What does this white smoke mean for my engine?

Q. I was following my mate in his turbo-diesel 80 Series Cruiser on the weekend and I noticed that it was chugging a fair bit of white smoke every now an then. We weren’t pushing it very hard and the track was mostly flat dirt touring style terrain with a couple of steep hills. When we pulled over I got him to give the truck a few revs, but couldn’t really see the smoke like we did when it was driving. It seems to be driving ok and doesn’t use any oil so we aren’t too sure what is going on with it. It got us both wondering if the white coloured smoke was an indication of something in particular. We’d both love to know what to start looking at first.

A. Very hard to diagnose sight unseen but here goes anyway. Smoke is pretty specific to a problem. Black smoke is too much Diesel Fuel going in (usually under load) and White smoke is Diesel Fuel that has been ‘heated up’ but not really burnt…think of it like steaming Diesel. If you have low compression upon engine start up a Diesel engine will dribble White smoke out until its warm enough to burn the fuel properly. If you have White smoke while driving it could be something to do with the injection pump timing advance system not putting the fuel in early enough and in turn leading to White smoke. There is also a small chance that there could be some small droplets of water in your fuel. This can also sometimes make White smoke. Have a look at your filter first. Change it even as a precaution. Then if that doesn’t fix it feel free to call me on 0248771256