jdk01 Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Hi, blue smoke is pouring out of my exhaust for about 1-2 minutes when I start the engine from cold. During this time, the engine is not responsive to the accelerator being pressed. The vehicle also seems to rock from side to side. A couple of minutes later, the smoke disappears and normal power resumes and rocking stops. Any advice appreciated! Thank you. Julian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 check throttle cable is corectly adjusted at the injection pump, there shouldn't be any big amount of slack in the cable, the knurled handnut does slacken off, a short burst of smoke at start up is normal for any 200 or 300tdi engine, maybe your idle speed is to low -- should be 750 to 850rpm, or glowplugs are not all functioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Defo check the glow plugs, if they're not working the diesel doesnt combust properly and you get white/blue smoke but it seems odd it would do it for such a long time, you'd expect the cylinders to come online within a few seconds if the engines actually running. Maybe a bad injector causing a poor spray which is much harder to ignite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lo-fi Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Check the cold start mechanism on the injector pump is working correctly: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=63051 Otherwise, I've had similar with an old perkins with very worn bores. It used to pump out white and blue smoke until you got a bit of heat into the rings, they expanded, closed the ring gaps, and the compression came up to something sensible. Was very unresponsive until warm. Take the oil filler cap off just after you start it from cold: If you get a big blast of air coming out, you've probably got the same problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Try advancing the fuel pump slightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdk01 Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Thank you for your replies! I'll advise the answer when found! Julian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdk01 Posted April 12, 2016 Author Share Posted April 12, 2016 Hi, The blue smoke got worse, enveloping the car during start up. This improved over time as the engine warmed, but the smell of oil/diesel remained. The main dealer recommended and fitted a new turbo charger and then new injectors. But the smoke persisted. So, I took it to a small local garage for diagnosis, rather than part replacement. They listened and then adjusted the timing belt, (which had also been replaced by the main dealer). The result is that the smoke seems to have reduced substantially, except for a little amount when the engine is started.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmerfred Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Oil in the intercooler will give the same symptoms, I had a 300TDi Disco that smoked like a train black, the intercooler was 1/2 full of oil. Look inside the intercooler pipe between intercooler and turbo to see if there's a lot of oily gunk in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulnb57 Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Blue smoke is burning oil, Black is too much fuel or too little air, whitish is too much air or too little fuel, so oil is getting into the combustion chamber somehow is my theory...my 300 has no glows wired, a puff of light blue followed by a small amount of black smoke when accelerating for the first 30 seconds.....not clouds of blue smoke, quite what the suggestion regarding throttle cable relates to is beyond me....... So either worn bores, worn valve stem seals or worn oil seals in the turbo, or an intercooler with oil in it would be my guess...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmerfred Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Blue smoke from any engine suggests worn or broken piston rings usually. Does the engine use any oil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdk01 Posted April 13, 2016 Author Share Posted April 13, 2016 Thank you. The engine does not use any oil. After fixing the timing, the amount of blue smoke at start up is small compared to what it was and I can now accelerate rather then needing to wait 30-60 secs. The blue smoke has all but stopped after the first few minutes. I will follow through on your suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaklander Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Reading this with interest and some confusion. Is it blue smoke or black? I ask because I too thought that blue is oil and black is diesel and considering that the adjusted timing would affect combustion then have you reduced black smoke?? I have a puff of black on startup but sometimes a trail of blue for 300m after first start. I'm planning on changing the valve stem seals with the head on, just as a starter. ( using a homebrew tool shown on this forum). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Blue after start up is often valve guides actually, and not rings, as they leak oil down into the exhaust port which then burns off slowly as the EGTs rise. For a turbocharged car, the same is true for the turbo seals, if they lek go you can get all manner of horrid smoke out the back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkie Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 I would suspect the valve seals and/or turbo too before anything else. I would have thought that if the pistons/bores were worn the problem wouldn't go away? Can you make it smoke by just revving it on the drive? If so, take off one of the pipes between the turbo and inlet manifold and see if the smoke goes away. If not then I would consider taking the head off to change the valve stem seals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Blue smoke is probably worn stem seals.... The reason the timing as altered the blue smoke is that diesel, after all is an oil...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaklander Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Sounds as though the OP is happy with the reduced smoke following the timing adjustment. I hope you are right Vulcan as I've made the head-on valve compression tool and probably doing my stem seals tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cackshifter Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Do you know what the adjustment was to the timing belt? Or was it to the pump timing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdk01 Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 Thank you to for continuing the conversation. Yes, the smoke is blue and I am currently happy with the reduced smoke following the timing adjustment. I will ask the garage to check the valve stem seals and valve guides and advise in a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdk01 Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 Also - the adjustment was to the timing belt.... Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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