Puff the magic dragon

**Bjamin** · 02-25-2020 05:49 PM

Hey everybody,

Quick question but not without a backstory.
First some specs:
1984 4d55
71k miles (could be 171)
Tc05-10a turbo with a waste gate
California emissions (California injection pump, egr, and all the other performance and economy robbers)
I am blowing smoke when I stab the throttle or maintain rpm (cruising but smoke at maintained rpm is intermittent).
At first I thought it was oil (71k and no idea on turbo history) but paid more attention and it looks like fuel, similar to the puff I get on a cold start when I have to crank more than once. It isn't black, that's why I jumped to oil first.
This only started after I put on an oil catch can (or separator) and does it with the can vented to atmosphere or connected to the intake. If I hook the valve cover back to the intake without the can there's no smoke cloud while driving.
Thoughts? Leaking injector? Pump timing?
I know very little about diesel injection pumps or tuning them but I get the gist. (solid gasoline automotive background)

Thanks in advance
-B

**Salteen** · 02-28-2020 06:38 PM

well then just eliminate the can, who needs it anyways? when inspection time comes around hook it bac up so itll pass and take it back off when inspection is over! lucky for me in my state we don't have inspection.

or you can leave it and just 'roll coal' like alot of people do

**Bjamin** · 02-28-2020 10:40 PM

Thanks for the reply Salteen,

"Rollin' coal" is not my thing.
My background says smoke out the exhaust is bad (completely eliminating it on the diesel and an old one to boot is not what I am trying to though).

The can is not factory equipment, it was meant to remove oil from the intake track, turbo, and soon to be front mount intercooler (turbos are for moving air, not liquid and oily intercoolers suck to deal with).
I'm running classic plates on the truck, no emissions testing needed as long as I keep under 5k miles a year.

I did a different test today, since the first post was going off memory. Hooked the outlet of the can up to the intake and got no smoke except at full tilt. I still get oil going into the intake though I don't know of a way to measure how much.
I still can't figure out why it smokes fuel with the valve cover unhooked from the intake.

**Bjamin** · 02-29-2020 12:26 PM

Another question I had for those of you that have done above 2" exhaust, did you bore out the turbo outlet to match or leave it at 2"?

**geezer101** · 02-29-2020 01:23 PM

I'm not a diesel guy as I've pointed out on a couple of posts but I think the general consensus is the stock turbo on the 4D55 is too small for the engine and it runs out of 'puff' (fitting for the title of your thread...) too soon. IMO it would be a good idea to upgrade the turbo instead of spending money on the factory unit to make the most out of it.

**Salteen** · 02-29-2020 01:35 PM

i have no clue how this oil catch can works, I just can't wrap my head around it, but as far as I can tell it is the source of the problem. the standard N/A motors got as much, if not more, power than the diesel version, so if you want to keep up with the gas boys I would just upgrade the turbo and intake, and run 2.5 exhaust as 2 1/4 allows for just under 200 HP.

**Bjamin** · 02-29-2020 07:06 PM

geezer,
I think you are correct about the tiny turbo running out to soon. As Salteen said, it is not worth the time to modify the stock unit to fit upgrades and that was kind of the point of the question, does the outlet on the turbo need to match the exhaust size?
My exhaust is going to be redone (easy and cheap) and will be getting 2 1/4 or 2.5 with no cat or resonator. Maybe a muff, I haven't decided yet, but all the (one) hangers are gone and the cat or resonator is just restriction.
Salteen,
To your point, 200 would be awesome in this little truck but at that point I'd start worrying about the trans as it is also an unknown and does not have the tuff pan upgrade.
I am not in hurry to get anywhere when driving my mad max, if I was I'd go find a gas truck and start planning for a LQ9 V8 swap

For the can, think of it as an oil-air separator, it has a baffled inlet that slows and turbulates (yes I just made that up) the incoming mix from the valve cover (pcv on a gas engine). This allows the oil to de-atomize and drop out of the mix before heading back to the intake or atmosphere, wherever the outlet goes.

