98 Automatic. Only 67K
When I accelerate from the stop light the truck puts out a tremendous amount of black smoke. It is embarrasing. The acceleration is poor. Also when I have the overdrive engaged. In town driving it will buck and jerk. I believe the two problems are related but I don't know what to do? Is it dirty injectors? Will running injector cleaner through them work or do I need to take it in to the shop?
I might mention that the truck just came from California and I am almost a mile high in Denver. Should something be adjusted for the altitude here?

 

Start with the easy stuff first. What does your airfilter look like? Check the turbo out by pulling off the intake pipe, make sure it hasen't bombshelled. No adjustments should be needed. How long has this been happening? Sometime the ecm is slow to learn. When I took my buddies 01 dodge gasser up to wyoming, it took a week before it ran right.

 

Also check intercooler hoses, all hose connections after turbo to the intake manifold. Do you have a boost guage? A leaking or disconnected hose on the charge side can cause poor power and gobbs of smoke(although some of us like the smoke!)

 

98 12 valve or 24 valve.

also, does the smoke go away when the turbo finaly kicks in or does it smoke all the time?

the injectors on the 12 and 98.5-02 engines are the jerk style and are pretty reliable, however you might have one that is leaking.

 

It is a 12 valve and I just bought it. The price was right so I knew I would have to put some money into fixing it, I just didn't know where to start. You all gave me some great things to look for. I had a 95 Powerstroke and I could really tell when the Turbo kicked in (Yes I finally saw the light). The Cummins isn't as noticeable. So at least I have a starting point. I will report back. Thanks

 

has it always smoked, or did it just start.

if it always smoked then the star wheel in the P7100 injector pump has been turned up but the fuel plate was never changed out to match properly.