2010 1.6Hdi - white/gray smoke on cold start

[Shasha127]

Hello all
My 2010 1.6Hdi 2 months ago started to puff white-gray smoke on cold start ups with unburnt diesel smell, and after 15-30 seconds its gone.
No smoke on hot engine starts, no smoke while driving, good power overall. 
I should mention i have installed an egr blocking plate 3 months ago - can it be the cause? Turbo has very small axial play on the turbine
Thanks

[jj9]

The EGR blanking plate won't be the cause of the problem.

Check that all four of your glow plugs are working, that's easier said than done as they are at the back of the engine, if you don't know how to check them there are videos on youtube explaining the procedure.

Some HDi engines will start fine with no working glow plugs, some won't and will give the symptoms you describe.


.

[cancunia]

Probably the root cause is glowplugs as jj9 says. It could be the relay that powers the glowplugs, on the 1.6HDi M59 the relay is in front of the battery / below the headlight IIRC. There's a thread somewhere (from JJ9?) about connecting a bulb to a glowplug to see if / when they are powered.

[Sol]

I had this exact problem with my old m59, changed glowplugs and relay, proved they worked, eventually fitting the EGR blank all but cured it. Still happened but very slight.

Checked the IAT and ECT sensors against a calibrated thermal laser gun, all spot on. Was temperature related for sure. After the coolant hit 50 it suddenly ran perfectly.

I did suspect the air doser unit as possibly faulty and causing thus but got rid of that van before I got that far. It operates differently depending on coolant temperature.

Here's the thread if you want to check it. Pics may not work now. Photobucket became a-holes and locked my account cos I didn't want premium.

https://www.berlingoforum.com/thread-16959.html

I found also that disconnecting the MAF while it was running rough, stopped it immediately from happening but logs from Lexia showed the EGR slammed shut when I did that. Due to the ECU not being able to actually measure airflow.

See this page for data log charts from diagnostics - MAF disconnected and second with EGR blanked.

https://www.berlingoforum.com/thread-16959-page-8.html

[Shasha127]

Thanks everyone for your answers so far.
The car starts quick at any weather, 3 starter motor turns and its running.
Iv had a set of new glow plugs lying around so i changed them today for the sake of it. Iv found that the glow plugs harness does not give any voltage with open ignition switch so i tested all the fuses in the engine bay box and after reading your comments i went behind the headlight and tested the 2 green relay that sits in the box (wich im guessing are the front headlights relays) and from what i can see the only part/ relay i didnt tested yet is the big one sitting down under the headlight and has cooling fins.
Iv added a picture, is this the glow plugs relay? If so, anything special to test or as a regular relay?
Thanks again

[GraemeT]

Hi - on our 2010 1.6 HDi 110 HP the glowplugs have never worked - it starts fine down to around -8 Celsius and I've given up worrying about it. It may be that the fuel economy is impacted slightly but we're getting 60 mpg out of it despite that. (OK so it's the Mini but same engine)

A little smoke on cold start and a diesel smell too. 

I did muck around with the relays etc etc last year but just never traced where the problem lay and I was not that motivated as the car was running fine (and I have learned to my cost 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'  )

[Shasha127]

Personally i prefer to fix problems on my vehicles systems rather then just leave them even if it doesnt make things worse. As long as the diagnostics done by me it costs me nothing, gambling on parts without knowing wich one is the culprit is a different problem. 
The cold start smoke isnt a big issue nor one that bothers me too much but i already had the glow plugs in hand so went ahed and changed them, discovering that i have no voltage coming from the glow plugs loom, and now im in it so before i leave it as it is might as well go over every thing i can test. 
These cars biggest problem is that it is very difficult to find a proper wiring diagram for them, and as far as i can see thats the main reason why electric problems with these cars are mostly left alone.
Either way, took out the last realy wich im guessing is the glow plug relay - anyone have suggestions how to test it?
Thanks

       

[Sol]

That's it.

Wiring diagrams:


https://www.berlingoforum.com/thread-17165.html

See my other thread for the pinout of that relay.

[Shasha127]

Thank you Zion. Iv saved the wiring schemes from the thread youv linked to but the glow plugs relay part is referring to 8 legged relay while mine has 7. 
In the scheme it shows that leg number 4 is the main (+) that comes from the battery and legs 1,2,6,7 are the ones that getting the current when the relay is engaged - so far makes sense, but on the scheme legs 3+8 goes to the ecu/key switch i dont know by the scheme, while i dont have leg no.8 
So that leaves me with leg no.3 as ACC and leg no.5 as ground. When im connecting them to a 12v to engage the relay and testing for continuity between legs 4 to 1,2,6,7 i get nothing. thing is that when im testing continuity whithout engaging the relay - i dont get a contiuity beep but the multimeter shows around 630  on all 1,2,6,7 to 4
Am i testing it correctly? if so, does it shows my relay is bad?
Thanks

[GraemeT]

Hello - 7 pin version https://hc-cargo.co.uk/catalog/p/161120-...plug-relay