Frequently, we are asked why a perfectly good diesel truck isn’t working “Making black smoke or rolling coal The basic response is that the fact that no black smoke is visible is a good thing. There should be no smoke coming from a properly working diesel engine. Black smoke, among other things, indicates a shortage of oxygen.
Newer common-rail trucks can produce over 1,000 horsepower while emitting almost no smoke.
Black smoke from diesel trucks can be fun at a diesel sled pulling competition, but it’s unnecessary on the road and usually indicates restricted air, overfueling, or a turbocharger that can’t keep up with the demand for air.
Sled pullers burn a lot of gasoline and a lot of air, which is why you see black smoke emerging from a diesel sled pulling truck. It takes a long time for the turbos they utilize to spool up because they are so large. To spool up a huge turbo, you’ll need a lot of fuel. As a result, these trucks must perform at the line “Roll coal for a long period before the green light to increase the boost to appropriate levels before the light turns green. When a large amount of gasoline is introduced at low RPM before boost is created, the engine is unable to burn the entire amount of fuel, resulting in smoke.
Under typical operating situations, a properly running diesel engine in good condition should create no visible smoke from the exhaust. Due to the lag before the turbocharger speed and air flow can match the volume of diesel delivered into the cylinders, a little puff of smoke when an engine is accelerated under load may be acceptable. That would only apply to older diesel engines; contemporary diesels should emit no smoke at all.
Diesel engines frequently produce black smoke. It signifies poor and incomplete diesel fuel combustion due to either too much fuel or insufficient air.
The black smoke contains particulates, which are huge diesel particles that would typically be burned as fuel. Any way you look at it, a diesel vehicle on the road spewing black smoke isn’t going to provide you the best performance or mileage.
Black smoke can appear throughout the operating range, but it is most common at maximum power or during the lag before the turbocharger boosts air supply to meet the fuel demand, such as during acceleration and gear changes. Moderate turbo lag smoke is okay; otherwise, in a properly operating engine, black smoke should be hardly visible.
The following are some of the sources of black smoke created by diesel engines:
- Fuel injection timing is incorrect.
- Fuel injectors that are dirty or worn out
- Turbo lag or a faulty turbocharger
- EGR (exhaust gas recycling) system that is faulty or filthy
- Valve clearance is incorrect.
- The fuel-to-air ratio is incorrect.
- Air cleaner systems that are dirty or restricted
- The engine is overloaded.
- Fuel of poor quality
- Operating temperatures should be kept cool.
- Operation at a high altitude
- Carbon build-up in combustion and exhaust areas is excessive.
Is it possible to roll coal with a diesel engine?
While environmentalists strive for the highest possible fuel efficiency, coal miners spend time and money striving for the worst.
It must be a diesel engine. A gasoline engine, no matter how modified, isn’t going to operate. Unburned fuel particles cause the smoke, and only diesel will suffice. Gasoline isn’t dark enough, thick enough, or obnoxious enough. However, not just any diesel vehicle is capable of transporting coal. As the truck pulling community knows, such a feat necessitates certain alterations. The idea is to get more fuel into the engine, which will be burned up and blasted out as smoke right away. The smoke is therefore interpreted by witnesses as confirmation that the vehicle is actually powerful. Quality is just as important as quantity. The darker the smoke is, the more unburned gasoline it holds, and thus the better. A coal roller must purchase additional items in order to accomplish this achievement. Although an aspiring coal roller might be able to get away with using the truck’s factory exhaust, this doesn’t make much of a statement. The installation of chimney-pipe-style exhaust stacks in the truck bed appears to be the way to go.
Is it true that a melody can make a diesel roll coal?
Diesel exhaust was listed as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization in 2012. It is general knowledge that breathing automobile exhaust is hazardous to one’s health. Because of their deleterious effects on human health, vehicle emissions have also been a target of Clean Air Act legislation. However, coal rolling is not a common enough activity that any research on the health effects of just one sort of diesel exhaust discharge exists.
Both yes and no. It can improve performance, but it also puts a lot of strain on the cars.
Truck owners occasionally make aftermarket alterations to their diesel trucks to change the original technical parameters, according to Marybeth Snyder, a partner at Northern Colorado Diesel Motors.
“To make it have more power, boost, torque, and smoke,” Snyder explained. “You can buy tuners, which are electronic gadgets that do this,” she explained. While some diesel owners tune their trucks to increase horsepower and torque without spewing black smoke, others tweak them to roll coal. “Not everyone who starts their truck smokes in the city. They do it because they want to improve their performance, but they aren’t smokers “Snyder stated.