**dancinggecko** · 03-01-2020 10:00 AM

The stock turbos on the 4D55 are fine for around town driving at stock power levels. Being an '84 you should have the TD04-09B turbo, wich does better on the low end than the TC05-10A used on '83 trucks. That being said, the TC05 can move more air once it is spooled up, so that one is better if you do a lot of highway/interstate driving. Boring out the outlet of the turbo to match the exhaust certainly won't hurt anything, anything to improve exhaust flow helps. I'm running a 2.5 inch exhaust on my truck, and though I haven't bored it out yet may do so in the future. \
I am completely stumped by the smoking thing though. It is an old diesel so it is going to smoke, but I don't get why it smokes more with the catch can on. It really doesn't make any sense. If anything it would make more sense for it to smoke with the stock crankcase breather since that is sending oil through the cylinders with the intake air, as opposed to venting the pressure to the atmosphere. I personally wouldn't be super worried about it unless you are noticing excessive oil loss, higher EGT's, or anything else out of the ordinary.
200 horsepower is achievable with these motors, but tread carefully. The bottom ends are built heavier than some industrial engines I've worked on, so they can take some abuse, but the heads are kind of a weak point. A common upgrade is to put the newer 4D56 heads on the older motors. The new heads have roller rockers for a smoother valve-train and better coolant channels in the head to keep that aluminum from getting too toasty. One thing that some people do to help the transmissions a little bit is to install a heavy aluminum plate in place of the flimsy stamped steel one on the bottom of the transmissions. I think they are called Tuff Pans or something like that. I haven't put one on yet, but if you are wanting that kind of power through the stock transmission then that is probably a good idea.
Sorry for the long post, hope some of this was helpful!

P.S. - When I say 200 is achievable, I mean that I know of people that have reached that number. How driveable it was or how well it held up I do not know, but it can be done.

**Bjamin** · 03-01-2020 12:08 PM

Gecko!

Thanks for chiming in, and the informative post. Long posts are the norm for me so have at it.

The turbo on the truck is an odd-ball, it's an 84 with an internal waste gate tc05 (likely a California emissions thing). I have a seized td04 that is going to be rebuilt along with the egr delete, exhaust, intercooler, gauges etc etc.
Not really looking to boost power as I don't really want to start fiddling with larger injectors or trying to get more fuel out of the California pump. I do have a federal pump but it needs a rebuild and that's not in the plan at the moment.
As far as the smoke thing;
Like you said, I don't expect to be smoke free but it was excessive. I even thought maybe it was due to the can causing increased valve cover pressure since it is baffled (due to old rings and increased blow-by when the turbo was spooled) forcing oil past the valve seals.
I'm not super concerned about it but it'd be nice to eliminate the oil from the intake before the rebuilt turbo and intercooler goes on.
On the performance side I'm already running a 4d56 head (due to my neglect of checking balance belts, that was an expensive mistake) but did not stud the block in lue of needing it back on the road and budget.
This truck is not a high performance build, more a tinker toy that I enjoy the hell out of driving (makes me laugh when I dress for labor work and get called a tweaker because of appearances). I may look into getting or making a tuff pan as I still need to do a transmission service since acquiring the truck (I think it'll help my shifting issues).
Beyond that it's mostly maintenance stuff, half shafts, steering rebuild, stuff like that.

**pennyman1** · 03-01-2020 05:56 PM

I drove an 83 TD Ram 50 new, and at full throttle it put out a lot of smoke off the dealers lot. How much is a lot of smoke?

**Bjamin** · 03-01-2020 06:08 PM

Enough I would worry about being reported for smog (yes people do that here). Not black cloud but more than what is normal for my truck.

**Salteen** · 03-02-2020 06:57 AM

we need to deport a bunch of idiots in California to somewhere else, off this planet preferably. idk why I just never liked the people, everyone I ever met was rude and entitled and just overall horrible people.

that said I would find a turbo with a 2.5 outlet, because a 2.5 exhaust is not normally used on a truck like this. 2.25 is a good size as it allows for ~200 hp assuming HPx2.2 but even then your muffler is super restrictive (ugh California again, can yall just not? this is ridiculous) a 2 inch allows for a bit over 160 hp and a 1 and 3/4 pipe (factory size I think unless diesel is different) allows for ~125 hp

**dancinggecko** · 03-02-2020 02:27 PM

See what it does once you get the rebuilt turbo on it, maybe the one you've got just has enough wear on it to be causing excessive smoke. What turbo are you getting rebuilt for it?

**Bjamin** · 03-02-2020 04:05 PM

Yay for California! Haha

Moving on, rebuild will be the td04 9b (potentially, we'll see how bad it is when I get the housings off). 2.5 exhaust might give me what I am looking for but based on what you've said Gecko, the td04 might be enough. I'd like to get power at lower rpm, I don't like having to tac out the motor to get power.

**Bjamin** · 03-02-2020 04:07 PM

I'm also interested to get the tc05 out to see if someone did a hybrid at some point (thus the waste gate with the tc05 compressor housing)

**dancinggecko** · 03-03-2020 09:33 AM

The hybrid TC05 is an odd-ball. I think you'll like the TD04 for just cruising in the truck. It has enough in it for interstate running and the like, but it is small enough that you can actually drive it without any turbo lag. Being an '84 truck yours should have the 3.909 rear end gears, which are a good combination with the TD04