White Smoke Problem

LFCFan

For a couple of months there has been a fair bit of white smoke coming out of the exhaust under heavy acceleration (usually in 1st/2nd gear pulling away). It's a 2002 320D. I got the car serviced last week and was told that the breather filter could be causing the white smoke it needed replacing. Since the service the white smoke is still there. I've heard this could be coolant leaking because of the seals on the head gasket getting worn? Any other ideas? Need to sound like I know what I'm talking about when I go back to the mechanic with it. Thanks!

crosshair1

Does it require topping up of oil often?

doctorchopper

white smoke in a diesel could possibly be a coolant problem like head gasket failure or cracked cylinder head. Is it loosing coolant?

pajo1981

What's it like on poke?

biko

It could also be the weather. I see a lot of cars having this white smoke when shooting off at red lights.
Fill up oil and coolant to designated levels and keep an eye on them every 3 days for some time.
Make sure to always check when car is level and engine cold.
Make sure coolant cap is on tight but not super tight.

LFCFan

Oil levels seem to be fine. Not sure about the coolant. I have noticed the temp gauge regularly fails to reach the half way mark which I had put down to the extreme cold but the same thing has happened with the more mild weather. There has also been a sweet but manky smell from the exhaust which is why I was thinking it could be an anti-freeze/Coolant issue. Before the service I was finding it was a bit slugish at times but this has improved since the service but it's still not 100%.

By the way, now long should it take for new oil after an oil change to get pure black?

taintabird

oil in a diesel will get black quick enough as there ia always still some old oil in the system unless it is really well flushed out

btkm8unsl0w5r4

pajo1981 wrote: »

What's it like on poke?

Did you elect a new pope recently in the car?

First thing you need to figure out is, is it steam or smoke. (I only ask this because you mention the smoke is white).

What we call steam is of course water vapour, tiny droplets of water that are visible when air becomes saturated. Steam coming from the exhaust will disappear as it is absorbed by the drier air around it, and will be more noticable when it is cold (cold air holds less moisture).

Smoke consists of tiny unburned particles, of either fuel or lubricant and will disperse rather than disappear. Smokey exhaust can be caused by an over rich fuel-air mixture, or burning lubricant (e.g. worn piston rings).

If it is steam it could be one of two things:

The steam produced by burning fuel (hydrocarbons + O2 = H20 + CO2), this can appear excessive in cold weather. Amount increases as the throttle is opened.

Coolant getting into the cylinders or exhaust. This can produce copious amounts of steam such that the car resembles a steam engine as it travels down the road. Large volumes can be emitted even at idle.

As mentioned previously, fill the oil and coolant up to the mark, and monitor. If either is disappearing you've got a problem.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that you could still have a problem even if the oil and coolant levels aren't dropping, i.e. a mixture problem. This doesn't have the same potential for instant engine meltdown calamity though.

bryaner

LFCFan wrote: »

For a couple of months there has been a fair bit of white smoke coming out of the exhaust under heavy acceleration (usually in 1st/2nd gear pulling away). It's a 2002 320D. I got the car serviced last week and was told that the breather filter could be causing the white smoke it needed replacing. Since the service the white smoke is still there. I've heard this could be coolant leaking because of the seals on the head gasket getting worn? Any other ideas? Need to sound like I know what I'm talking about when I go back to the mechanic with it. Thanks!

How is the car running? If it's a bit rough could be a sticky nozzle unburnt diesel comes out white..

biko

You could take it to an emission tester and get a read for 20 yoyo or so.

LFCFan

Ok, seems I was seeing things and it's actually black smoke. It looked white on the dark mornings with lights from behind shining through it. It's actually very sooty black smoke. I'm thinking this is an unburnt diesel issue? The car does feel sluggish at times and my MPG have plummeted recently. I was getting consistent 48 - 52MPG and now I'm lucky if it hits 40MPG. Will be bringing it back to get it checked again.

Owen

Glad it's black smoke, it could have been the dawn of the space pope.



Joking aside, black spoke could mean the diesel particulate filter needs replacing, and your normal air filter too. Take a peek at the air filter first, if it's dirty, replace that, and if the smoke doesn't bugger off, get a mechanic to insect the DPF.

biko

biko wrote: »

You could take it to an emission tester and get a read for 20 yoyo or so.

It's a diesel so they can only smoke test it.

LFCFan

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Joking aside, black spoke could mean the diesel particulate filter needs replacing, and your normal air filter too. Take a peek at the air filter first, if it's dirty, replace that, and if the smoke doesn't bugger off, get a mechanic to insect the DPF.

It was only serviced a few weeks ago and for a few days afterward there was no smoke but it's back now as thick as ever. I've used one of those Diesel additives to see if it was an injector issue but it hasn't made a difference.

Owen

Serviced or not, still check the filters. Servicing for a lot of mechanics means changing the oil and oil filter.

ltdslipdiff

Is the car still running cold? Is there a 5th injector on these diesel engines? Maybe its just dumping diesel in to the system hence the poor economy. Just a thought....

bryaner

LFCFan wrote: »

It was only serviced a few weeks ago and for a few days afterward there was no smoke but it's back now as thick as ever. I've used one of those Diesel additives to see if it was an injector issue but it hasn't made a difference.

Egr valve bunged up, air mass meter fcuked??

Owen

If it was the MAF, a bigger symptom would be a lack of power and economy rather than black smoke. Seriously, I've seen black smoke eradicated on a few diesels by looking at the DPF and the air filters.

bryaner

PaintDoctor wrote: »

If it was the MAF, a bigger symptom would be a lack of power and economy rather than black smoke. Seriously, I've seen black smoke eradicated on a few diesels by looking at the DPF and the air filters.

He is suffering lack of power and economy issues.

Along with smoke problems pointing toward air/ fuel.