Detroit series 60 15:1 issues

Welcome to the club. I’ve been scratching my head for 2 years trying to figure out why my 12.7 smoked on cold after the rebuild. Recently saw an article by the guy from PP describing this issue. Basically, he says that if you rebuild gk and pk pre-egr 12.7s with oem parts, it would guarantee to smoke (white) on cold. He thinks oem parts are to blame. Mine is pk, but I used the kit from PAI and had the same cold smoke. So I think it has something to do with a lower compression, or a bad install/breakin, or the combination of both. And PP says they tried to fix the problem to no avail. Thus, his recommendation was to upgrade to bk; i.e. put 16.5 to 1 pistons, cam, injectors (and probably jakes).

So you already upgraded cam and injectors. So did I. However, we both seem to still see the same cold smoke. What’s left is pistons. If you manage to find the right kit with 16.5:1 and heavy pins, please do share the part number. OEM only. I’m having a little trouble, for folks at Detroit are not helpful.

 

Why don't you guys simply phone PP and order the proper 16.5 kits.
I mean he obviously knows about the issue and has the proper kits I'm sure.. no?

 

Sounds like you had a low-NOx inframe kit, was the ECM reflashed to the low NOx tune? I've seen several that didn't and they smoked white when cold. A reflash fixed them. A cob job way to fix them is to set them to run on 1/2 mode when cold. They'll stop smoking when you start it, but will smoke if you release the brake before they warm up. If 1/2 mode masks the problem, get it reflashed. Or overhaul it again with the higher compression pistons.

If you read page 2 on these instructions, they tell you that you mush reflash the ECM when using these kits.
https://ddcsn-ddc.freightliner.com/cps/rde/xbcr/ddcsn/18SP374.PDF

 

This is also what many Detroit's do when around freezing temps to help warm the engine? It a even tune for cold temp warmup.

 

You need the DDDL software to set it in 1/2 mode for warm up. Really it's just a bandaid fix though, but it can reduce the smoke until you get it fixed. The calibration flash is to re-tune the engine for the lower compression ratio/low NOx rebuild kit. The letter I linked to is just says that you need to reflash the ECM with the low-NOx calibration to match the overhaul kit.

 

Hmm, suppose the absence of low Nox recalibration could be the cause. My motor is 98 build, so fits into that category. I just wonder how come PP didn’t seem to consider that. Moreover, the guy mentioned they had spent thousands of $ trying to fix the prob. Here’s the link to his article:
Movin' Out - High Performance Diesel Engines

And what I’ve had is exactly how he described. In cold it will smoke white (a bit blueish), smells like crap and goes away when you start driving and warms up; but no power, oil, or coolant loss either, just annoying.

He also says in the article that the actual compression is gonna be always less than 16.5:1, but doesn’t elaborate how much less.