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Smokin 03 Duramax :-(

3K views 28 replies 8 participants last post by  DuraTitus 
#1 ·
I am the proud owner of an 03' GMC Duramax, I am second owner purchased at 38000 miles. It has been chiped with 5 stage edge, had exhaust and air intake improvements made. In Jan of 08 i lost my vision enough that driving was not something i did. In the last 3 months i have been able to drive again but my truck is not working properly. I noticed when i first started driving it again that it was not coming up to temp. about 180ish was it. LIving in Mt i figured it was just the cold but did not remember this being an issue ever before. Other than not coming up to temp it had plenty of power and ran fine. Then the smoke came. At first it was just when idling. i thought maybe its just the crap they put in the diesel for the winter here. Then my grandfather died and on a trip to Washington to the funeral the smoke really came on. Even with the warm temps there the the truck didnt seem to come up in temp. but it smoked idling and running down the road. I ran it out to Mikes of Road (who installed the chip and the air). Mike said looks like she's burnen a little rich, u might want to run her out to Danhof (the local Chevy dealership, also where i purchased the truck) they pretty fair people. They hooked up a reader up to it and said its burning a little rich and its probably the fuel injectors. They had replaced the injectors at about 60,000 miles (it wasn't even smoking then, but something told them it needed done and it was under warranty, so they did it, no problems here). So now it has about a 124,000 on it, and im told the injectors need replaced, shouldn;t they last more than 30,000 miles? They would replace them but i missed the warranty by 5 months, but i have 80,00 to go on the mileage. we all know how that works. So finally to my ?. Any one have any ideas, questions, help? I went to the local auto parts stores looking for a book on how to try to fix'er myself, but i was out of luck. Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated. injectors were quoted at 3800 wich is more than ill ever be able to afford in my life. any ideas
 
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#9 ·
yes 5 months ( story of my life ) but the link on how to with pic im going to check out now. thankyou for the quick responses it took me a while to figure out where to find the replies. I had one person say it might be that the injectors out overfueling in response to the engine not coming up to temp. does any one here know wethor that might be true or wethor its not coming to temp because of the injectors. the whole temp thing has got me wondering if it might be something else. Pulling a trialer in 45deg wether and it still not come to temp. this is a puzzle piece i still dont understand. is there a how to on replacing the thermostats? does anybody think the temp is weird or is this typical with the bad injector thing?
 
#12 ·
it is not using any ccoolant as far as i can tell. the level has been the same and i have not added any. Are these problems a result of the chip. Is the 5 stage edge chip a bad match for these trucks or is there a better match? Is there a book recomended for my truck for doing repair work?
 
#14 ·
If the fuel is getting into your oil it will contaminate it which you don't want look around the net for injectors to do it yourself 3400 I think yoju said that's a bit high if your doin it yourself
 
#17 ·
You could you prolly should drive it less the worse it gets especially it you have fuel in your oil. It would be a hassle to take the valve covers off 8 different times
 
#21 ·
first thing i would try is unhooking the edge and see how it runs its definatly worth a shot after that i would talk to you dealer ask for balance flow rate test and fuel return pressure test. and if that all checks out then get them to test the headgaskets might cost a couple hundred but then you at least know if its the injectors or your head gaskets. but like i said i would unplug edge for a day and just see what happens.

good luck my injectors are starting to go out atm.... i know the feeling.
 
#23 ·
The 181 degree temperature is not out of line-- many will run that in cool weather. And as you said, it went up going up a hill, and came down when you were going on level ground. All normal readings. It will be higher in warmer weather with the AC on.

Sounds like the injectors are bad, and you should replace all at the same time. The biggest problem is removing and replacing the parts to get to the injectors, which are buried under the valve covers. A person with a few mechanical skills can replace injectors in their garage. But it is time consuming.
 
#24 ·
I went to a regular garage instead of the dealer. this person had worked for gm for 15 years and owns a 05 duramax. so he was into helping me out. he put a machine on it and looks like most of the injectors are with in the + or - 2 specs. the third injector is however reading 5 so its the one probobly causing the problem. the engine light was the piping to the knN air filter had bounce of on a gravel road so it was not sucking air by the sensor, thankfully i havent been driving the truck since the ligh came on. he mention that when he worked for the dealer that alot of the replacements they did under warranty were not even the the "new injectors" they were simply the same ones rebuilt and that they seemed to only last about 60 or 70. if you were lucky enough to actually get the "new" ones they last longer. bummer i must have gotten the same ones but no wway to tell till you pullem. he quoted 2100 to do the one side all 4 injectors. but i cant even afford that. the injectors are 350 a piece. do you think a scared mechanical eliterate fool with a garage cold do this/ how many people do there own?. if i did it i could do just the one injector, but sounds like all the gaskets and stuff add up to more than that so thats why you should do them all at once. i even ask if i could be an apprentice and have him show me. no luck on that one. I wondr is there any folks from Montana in here that would help a guy do this.?
 
#26 ·
When it was cold my 02 ran between 180 and 190. Now that it is getting above 50 I am getting to 210...
 
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