I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction here. My truck recently started belching black & white smoke. I have no check engine light on. No codes were found. My mechanic "thinks" it might be 2 injectors. However my truck's evap can had probably been leaking prior, but the can is cracked. Looks like previous owner welded it & it failed. Its blowing smoke & what appears to be a lot of fuel colored charcoal black is pouring out of the can. Its having trouble starting, severely rough idle, loosing power, & massively decreased fuel economy. Can the evap can be causing all these issues? Including the original belching smoke issue?? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

Are you calling the degas bottle (coolant reservoir) an "evaporator can"?

 

No. It's the charcoal canister right behind the muffler, in the tailpipe.

 

You have a catalytic converter and then the muffler and then it exhausts to atmosphere. So you are talking about the catalytic converter? It does not have charcoal in it though. It has a fill that is a honeycomb "type" ceramic substrate coated with precious metals to act as a catalyst to eliminate pollutants like carbon monoxide.

The catalytic converter is not causing your problem. It is most likely an injector or injectors as the mechanic is thinking. Running an engine like that (with excess fuel dumping in a cylinder) can ruin an engine. IMO, with all that smoke and soot described (soot is carbon that is caused by incomplete combustion), then the catalytic converter is probably plugged up. It should be replaced, but not before fixing the injector(s) issue ASAP.

 

Thank you so much for your help, much appreciated. But it's a Montana truck, no Catalytic Converter. Its also an '05 so the charcoal canister is there in place of having to add that Blue Def at the pump. So the tailpipe consists of a muffler and then the charcoal canister. And yes I agree, it sounds like the injectors are causing the problem. But I've never heard or seen black 'gunk' POURING out of that canister. Its bad.

 

An 05 F250 Ford diesel would be a 6.0L I just don't believe that ANY 6.0L was produced with a DEF system. Montana or otherwise. And Montana 6.0L trucks came with catalytic converters. I would love to see a picture of this canister (and of the engine for that matter). In addition the fuel pump on a 6.0L is under the truck, on the passenger side frame rail .... unless it isn't a Ford (or someone added a different engine). Now some 6.0L's have had a water/methanol system added for extra power. SNOW systems come to mind, but that water/methanol isn't for emissions control.

Edit - Maybe it isn't an '05? Maybe you meant 2015?

Regardless - it isn't supposed to pour smoke and is most likely an injector.