White smoke from diesel exhaust

[Station]

I bought my 320d a couple of weeks ago - seller said it "was a bit smoky".

He said it needed a new turbo.

Saying it was a bit smoky was like saying Jimmy Saville was a bit naughty. All three sections of my exhaust system are the reincarnate of Howard Marks, Bob Marley and Dot Cotton.

 

It smokes from cold if you open the throttle - the smoke is white and billowing. The more throttle is opened the more smoke is produced. I can't tell if it's oil or diesel, but the AA fella said it was diesel, but then said it was oil. When I took the lot out turbo, inter cooler and pipes were full of oil.

 

I bought a NEW turbo off eBay, and gaskets etc from BMW (ouch my bum) and completed fitting tonight.

 

It still has the same symptoms after swapping over.

 

I'm ignoring it might be piston rings and exploring the possibility of injectors. After properly getting a diagnosis tomorrow whether it is oil or diesel, can anyone with knowledge suggest what it could be from the above description?

It can't be the turbo now, and surely having all the old shite still in the cat and exhaust wouldn't priduce THIS much smoke! - what else could cause this?

 

BTW it has a fair bit of liquidy Black Death on the rocker cover.

[Station]

I'll upload the video tomorrow - still reading everywhere about still having oil in the system would cause this. I'll run it up for an hour tomorrow to see if it clears it.

[Guest Biggus Dickus]

If you didnt clean out the pipework and intercooler with some kind of solvent it will take a long, long time for the oil buildup to be blown through the engine and will smoke a lot. Take it for a long motorway blast in fourth gear to keep the revs up.

[bub2006]

Did you clean out intercooler,pipes from/to turbo and all relating things of oil? If it was oil blow by or valves I'd have said the smoke would be blue,diesel usually kick out black when over fuelling, like gunning the car in high gear,low rpm. White I'd have said head gasket maybe be on its last legs.

[bub2006]

Sorry,white smoke can also indicate diesel too. Injectors maybe or possibly pump timing?

[purplebargeken]

White? I might also agree about HGF, although I know the square root of feck all about diesel cars. Possibly less. 

[sierraman]

I would have said white smoke on start up was some sort of problem with the injectors. I'd be inclined to let a diesel specialist have a look before you leap as the cost to replace the injectors might be extremely expensive.

 

I wouldn't take the sellers diagnosis into consideration, if it was something fairly simple why didn't he do it?

[SiC]

Leaky/drippy injectors?

 

Do leak off test. Also check the oil level. Over fuelling in a Diesel will raising it and dilute the oil.

[Station]

Thanks for comments!

I did my best to clean out the intercooler with brake cleaner, but there will still be loads in the system.

It has no symptoms of head gasket failure, I can run it (previously) for 1/2 an hour and it's fine. HGF has steam, this is proper smoke and hangs in the air like a dog fart.

[Station]

OMG Check it out M8.888!!!

 

 

[sierraman]

Stick it on Fleabay, put in ad, very slight smoke on start up, my mecanic (sic) mate says it's just a fuel filter that wants replacing which costs £3.59 so cheep buy 4 sum1 who know what they're doin.

[cros]

White smoke can mean excessive water in your chip fat or a new Bishop of Rome.

[dollywobbler]

That looks like unburnt diesel to me, so would probably be a fuelling issue. One of our minibuses does this if left parked up for a few days, we think due to a leaky injector.

[Captain Furious]

I would say white smoke is unburned diesel getting into the exhaust, my reasoning for this is entirely based on aircraft display teams creating white smoke by injecting diesel into the jet exhaust and that burning oil will almost always result in blue smoke.  So not really based on experience and can be freely disregarded.

 

What does it smell like, if it smells a bit like bbq lighter fuel and actually rather pleasant it will be unburned diesel, burning oil has a fairly distinctive smell which I'm sure we are all familiar with.

 

As for why its happening, no idea I'm afraid, could be a multitude of things, faulty injectors, fuel pump/pump timing, bent valves, cracked head, none of which are easy or cheap fixes.  Does it start normally\easily?  Do you know any history about the events which preceded this smoke starting, ie did it have a new timing belt (or chain) any work that would have disturbed the fuel system.  It used to be common on L series diesel engines that most issues occurred after timing belt replacements, where whoever did it did not get the fuel pump timed correctly.  They were often then misdiagnosed as other problems, fauly glow plugs, turbos, injectors etc.

 

I don't know if it can be easily checked on a BMW diesel, but if you can, check the fuel pump timing, next would probably be a compression test, if you can get the injectors out!

