I am new to the diesel place and a new to the owning a diesel truck, I hope you can offer some help regarding a problem that my truck occasionally experiences. I have a 1998 Chevy Silverado with the 6.5 L TD with 140,000 miles. I bought the truck with 130,000 and have owned the truck for a year (second vehicle reserved for trips). Every once and awhile the engine will hesitate and lose power. When I attempt to accelerate, smoke (first grey then black) pours from the exhaust usually for about 5-15 seconds and smoke and hesitates stops and the truck goes back to running normally. I have begun using a fuel additive and changed the fuel filter. Otherwise the truck runs great. Any ideas on what the problem could be? Thanks for your help.

NJDAVE,


Use your signature to describe your truck.


EGR? The HD "F" engine L65 doesn't have it. 8th letter on the VIN#


"S" engines have the EGR and two additional vacuum solenoids.


Your smoke is most likely from lack of boost or EGR system fault.


Does the check engine picture flash?

Thanks for your reply. The 8th letter in the VIN is an "S". The check engine light never comes on. Occasionally the "wait to start light" will flash on and off after start up for about 10 seconds but does not seem to be related to the smoke situation. Smoking never occurs at start up. I can drive for hundreds of miles without incident. Please forgive my inexperience but what is the EGR and how can I determine if it is faulty vs the vacuum solenoids? Is it common for this type of a problem to be intermittent? Thanks again for your reply.

The vacuum system is a common issue. Check the vacuum at the turbo, ~15" and the egr "T" ~25", thrid solenoid back on the driver's side, with the engine idling.