Generator Exhaust Smoke

[Texas Clodhopper]

Run some injector cleaner in your fuel. Both engines will like it. Methinks you have a slightly leaky injector. Once it starts and pressures up and starts making horsepower the smoke goes away.

Any recommendations?

 

[newmarokie]

I've have never had any complaints with Lucas products. I am sure there are other good ones out there. We used to run some ATF in our fuel. It burns hot as hades, but will clean and lubricate. Just don't get you fuel checked until you have run a couple tanks through (red equals untaxed)

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Any recommendations?

My friend is sold on sea foam. While we are making suggestions, may be valve guide seals.

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

White smoke equals unburned diesel. Could be a number of reasons mentioned above. Glow plugs in cold weather, low compression at startup, blocked air filter, leaky injectors. Should eliminate the obvious issue first. We run diesel treatment every other fill up, Diesel Kleen.
Check glow plug circuit, air filter, oil level. Possibly service unit if it has 100+ hours since last service.

 

[Kevorows]

Blue smoke typically means your genset is burning oil. It’s probably a bit of oil slipping past the seals, especially if your genset hasn’t been used for a while. I’d check your oil levels and monitor it for a few days. If it’s just a quick puff, it’s usually nothing to worry about, but if the smoke gets thicker or more consistent, you might need to look into some maintenance.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I found a can of SeaFoam in my miscellaneous supplies and poured it into my half-full, 50 gal approximately, tank. I ran the generator for about 3 hours with the SeaFoam and this morning when the generator started - there was no smoke. Hopefully, this solved my problem. I did order, thanks Jeff, a gallon of Power Services Diesel Kleen that I'll start using.
Thank you all for your input.

 

[newmarokie]

Hopefully it was just a carboned up injector fouling the spray pattern of the injector causing diesel residue in the cylinder. The sea foam cleaned the injectors and you should be good to go! The seam foam is a highly rated product in my neck of the woods. Most of the cleaners are xylene and methanol based.