diesel engine problem

[nick]

Well here is what's happening.

 

Friday we get in the mini-bus, start up no problem drive about half a mile, changing up from 2nd to 3rd gear loud rattle from somewhere towards the front of the vehicle. Lasts maybe a second. Then a huge cloud of black smoke, that lasted about 2 to 3 seconds, and then we pumped out white smoke for the next 30 seconds or so until we stopped. Stopped got out, nothing obviously amiss that I could see, no bits in the road, no obvious leeks anywhere. Start up again, engine sounds sweet as ever, no knocks or rattles anywhere.

 

So I decided we would carry on.

 

We travelled about a 1000 miles over the weekend with no further problems at all.

 

Arrived home Monday evening, the bus then sat until wednesday at about 3.00pm, when Jill went out and had an exact repeat of Friday. She came back in all of a panic to say what had happened so I went out with her and we drove 20 miles down the road. There was occassionaly a slight trace of white smoke, usually when changing down a gear going up hill.

 

Over to you guys, any thoughts? (Either possible solutions or good websites to ask the question on?)

[Elton]

Have you had a look at the oil?

 

White smoke would usually indicate water, which would leave a white milky residue on your dipstick and, possibly, filler cap.

 

That's what I'd do first.

[nick]

cheers Elton

 

I'll take a look this afternoon. It's baby minding time this morning

 

Any other ideas also gratefully received.

[Jack Sparrow]

Have a look at this link mate

 

http://www.uniteddiesel.co.uk/diesel-engine-smoke.php

 

 

regards

JS

[melpen]

I had a very similar experience in my Vectra.

 

According to my fleet manager, what happened was the catalitic coverter detected excessive carbon monoxide and shut down my turbo, with loads of black smoke and max speed was set at 60mph.

 

I know you state you dont have a turbo, but do you have a catalitic converter?

 

By turning off the ignition for 2mins resets the sensors and all is ok. Just waiting for it to happen again.

Edited May 10, 2007 by melpen

[bushwacker]

Hiya Nick, white smoke from a diesel engine is 100% of the time unburnt fuel. What can and does happen is, fuel is injected through worn or damaged injectors, and instead of vaporising the fuel it "blobs" that is large globs of fuel are sent into the combustion chamber and the swirling of the intake doesn,'t take place correctly, hence unburnt fuel. Worn or damaged pintels on the injectors are quite a common cause for this. Has the head been romoved recently for example without the injectors being first removed from it? them being damaged on the bench surface etc? The pump, maybe ready for recallibrating, the phasing may be out etc.

 

Is the engine common rail? (I would expect it to be so) On the pump there is more than likley a small valve with wiring going to it, not the stop solenoid that is on the end but on the side?

[peter mccue]

Nick, have you recently had your car serviced?

 

It isn't unusual for a diesel that has been overfilled with engine oil to reach a temperature where the excess oil is pulled past the rings & the engine begins to run on the oil instead of the fuel. Naturally the fuel controls are now bypassed & the engine revs uncontrollably. This lasts until the excess oil is used & can be no longer drawn up past the rings.

 

Once the engine dies down & cools, it often runs with no problems at all. The smoke that literally billows out the exhaust is, contrary to popular opinion, white & not the expected blue smoke normally associated with oil use. The problem of overfilling diesel engines is compounded by wear in the engine itself & the ease at which it occurs is usually related to high mileages. This isn't to say it doesn't happen with low mileage vehicles..it does, but there has to be a lot of overfill for it to happen.

 

It's quite frightening for the driver when it happens, but in my experience there appears to be no lasting damage done if all other systems are in reasonable condition.

[peterpikefisher]

Hiya Nick, white smoke from a diesel engine is 100% of the time unburnt fuel.

 

 

that should be BLACK Smoke indicates unburnt/Excessive Fuel in diesel engines

 

White smoke usually indicates water in either the fuel or oil (in diesel engines)

Edited May 10, 2007 by pumphypete