Black smoke
03-26-2011, 01:01 PM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Black smoke
Hi all. Just got the ecoboost last night. This morning started it up with the remote starter.... Started up fine. There was black smoke coming out of the tail pipe for about 10 sec or so... Than it turned white. The truck has 120km on it and it was around -10c this morning. Does it run rich because it's in break in mode? Not going to like black smoke everytime it starts up... Anyone else having the same problem?
03-26-2011, 01:05 PM
#2
My EB has never smoked black that I know of but my MS6 with essentially the same motor smoked black occasionally while driving. If I lugged it while it was still in the open loop mode it would sometimes stumble and puff black once. I would say it won't do it every time if it does I'd take it in.
03-26-2011, 01:16 PM
#3
Senior Member
Someone posted a thread on this a few days ago. I never noticed it until I read his thread. The next morning I looked and I indeed did get some black smoke for about 10 seconds. I also heard something that I never noticed before, and during that 10 seconds or so I could hear the turbos spool up significantly. Did some reading and found that is in the design; to get the turbos moving and warmed up quickly. It's interesting because the idle doesn't get any higher, it's just shoving some extra fuel to get em moving. At least that's how I interpret it.
Here is a small section of an article I found about the ecoboost that was written a couple years ago. It did not state that this was specifically the F-150 spec engine, but all things being equal this might explain why we are seeing some soot around the tail pipe ends when it's cold out and the engine is cold:
As said above, it appears they are making a rich mixture for quick warm up and smooth running when cold. Normal for a rich mixture when cold, but a strange approach to me. Kind of sucks actually. Seems the best thing to do is get in it and drive vs letting it idle and warm up. Not suggesting it gets hammered on until the oil temps are up to snuff, but drive it nicely while it warms.
Here is a small section of an article I found about the ecoboost that was written a couple years ago. It did not state that this was specifically the F-150 spec engine, but all things being equal this might explain why we are seeing some soot around the tail pipe ends when it's cold out and the engine is cold:
Since the system direct-injects fuel into the chamber, games can be played with the actual flow of the spray. For instance, on start up, when the engine is cold and the catalysts aren't functioning, the engine injects a half-shot of fuel into chamber on the downward stroke of the intake cycle, then, as the piston comes back for ignition, a second half-shot is fired at the piston head. Notice the shape of top of the piston (sans the CNC'd EcoBoost logo): The little trough is designed specifically to ramp that secondary spray at the spark plug — the result is a locally rich mixture good for ignition, but a globally lean mixture, great for making heat fast.
Last edited by spdmpo; 03-26-2011 at 01:21 PM.
03-27-2011, 11:56 AM
#5
Senior Member
Hi all. Just got the ecoboost last night. This morning started it up with the remote starter.... Started up fine. There was black smoke coming out of the tail pipe for about 10 sec or so... Than it turned white. The truck has 120km on it and it was around -10c this morning. Does it run rich because it's in break in mode? Not going to like black smoke everytime it starts up... Anyone else having the same problem?
It started and rich mixture black fumes for 5 seconds, turbos spooling up sounds and turns to white steam exhaust after the black phase. All normal and good I think. Spdmpo hit the nail on the head.
03-27-2011, 01:17 PM
#6
Member
Thread Starter
I guess it's normal for these truck. Thanks for testing it out guys. Kind of sucks that it to smoke when it starts... Usually black or blue smoke from a car mean it's an older car or something is wrong. Not expecting it from an expensive truck!
03-28-2011, 09:44 AM
#7
Senior Member
They're doing everything they can so you don't have to worry about the turbo chargers. If they didn't purposely try to warm the engine oil up that fast, you would have to wait until the oil temperature came up before you could drive it or the turbo seals would break (See the video of the 2007 PowerStroke 'flame thrower' for an example of this). It's the same reason the turbos are practically under the truck - hot water goes up, cold water goes down. Helps them cool off if you don't know to keep the truck running for a minute or two after a hard pull.
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04-08-2011, 01:12 PM
#8
They're doing everything they can so you don't have to worry about the turbo chargers. If they didn't purposely try to warm the engine oil up that fast, you would have to wait until the oil temperature came up before you could drive it or the turbo seals would break (See the video of the 2007 PowerStroke 'flame thrower' for an example of this). It's the same reason the turbos are practically under the truck - hot water goes up, cold water goes down. Helps them cool off if you don't know to keep the truck running for a minute or two after a hard pull.
That is misguided, inaccurate and just flat out wrong. It is to get the turbos spooled and pre-heat the cats for emmissions. And the "flame thrower" powerstroke was the 2008, and that was because of the injection cycle into the dpf to burn the soot off. Turbo seals do not break, they can wear out over time and cause a "runaway" on older non computerized diesels. Thats all
04-08-2011, 05:31 PM
#9
Senior Member
Where on earth do you get your information?
I have personally had a turbo blow on me, and it most definitly can allow oil into the exhaust and did not cause a runaway engine condition. When mine blew, it put out enough thick black smoke to blot out the noon sun in Laredo, Texas - it looked like a storm cloud rolling in.
And computerized or non computerized diesels dont matter - if the turbo blows in a way that allows oil to blow into the air intake, its going to run away on you. The only way to stop it is to clog the air intake.
Also, have you ever SEEN what motor oil does at -25 F (Especially heavy weight diesel motor oil)? Its thicker than tar. There is a reason why diesel trucks all have block heaters.
And yes, I didn't go into enough detail apparently. According to Ford, the ambient air temperature was extremely cold - below -25 F. The driver started the truck, and immediately put a heavy load on the engine. The turbo seal broke (Or SOMETHING broke), and allowed oil into the exhaust system. This wasn't a big deal immediately - however, the DPF system eventually went into a regen cycle, which ignited the oil that was trapped in the diesel particulate filter, and caused flames to shoot out the exhaust.
Ford's fix to prevent the flame thrower was to shut down the DPF cycle if it detected abnormally high temperatures in the system and de-rate the truck to the point it would have to be towed to the dealer for repair.
I have personally had a turbo blow on me, and it most definitly can allow oil into the exhaust and did not cause a runaway engine condition. When mine blew, it put out enough thick black smoke to blot out the noon sun in Laredo, Texas - it looked like a storm cloud rolling in.
And computerized or non computerized diesels dont matter - if the turbo blows in a way that allows oil to blow into the air intake, its going to run away on you. The only way to stop it is to clog the air intake.
Also, have you ever SEEN what motor oil does at -25 F (Especially heavy weight diesel motor oil)? Its thicker than tar. There is a reason why diesel trucks all have block heaters.
And yes, I didn't go into enough detail apparently. According to Ford, the ambient air temperature was extremely cold - below -25 F. The driver started the truck, and immediately put a heavy load on the engine. The turbo seal broke (Or SOMETHING broke), and allowed oil into the exhaust system. This wasn't a big deal immediately - however, the DPF system eventually went into a regen cycle, which ignited the oil that was trapped in the diesel particulate filter, and caused flames to shoot out the exhaust.
Ford's fix to prevent the flame thrower was to shut down the DPF cycle if it detected abnormally high temperatures in the system and de-rate the truck to the point it would have to be towed to the dealer for repair.
Last edited by p38fln; 04-08-2011 at 05:39 PM.
