Zipper369
Full Access Member
Hey guys! Just wanted to share my experience with you all. Maybe someone here has had, or will have, the same problem.
The Problem:
My Tahoe used to dump black smoke every time I opened her up on the highway. It only smoked when the RPMs got above 2,800, but when I say smoke, I mean SMOKE. It looked as if I had a diesel running wide open.
The Questions:
My initial judgement was that the valve seals were going bad (little did I know that burnt oil produces a white/blue smoke). I asked around to a lot of people who know a good deal about engines and it seems that everyone had a different solution. One guy said it was probably a bent cam holding a valve open or something (doubtful). Another guy said that one of my fuel injectors might be getting stuck open, dumping more fuel than I need. That one makes sense, because excess fuel burns black. A third guy said that I have a fuel leak inside the intake manifold. That one made the most sense to me.
The Solution:
So last weekend I took apart my intake. I was surprised at how much carbon buildup I had in there. I had a good 1/8" layer of black crap all over everything. After some careful cleaning with some Deep Creep and a whole bunch of rags, I got it cleaned up pretty good. I proceeded to pull the injectors... Yep, more carbon buildup. I had to take more Deep Creep and an acid brush to get those clean. Reassembled everything and aside from a fuel-leak on my part (that I fixed pronto), everything seems to be running great. I revved the engine to the red line at 5,500 RPM without a hint of smoke. Mission accomplished.
The Problem:
My Tahoe used to dump black smoke every time I opened her up on the highway. It only smoked when the RPMs got above 2,800, but when I say smoke, I mean SMOKE. It looked as if I had a diesel running wide open.
The Questions:
My initial judgement was that the valve seals were going bad (little did I know that burnt oil produces a white/blue smoke). I asked around to a lot of people who know a good deal about engines and it seems that everyone had a different solution. One guy said it was probably a bent cam holding a valve open or something (doubtful). Another guy said that one of my fuel injectors might be getting stuck open, dumping more fuel than I need. That one makes sense, because excess fuel burns black. A third guy said that I have a fuel leak inside the intake manifold. That one made the most sense to me.
The Solution:
So last weekend I took apart my intake. I was surprised at how much carbon buildup I had in there. I had a good 1/8" layer of black crap all over everything. After some careful cleaning with some Deep Creep and a whole bunch of rags, I got it cleaned up pretty good. I proceeded to pull the injectors... Yep, more carbon buildup. I had to take more Deep Creep and an acid brush to get those clean. Reassembled everything and aside from a fuel-leak on my part (that I fixed pronto), everything seems to be running great. I revved the engine to the red line at 5,500 RPM without a hint of smoke. Mission accomplished.