According to Snyder, such tweaks can range from as low as $500 for a plug-in that fits in the vehicle’s cab to considerably more expensive adjustments. These devices, as well as software packages that tune the car differently, are easily available online and installable. The more mechanically inclined can simply make certain alterations “under the hood” in older vehicles without spending any money.
The shop used to install tuners in trucks but ceased doing so because “it was causing damage to people’s trucks,” according to Snyder. “And we don’t wreck trucks here; we fix them.”
Tuning trucks in this manner increases the wear and tear on the gears, transmission, gear boxes, and cooling system.
“It simply wears things out more quickly. And the more you cranked and smoked, the more damage you caused. The more you drive that $70,000 truck, the faster it will break down.”
Tampering with a vehicle’s emission controls device is prohibited, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. It’s also a violation of the Clean Air Act (see Volkswagen) “to make, sell, or install a part for a car that disables, defeats, or disables any emission control device A defeat device is, for example, computer software that changes the timing of diesel fuel injection.”
The EPA reached a settlement with Edge Products LLC, a Utah manufacturer, in 2013, in which the business agreed to pay a $500,000 fine for making and distributing devices that allowed diesel truck owners to disable their vehicles’ pollution controls.
Although state law forbids visible pollutants from diesel-powered cars, Fort Collins police officers claim the rule is primarily aimed at larger diesel trucks with malfunctioning emissions controls. Officers must see five seconds of visible smoke from the vehicle at a particular opacity. The clouds of smoke created by rolling coal are only visible for a second or two. As a result, Fort Collins cops elected to charge offenders with demonstration of speed, which is a distinct legislation.
New Jersey made it unlawful to roll coal in the state in May 2015, citing safety and air pollution concerns. Although the practice is already unlawful at the federal level, making it illegal at the state level makes it easier to police, according to Tim Eustace (D-Bergen), the bill’s author.
What causes a coal-rolling diesel truck?
Truck pulls, in which pickups compete to haul a heavy sled the farthest, gave birth to rolling coal. Drivers modify their vehicles to increase horsepower and torque by pumping excessive fuel into the engines. The trucks, which have been stripped of their pollution controls, also emit thick, black smoke.
The fumes were a part of the draw at a recent truck pull at the McHenry County Fair in Woodstock, Illinois. “Don’t look back when the smoke gets black,” read one man’s T-shirt.
“We pull for bragging rights,” Scott Vivian, president of the Illini State Pullers league, which organized the event, said.
And there’s a lot of smoke involved.
What can I do to make my diesel engine sound louder?
One of the best modifications for diesel or electric cars is a sound Booster. The Sound Booster transforms your vehicle into a powerful petrol engine. One of the most common complaints we get from diesel car owners is that the vehicle produces no sound, which makes for a dull journey. Some people have followed the advice of unqualified experts and removed all silencers from the exhaust system. Making it a straight pipe system, which they later regret owing to drone concerns; some even go so far as to remove the DPF (making the car illegal to drive on public roads). Wouldn’t it be fantastic if a diesel car could sound as thrilling as a high-powered petrol engine? Now, however, there is an alternative: a Sound Booster.
Modern diesel automobiles can be equipped with a sound enhancer that simulates the sound of a powerful V8 petrol engine. A sound booster is made of of a module that connects to the vehicle’s ECU and a sound box that emits the tone. It takes a day to install and works in tandem with the engine, so every acceleration amplifies the sound.
So far, we’ve installed over 100 units with excellent results. It’s similar to a mechanism used in Maserati diesel vehicles. There are about five noises to choose from through remote control, depending on your mood; turn it off, and you’re back to a typical diesel sound. Another advantage of this module is that it may be moved to a different vehicle.
Is it true that rolling coal wastes fuel?
Rolling coal consumes fuel, reducing the efficiency of your engine. This is bad for the environment. Many people who choose to modify their engines in this fashion do so in order to take an anti-environmental position.
Why do tuned diesels emit so much smoke?
It’s difficult to discuss diesel engines and diesel tuning without mentioning smoke. It’s a hot matter of argument, and there’s a lot more to it than you may think. Whether you’re willing to accept a little smoke for optimal performance or prefer to keep under the radar with a smoke-free tune, it’s a hot topic of debate.
Although visible smoke from a vehicle’s exhaust is not restricted to diesels, most of us associate smoke with the black smoke produced by some tuned diesel automobiles. Soot is black smoke that comes from the tailpipe when some fuel isn’t burned properly. This is usually due to one of two factors: a lack of oxygen or a lack of time for the fuel to burn.
