White Smoke on startup?

[che2318]

whats a glow plug?

[Hazzo]

So that grand I shelled out on a new head was all in vain, lol. H

[Predictable Bob]

Well done - half the people on here can't find the answers when the search is working so for finding the answer to your own question using google makes you really special !

[farmer]

Managed to find an answer on google. I'll post it here unless anyone else has this problem.
My Surf is a JDM import, and it appears that the glow plugs weren't designed for colder temps that we get here. If I let the glow plugs warm up 2 or 3 times, it starts perfect, no cylinders missing, no white smoke. Maybe this is common knowledge with diesels, but this is my first time owning one.

[farmer]

I've got a 1990 2.4 L surf, and on startup, especially when its colder out, it will start really rough, as if it is missing on one or more cylinders, and a lot of white smoke comes out. Goes away and runs perfect once it warms up.

The smoke is vaporized diesel, the head gasket is fine (it was replaced in may before I bought it, plus you can actually smell the diesel if you stand in the cloud. I've dealt with diesel heating stoves, its the same gas you get before they blow up in your face lol). I tried searching, and found one very old thread on this but no definitive answer. Is this normal? I wasn't sure if it was altitude or temp related, as I didn't notice it when it was 20*C this summer at sea level, but its happening now at <5*C at 6000' elev.