It can be quite frightening to have your vehicle start emitting smoke. Depending on the colour of the smoke, it can mean all sorts of things. But before you start panicking after seeing any sort of smoke, you will have to first inspect the smoke itself.
One common complaint that we have seen many Cummins users have been seeing white smoke from their equipment. If you are also noticing white smoke from your Cummins equipment on startup, then here are all the things that you can try in order to fix the issue.
Cummins White Smoke on Startup
- Unburned Diesel Fuel
White smoke is usually an indication of having unburned diesel fuel. This normally happens on startup during cold weather, especially if you are operating equipment with bad timing and a lower compression engine.
Having incomplete combustion on startup causes the diesel fuel to pop out of the stack. If this is the reason you are seeing white smoke, then there really isn’t much to worry about. The white smoke should clear up pretty quick. Also, it is worth mentioning that this is very common in older engines.
- Check for Any Kind of Error Codes
Just in case, we recommend you check for any error codes that your vehicle might throw at you. It is likely that there might be some other type of problem causing the smoke to happen. If that is the case, then error codes should definitely help you rule out all the other possibilities.
- Check Injectors
One common reason behind white smoke are bad injectors. If you are indeed getting white smoke and are completely sure that these aren’t caused by a cold startup, then you should most definitely start by checking the injectors.
If the vehicles do have bad injectors, then we highly recommend getting the injectors replaced. But before you get it fully replaced, we suggest trying cleaning it them or simply work through them. It is possible that the issue is just because of a dirty injector nozzle.
- Getting Professional Help
At this point, there really isn’t much that you can do about the white smoke. As a matter of fact, if you have followed all the instructions so far, it is likely that the issue could be more than you can handle.
If that really is so, then your best option would be to get in touch with a professional and get it checked.
The Bottom Line:
Getting white smoke on startup in your Cummins is actually very common as it mostly appears as a result of a cold startup. However, this does not mean that you should rule out all the other possibilities.