Fueling is boosted in a tuned vehicle to ensure that all of the available air is used up for maximum power. This indicates that there is a lot of fuel in relation to the amount of air; the Air to Fuel Ratio is a measurement of how much fuel there is in relation to how much air there is (AFR). The lower the AFR, the more smoke can be seen.
There is a point at which the volume of air going through the engine is insufficient to allow all of the fuel to burn cleanly; it is at this time that the first haze of smoke appears. There will be more smoke if more fuel is added after this point.
At full throttle, when the most gasoline is injected for greatest power, black smoke is usually seen. Poorly adjusted automobiles, on the other hand, can emit thick black smoke practically all of the time. During regular cruising or mild driving, there is no need for a vehicle to emit black smoke; there should always be enough of air and a high AFR.
Typical causes of black smoke include:
- Due to tweaking, the AFR is low.
- Injection time is too long.
- Turbo is underpowered.
In general, the presence of black smoke does not necessarily indicate that an engine is in poor condition. It’s an immediately apparent sign of the vehicle’s Air to Fuel ratio; if you see an increase in black smoke levels, something is causing the Air to Fuel ratio to rise. Because the ECU controls the fueling, it’s much more likely that anything is lowering the amount of air available.
If you’ve recently had an ECU map and are only now stopping to smile and gaze forward, the thick black streak in your rearview mirror is most likely the result of a too exuberant tune running for an extended injection duration.
You most likely have a boost leak or broken a pipe if you can hear the turbo spooling up louder, hear a hiss, or recently heard a popping noise. If this is the case, you should be able to see visible oil around the leak’s path (commonly the VW clip connectors).
Another achilles heel of many diesel engines is the vacuum system. Because the turbo actuator is controlled by vacuum, even a small leak may result in underboost, and the VNT mechanism may become stuck, necessitating a new turbo.
Another source of black smoke is faulty injectors, which are commonly encountered in high-mileage engines (and lack of power). Some companies promote magic remedies that you may put in your diesel tank, but they rarely work on a high-pressure fuel system. The injector nozzles are a worn component that are usually past their prime after 100,000 km.
We constantly ask our customers this question, but it’s not a straightforward one for them to answer or for us to advise on the quantity of visible smoke that is acceptable. You can’t expect any engine setup to produce 100 percent of its power potential while also producing no visible smoke; as a rough estimate, you’ll have to lose up to 10% of peak power and torque to achieve this.
After a certain point (each engine is different), no amount of fuel will enhance the power output, and long before this point is reached, there is a period of diminishing returns, in which the amount of smoke produced for a little gain in power increases dramatically. Even if a customer doesn’t care about smoke or even says they want as much as possible, we still have a responsibility to ensure we aren’t adding fuel unnecessarily, thus testing is required to determine these ‘limits.’
Excessive smoking has consequences that extend beyond irritating the local cops and those following behind. Extra heat is generated, and this hot gas passes through the pistons, head, valves, manifold, and turbo, raising their surface temperatures. This heat has to go someplace, and as the water and oil cooling systems become saturated, the materials begin to fail, which is why VNT mechanisms and pistons melt or heads shatter.
Exhaust gas temperatures (EGT) can easily approach 1000C, which is a serious worry because aluminum melts at 660C. Fortunately, a good engine package will keep the surface temperatures below melting point, thanks to the cold fresh air from the intercooler entering the engine. In ordinary tune, the piston bowl area is the part of the engine closest to melting, therefore we take great care not to push too hard and cause permanent engine damage.
It’s vital to keep in mind that, regardless of the song, a car with a DPF will rarely create black smoke. Because the DPF can trap all of the soot produced by the engine, this is the case. If a car with a DPF has a’smoky’ tune, all of the smoke will clog the DPF instead of leaving via the tailpipe. This also means that if a car’s DPF emits visible smoke, it’s quite likely that the DPF has been removed or damaged.
What’s the best way to make a 6.6 Duramax smoke?
How to Blow Smoke from a Stock Duramax
- Reduce the air intake of your diesel truck by partially blocking it with fabric or similar object. This is the simplest, but potentially dangerous, method of making a stock Duramax blow smoke.
- Don’t forget about your truck.
- Quicken your pace.
- Make changes to your truck.
Is it necessary for trucks to transport coal?
California. Operating a vehicle “in a way that results in the escape of excessive smoke, flame, gas, oil, or fuel residue” is illegal in California. A vehicle can be cited for rolling coal under this law or others by the California Highway Patrol or local police.