[BlueSS454]

Truck ('04 2500HD)started emitting blue (oil) smoke at idle. It doesn't seem to do it while at speed, only at idle. I had noticed it doing it a tiny bit over the last couple weeks, but since I changed the oil in it Thursday it's gotten a lot worse. Any thoughts on what this might be? I have an idea but I want to hear other input.

 

[ktrim]

possible bad fuel injector. If it is get it fixed before you wash a cylinder

 

[BlueSS454]

That's kind of what I was thinking it might be. How much of a pain is it to do them on that engine? I've never messed with a diesel engine before.

 

[ktrim]

it sucks enough to pay someone to do it. sometimes you can pull the codes and see what cylinder it is, sometimes not. I think there was a recall/extended warrenty deal with some of them (dont know what years)I bleieve they are covered to 100000 miles or something like that

 

[hot rod bill]

tom , first are you sure its a injector? does it smell like raw fuel? these turbos are design to let a little bit of engine oil on the intake side as part of lube for the turbo, gm ford & cummins all do that. as for idle i have seen ford smoke alot versus gm, do you have a lot of miles on your dmax? what engine oil do you use & did you switch brand. sorry for the extra questions, just trying to help. bill:thumbsup:

 

[andrew5]

there is a 200k special policy from gm on duramax injectors if that is the problem.

 

[BlueSS454]

It has 108,000 miles on it as of now. It used to put out a haze of blue once in a while, but nowhere near as much as it has been the last 2 days. I've been using Chevron Delo 400 15W-40 in it since new. I have noticed a heavier diesel smell than before.
I haven't heard of any other policy on the injectors from GM. Is there somewhere I can read and/or print that? if that's the case, I want to be ready if I have to argue with a dealer. I know it's an expensive job in the $4000 range..which I don't have.

 

[Chevelle_Nut]

I know I have a PSD but the Ford guys recommend 5W-40 synthetic oil. Again, I don't know how the Duramax engines fire the injectors but Ford uses the oil under high pressure. A different oil may help, I use Rotella T6.

 

[Bowtie-72]

Injectors are an issue, some had fuel injector pipe issues too. See if your local library has access to Alldata. Some have free access on thier computers in-house.

Here's something I found googling: http://duramaxdiesels.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13272

check into what the actual warranty is and get it fixed. doing it yourself is severely costly.

 

[T-Man]

Tom, you have mail (PM)

 

[BlueSS454]

It would be under the warranty but I'm 73 days past 7 years. Think I still have a shot at getting them to cover it? I really don't want to do this job myself nor do I have $4000 to pay a dealer to do it. I probably can do it myself but I know it's one of those things that's going to test the limit of my patients which there isn't much of for something like this.

 

[pist0lpete]

That is a bummer it is out of warranty and they probably won't cover you but it doesn't hurt to try especially if you can look at the balance rates first and make sure its bad before you take it in. If the truck is an LLY not an LB7 then the injectors are much easier to do. Look at the Vin # if the 8th digit is a 2 you have an LLY. If it is an LLY I do not believe the special extended warranty applies. Bear in mind, a new set of injectors is close to $2000 alone before you install them.

 

[mick402]

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/index.php

 

[BlueSS454]

It's an LB7. I've been looking around that diesel forum too. Someone posted a step by step with pics. I don't get why the injectors cost so much. Are they made of platinum or something. I'm debating whether or not to go trade it in. I just REALLY don't want the payments again.

 

[Chevelle_Nut]

I bought injectors for one of my cars from http://www.injectorwarehouse.com/ and I have not had a problem with them plus I had fantastic service, you may want to try them.

 

[BlueSS454]

I have an update on this. It was the injectors. I replaced them yesterday. To those that have these LB7 engines that have not done it yet, you most likely will have to do it at some point. It's not really that hard of a job, just very, very time consuming. It took 2 of us 10 hours yesterday to do it. The hardest part is getting the upper valve cover off. Whatever the sealant is that GM uses is super strong. 6 out of the 8 injectors were clogged up with some kind of cruddy deposit. I'm not sure where it came from but it looked like more corrosion than anything else. The good thing is, the truck runs much, much better now.

 

[Chris R]

I dont want to completely hijack the thread but im wondering. The bulletin posted shows years up to 2004 are effected. Am I to understand that they changed this design or fixed this problem in the 05 and newer Duramax?

Would avoiding this problem and looking for an 05 and newer truck be the wisest then for those that may be looking to get a Duramax?

Tom, how much did the injectors cost you?

 

[77 cruiser]

Little bit that I've found out since buying one is half way thru 04 they changed so yes 05 up if you don't want to worry about injectors.
I think injectors can be had for $1800 for a set of 8 or there abouts.:wacko:

 

[BlueSS454]

I dont want to completely hijack the thread but im wondering. The bulletin posted shows years up to 2004 are effected. Am I to understand that they changed this design or fixed this problem in the 05 and newer Duramax?

Would avoiding this problem and looking for an 05 and newer truck be the wisest then for those that may be looking to get a Duramax?

Tom, how much did the injectors cost you?

No problem Chris. I can give you just about any info you want after this ordeal. There was a TSB on the 2001-2004 LB7 Duramax engines specifically for the injectors. It was to cover the affected vehicles 7 years or 200K miles from the DATE they were put in service. That's how I got screwed BIG TIME by Chevrolet on having them cover it under their own warranty. I was within the mileage (109K), and within the model year limitations, however I was 3 months over the 7 years of the date it was put in service.
Chevrolet wouldn't do squat for me which pissed me off a little bit. I tried negotiating with them for something, they wouldn't hear it. So as far as I'm concerned, Chevrolet can shove it where the sun doesn't shine. I'll never buy another new Chevy EVER again. The fact that a truck that cost $40K which the injectors lasted 109K miles is BS and the fact they wouldn't do anything except say sorry is piss poor customer relations as far as I'm concerned. They wonder why people buy foreign cars...there's why.
Supposedly, the LLY Duramax diesel engines 2005-newer were to have this issue rectified although I can't say for sure. The only thing I do know is the injectors are easier to do on the 2005-newer models because you don't have to pull the valve covers off like I did for mine.
The injectors for mine cost me $245 each + $35 to ship them so I have $2000 out in the injectors alone. There is a $100 per injector core charge as well. I also had to get 4 gallons of premixed Dex Cool so there's another $60, 10 quarts of oil that was $40, ball tip hex sockets and keys which was $45, and a tube of engine sealant for the upper valve covers which was $15 so I'm out almost $2200 for this repair.

 

[bln]

I know where I can get mine done if mine go now