White Smokescreen!

[Argos69]

Hi all,

Just went out in my 2012 1.6HDi van (36000 miles) and left a trail of white smoke the Red Arrows would have been proud of!
Maybe it's "upset" because I just swapped the stereo   but I've not experienced this problem before. I've searched the site and tried the things below, but I'm no nearer knowing what is wrong....  I've noticed the van has been smelling a bit "exhausty" for a couple of weeks and I ignored it (no smoke, performance normal, no excessive fuel etc etc). The van was cold started and I first thought it was a bit of steam, but once I accelerated you couldn't see the poor sod behind me, or the road! It was white/grey smoke as far as I could tell. After I stopped at a supermarket car park (to hide for a bit!), I bought some Redex diesel fuel cleaner and bunged that in the tank. I then gingerly drove home. By the time I was a mile or so from home, the smoke had vanished and the engine had warmed up.

I've looked for fault codes using Lexia and a top end Autel unit = nothing!
I've checked the air filter = good as new.
I've checked the fuel filter as far as possible (only 6 months old) = seems ok.
I've had the air filter housing out and checked the injector bolts, then sprayed the injector unions with leak detector and run the engine = no leaks and bolts were at least 9nm.
Coolant level is good.
Oil level is middle of dipstick range.
Engine compartment has nothing obvious to see.

I'm baffled. What do you think?

Now then......Someone once said to me "If you don't really want the answer, don't ask the question", but......
Whist I had the air intake pipe off the right side of the turbo, I poked my finger onto the end of the shaft and I could feel a tiny bit of end float... Should there be any discernible play and can this, in any way, be related to the above issue?

As usual, all help and advice is most welcome. It's nearly bonfire night, so I do have a plan B!

[cancunia]

White smoke on a diesel is generally caused by unburnt fuel / not enough air. The turbo boost is easily enough checked via an OBD adapter with a phone app like Torque.
Not sure how you'd make the red smoke needed to be a true Red Arrow tho...

[Lighty]

Tbh, sounds like an injector over fuelling. It will probably do it again when cold.
The only way to be sure is to take them all out & get them tested.
You can do an injector leak back test, but it is a little primitive for your problem.

[ffrenchie]

Do you touch the accelerator before or during start up ? This puts excess fuel into the cylinder which doesn't burn properly as it is cold.

[jimbo]

I had a talbot express that had a cracked head that allowed coolant into the exhaust port, this turned into steam and left a smoke screen and gave pedestrians a free sauna .

[Oi69]

I had a brand new transit less than 100 miles on clock loads of nice smoke out the back but drove ok (well i think it did) turned out to be a cracked injector messing the spray pattern up so they told me

[Argos69]

Well,
Fingers crossed, but I've either solved it or it's solved itself!

Out of curiosity I put a full bottle of Redex in with 1/4 tank of diesel and took it for a good run.
Not only has it not smoked, it is actually running a little quieter and at tickover the engine doesn't shake slightly as before.

I can't find a "proper" explanation, so I'll keep looking in the door mirror from time to time when the engine's cold....
Just in case. 

I've also read up on the turbo end float and I'm not quite as worried now as it seems it "can" be acceptable due to the oil bearing effect not being present when there's no oil pressure at the unit.

[Argos69]

Tbh, sounds like an injector over fuelling. It will probably do it again when cold.
The only way to be sure is to take them all out & get them tested.
You can do an injector leak back test, but it is a little primitive for your problem.

Quite a scary thought, as to "take them all out" looks like a job for an angle grinder - Citroen have done their very best to bury them with pipes, tubes, wires, an air filter housing and possibly the base of the windscreen....

[Argos69]

I had a brand new transit less than 100 miles on clock loads of nice smoke out the back but drove ok (well i think it did) turned out to be a cracked injector messing the spray pattern up so they told me

Great to see Ford's quality control still up there with the best!
Is there a new Transit out there that isn't a "Custom" model.....?

[Tree]

I had a brand new transit less than 100 miles on clock loads of nice smoke out the back but drove ok (well i think it did) turned out to be a cracked injector messing the spray pattern up so they told me

Great to see Ford's quality control still up there with the best!
Is there a new Transit out there that isn't a "Custom" model.....?

Yep. I’ve had two in the last six weeks while I’ve been waiting for my berlingo to be repaired.

First one was a transit poverty special edition which had the arse end of nothing.

Second one was the custom with all the bells and whistles. Delivered to me with nine miles on the clock. I handed it back a week later with about 800 on the clock.


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