so he said it could be just blowing carbon out. But since Wayland Chevy closed down, he hasn't had time to get it to a dealer, so he's gonna try and talk to a mechanic one of these days.

i guess he should put some fuel through it first and see if the problem keeps up or goes away but one thing about LB7 injectors is that they can and do go at any time. doesnt matter if they were changed 1000 or 100,000 miles ago. some guys have gone through 4 or 5 sets, there really is no rhyme or reason to when they go. does he have any hard starting or reduced power? those along with the smoking on start up and at idle are other tell tale signs of bad injectors.

[AndyTblc]

i guess he should put some fuel through it first and see if the problem keeps up or goes away but one thing about LB7 injectors is that they can and do go at any time. doesnt matter if they were changed 1000 or 100,000 miles ago. some guys have gone through 4 or 5 sets, there really is no rhyme or reason to when they go. does he have any hard starting or reduced power? those along with the smoking on start up and at idle are other tell tale signs of bad injectors.

He doesn't have any trouble starting, it has full power, no problems at all, runs normal.

[braaap11889]

If he has to replace injectors and is looking to get into performance aspect of diesels he should looking into buying upgraded ones.

[foreman00081]

If he has to replace injectors and is looking to get into performance aspect of diesels he should looking into buying upgraded ones.

uhh, since when do bigger injectors do anything for a dmax unless you are building a motor for well over 600HP? stock injectors flow plenty of fuel even for huge power levels. your stock motor will grenade long before your injectors arent able to provide enough fuel.

[braaap11889]

Exactly what I was going with. If he is looking to make big power or build his motor why not start out with performance injectors they aren't much more than stock injectors.

[foreman00081]

Exactly what I was going with. If he is looking to make big power or build his motor why not start out with performance injectors they aren't much more than stock injectors.

i guess that makes sense if it were something he was considering. its just that not many guys really plan on dropping the $25K into their motor that would warrant needing bigger injectors.

[braaap11889]

Ya if my injectors ever went out of warrenty why not replace them with better ones even if you don't need them they are there an atleast for some reason if you or someone builds up the motor something that doesnt need to be replaced. If I break something that has an aftermarket part that is better I try to buy the aftermarket part.

[foreman00081]

If I break something that has an aftermarket part that is better I try to buy the aftermarket part.

agreed, i almost always do the same thing. i hate stock.

[dozerboy]

There is nothing better about over sized injectors they just flow more fuel. He would also need to get EFI then to cut down on the fuel. Since over sized injector + stock tuning = over fueling

[misterfnygy]

The injector issue was fixed in the LLY motors right? I am looking at buying my first diesel and trying to learn the ins and outs- thanks!

['04CCLB7]

yes, the LLY's had the injector problem fixed.

[foreman00081]

yeah, injectors are not an issue on LLY's. the major issue with LLY's is overheating when working hard, there are fixes for it though.

[AndyTblc]

Well, we went and got his truck back today, he had one injector go bad. He thought they were under warrenty for $100,000 miles no matter what the time period was, but the dealer said, no 7 years or 100,000. So he had to fork out $1,100 to have his injector replaced. But he wants me to get warranty information to turn into GM to get his money back. The owner before him had injectors put in before he bought the truck, do you guys have any info on this?

[foreman00081]

just FYI, its 7 yr/200K but either way hes out of warranty plain and simple. sucks that he had to pay but GM most likely isnt going to do a thing about it. you dont get a new 7yr/200K warranty when the injectors are replaced. its still the original warranty. you can have them replaced as many times as needed in the warranty period but once you hit 7 years or 200K its sayonara as far as GM's concerned.

[LiftedVictory]

another way to tell is if when you change your oil, 5 gallons comes out instead of 3. lol true story.