Black smoke

Hello, my super custom emits a lot of dark smoke when I start it in the morning, but later it goes away but return each time I park it for a few hours

What could be the problem ?

I think that if it's burning oil then that's blue smoke and if it's black then it's the fuel mixture so could be injectors, diesel/ fuel pump/ EGR thing or even the air filter not letting in enough air or a turbo issue. If it's on starting or when the engine is cool then perhaps it's some sort of adjustment in the fuel mixture that's gone wrong for cold starts. Like an overreacting choke sort of thing.

Hi there,
I am having a similar problem. Normally all good can cruise pretty comfortably at 100-110km on the highway. As soon as I hit a pretty steep incline I get some black smoke (the steeper the incline and higher the elevation the darker and thicker the smoke gets). Ive got a lh123 (slwb and hrf) with a bit of weight in whitewood pine in the buildout, so pretty heavy van. Cruising through I-70 in the states on my way to vail for the winter and my output got pretty miserable... going 30km on an interstate not very fun. Wondering if this is normal? I highly doubt it. It has a new air filter. I am going to swap a new fuel filter in but I feel this is a naive fix to what I'm imagining is a larger problem? I have a very basic knowledge of this stuff so any help is appreciated!

Also sidenote... cruising around town up here without incline my engine output is pretty diminished but I'm also near 8,000ft in elevation.

The higher you are the thinner the air so what you're sucking in probably isn't enough to get the right mix. That'll make it smoke because it's not burning properly.

If anybody knows a solution for these vans I'd be interested.

Just curious, wondering if adding a snorkel might increase air availability and accessing cleaner air higher off the roadway.

A snorkel's just a tube so it won't change the amount of air the engine sucks or increase it's density but it will cut down on dust because it's higher up.

@isaacc, try connecting the two diagnostics pins on the obd1 port and see if there are any codes. There are a few emission issues that can be stored but not displayed with the engine light.