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Starting the TD5, and getting white smoke...


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I've had my defender TD5 on a 51 plate now for just close to 2 months. When I start the engine, regardless of the time of day, if I give it a little rev the engine seems to shake and then I get white smoke out the exhaust... It only happens for all of a few seconds and then nothing is thought of it after.

Anyone got any ideas of what it might be?

Plus since I'm on topic! - when accelerating from first starting it, it takes a long time for the turbo to kick in. Is this just because its cold?

Please say it is!

Little help please!

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It's going to be your Mass Airflow Sensor being faulty. Smoke on start up and low revs, and sluggish when cold are both symptoms of a faulty MAF. Putting on a diagnostic tool will tell you if it is or not.

Only replace with genuine, as cheaper ones have dubious reliability.

Cheers

Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...

Right so going back to my last post with the white smoke on first starting.

I managed to get my hands on a nanacom this evening.

Got some results but cant seem to work out what they mean or how to solve them

Anyone got any clues?

results that were found were

"Fault 10 -01, 10-03. 10-04, 10-05, 14 -01, 14 -03, 14 -04, 14-05"....

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The Nanocom should give a description of what the faults are as well, definitely will if you connect it through a laptop. If you look in the Tech Archive you will find a breakdown of the OBDII codes but all those look like the various codes for aircon and the like that you get when it's not fitted.

You need to read the fuelling as well to see what the various sensors are doing, a bad MAF may not show up as a fault.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi

I've been looking at this old topic but i wondered whether any one has found a remedy for this problem as i have 3 vehicles suffering from this symptom!

I have changed all the injectors and also taken off the head to see whether there was excessive wear on the bores.... eventhough this car has only done just over 30k

I look forward to any reply

Thanks

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White smoke on a derv usually indicates incomplete combustion.

Given that the 5th cylinder doesnt have a glow plug, could it not simply be that on the first start the fuel in cyl5 isnt burning completely/at all due to the lack of glowplug and after a few cycles enough heat has got into the components to fix it?

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Monstersback, not sure if it's for the same reason but I've had a similar problem with mine ever since I replaced the engine ECU with the later (flashable) type.

From a cold start it's OK ticking over but when you give it some gas it chuffs out a load of whitish smoke but doesn't rev up at all, if I leave it to tick over for a minute and then rev it, it runs fine with no smoke.

I get quite a few error codes with the Nanocom but they're mostly irrelevant - auto box, air con etc, neither of which I have, but the more relevant one is "Noisy crank signal", I can clear it but it always comes back.

Might just be worth checking which ECU you have, it would normally be a NNN000120 on a 51 plate,

I've replaced mine with a NNN50020 and had the problem ever since.

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Hi again

all my 3 cars have the factory fitted ecu, they are all flash type as one is an 02 one is an 03 and the other a 56.They all have the NNN000120 except the last one that has NNN500020. They were standard but i remaped them all the same way.... and i have a 51 110 that i also maped with the same map and i never get any smoke from that one and i must add that its the one that has worked hardest and done the most miles - 62k

I am most certain that its unburnt fuel and it reminds me of a tdi out of timing or with a bent connecting rod. My worry is that i might have a leak of fuel from the head to the piston. I am not sure how i can find out this, and if so where exactly its coming from.

Thanks

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I haven't had the problem for some time now.. everything seems to be ok. no smoke no nothing. Its a factory fitted ECU but apparently the cars had a new engine 12000 miles ago..

Although... I get a ticking sort of sound from around the gearbox or that sort of area. wierdly not all the time.

A friend says it could just be a loose bolt. anyone heard of that?

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I have today conducted a small experemant:

I have connected a pressure gauge to the fuel supply line to the head and it was reading a bit higher than 4 bar, then i clamped the return pipe coming out of the head and finally i clamped the supply line. then i turned the ignition switch off. The gauge was still showing 4 bar, bur shortly after it started loosing pressure.... very very slowly. This worries me as i am left with the impression that there might be a crack in the head, however when i started the engine, after the preesure had dropped to i bar, i got no white smoke and the engine ran perfectly well.

Any ideas please???

Thanks

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That pressure drop issue sounds like either a crack in the head or the injector body O ring seals, unless of course there's an external leak somewhere, but I would have thought that would be self evident.

Are you getting any increase in the oil level in the sump or smell of diesel in the oil?

I did a similar test on a spare head of mine but using compressed air instead of fuel and got a similar result - after changing the O rings.

The next thing for mine is to try to find a suitably large container, fill it with diesel or parrafin, submerge the head and try again.

Clive.

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