[Station]

Christ knows what happened - seller was eastern European, it has just had it's MOT, so has not been doing it for long.

I'm sure this is diesel though, and the black death is sign that the injectors are playing up - ugh.

[Bren]

I concur - while smoke is fuel. Blue smoke is oil.

 

You need to find a BMW owner with similar problems and form some kind of display team by injecting dye into your exhausts.

 

On a serious note be mindful of how much wonga you lash at it.

[johngarty]

Loved the walk of shame after you ruined the washing of 200 housewives. 

[HillmanImp]

I had this on my megane scenic. I looked in the engine and had a look to see if anything looked amiss and a thin breather pipe of some sort had come off the Turbo IIRC. I just slipped it back on and it never did it again.

[cort16]

I still get cold sweats when I think about my 320d. 

 

My Smart diesel did this smoking thing after it had been filled with petrol (not by me). It ran like a lumpy load of shite though even after I flushed out the Petrol.

I got the injectors tested (fucked) and they wanted £120 + VAT each to refurb them. I got a used set off ebay for £90 that fixed it.

Remember if you pull the inlet manifold to get the injectors out to blank the swirl flaps.

[barefoot]

I had something very similar to this on my Audi 200T many, many years ago.

Can't remember the exact sequence of events, but it involved much hot fire and a large insurance payout.

The next 200T that I bought didn't do it at all.

[Station]

Flip! Many opinions and none of them an easy fix!

I like the car so I'll persevere.

 

There is a pipe blanked off at the front, think it may be a replacement and the T pipe wasn't used on this car.

[cort16]

Does it run okay?

[SiC]

Eastern European sold it like that? Must be fucked, otherwise they'd fixed it themselves.

 

A couple of EE mates that I have, always know someone who can fix their car (of they can't do it themselves) for not much more than a packet of fags/a couple cans of drink/etc.

[twosmoke300]

Egr cooler leaking ?

[Station]

It runs absolutely fine, but did notice a hesitation driving it down - I didn't give it beans, I don't want to run it much in case it gets a hunger for whatever is going in and runs away. Eastern European bloke said he used to drive it to work (five mins away).

 

I've heard of this egr cooler?? Mine doesn't have one checking photos on line - it's just a metal pipe going from the EGR to below the inlet, but with a rubber pipe blanked off. Sounds like something to investigate though.

 

http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/00-2-5tdi-clouds-of-white-smoke.19757/

 

Or crank case breather filter:

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=850292

[cort16]

You should change that filter on the left of the engine it's supposed to account for quite a lot of turbo failures as it never gets changed . When I changed mine it was almost totally clogged up.

 

I'd be tempted to pull the injectors and get them tested. Took me about an hour to get the inlet manifold off, so less for someone without sausage fingers it'll also give you access to that breather filter and the swirl flaps .

 

How easily the injectors will come out is another question . It cost me 30 quid to get mine tested st a diesel specialist .

At least you'll know

[alf892]

I don't reckon it will be oil.........when the turbo went on my 530 all I did was pick the lumps out of the pipework and changed the turbo. Smoked a lot on start up but after a brief run it was fine.

 

I'd be going for a check on the injectors and fuel pressure as it sounds like poor combustion.

[panhard65]

Did you drain the whole exhaust system ? I used to do a lot of 1.9dci Renaults a few years ago. They fill the exhaust with oil and it is a bastard to burn off creating a mobile smoke screen everywhere. I had to actually replace the back box on one scenic as it just wouldn't burn off. If you aren't in a built up area take it for a run of about 5 miles and it should clear, whatch out for coppers mind. The other more worrying possibility is that it got so much oil in that the engine locked up and bent a con rod. I had this with one Laguna that still ran and sounded ok but chucked out a lot of unburnt diesel.

[Joey spud]

I agree with Mr Panhard55 make sure the intake system isn't still swimming in oil and take it for a late night covert run to try and clear the exhaust of oil.

Were the old turbo bearings obviously worn and the impeller rocking around ?

I see a lot of cars way over filled with oil that then gets into the exhaust and they smoke like fuck.

I recall an Alfa 147 that I drained out the excess 3 litres and it took about 10 miles for the smoking to clear.

Worth a try as its a free fix if it works.

My only concern is if oil is still in the intake / combustion area there is always a risk of a diesel engine running away on it.

[cort16]

Here's the old and new breather filter from my 320d side by side.

 

 

IMG_1248 by cort16, on Flickr