Cuttting & plumes of white smoke (Diesel?)

[mcglynn]

Hi guys, fitted the straight through today and obviously took the car a few spirited runs. Was going up the carriageway with the mate when I planted it and between 3-4K the car cut to a 'judder' and threw a load of white smoke out the back.

I changed the injectors for 076 ones today, checked all levels and all is fine, turned the car off right away and rolled to a stop. Started it and it went straight away and all seemed fine no lights or bad temperature, running sweet. Boosting well again too, but it happened 4 times tonight.

Seems when im being spirited, could this be a dirty fuel filter? Had planned on changing it as well as the oil but didnt get around to it today.

Any help appreciated!

[Poodle]

Have you got much turbo noise?

[mcglynn]

Theres a whistle out of it but it seems prettt standard, no whining or burring noise. Its standard boost/map if that changes anything.

[Poodle]

Shouldn't change anything... Don't suppose you got a sniff of the smoke..?

[mcglynn]

No man I was driving lol, pulled over and stopped it right away incase of turbo failure. But no lights, oil and water were ok so I started it and drove again, boost was fine and no smoke after starting it.

Im going to change the fuel filter as it was grimey when I inspected it about 2 weeks ago. Since then ive ran out of fuel so its probably sucked the rest of the shite through.

Just hate the idea that I have to thrash it to know if it's going to conk out again because serious damage could happen at high revs if it was something fatal

[Slam Wagon]

You say youve changed your injectors today, sure they are good ones? Have you since double checked everything that you distrurbed?

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I have issues with mine which i believe is injectors and it was causing white smoke. Cutting out is most commonly a fueling ussue too.

[mcglynn]

Yeah I checked over it theres no hissing and no sign of diesel or chuffing injectors.

It happened once again, it was at around 4k or more and i didnt shut it off, the car judder a bit and returned to idle, the smoke is most definately diesel as I smelt it. Its a fuelling issue so ill change the fuel filter and take it from there I guess.

[mcglynn]

Ok guys cut out properly on me tonight, got the EML this time so when my code reader arrives I shall check and see if I get a code off of it

[Poodle]

Hate to say it, but sounds like the new injectors are duff. Did yours cut out before, I don't remember..?

[mcglynn]

Might well be them, the only variables are the injectors, new washers and a straight through exhaust.

Changed the fuel filter and it hasnt happened again with some spirited driving but I wont know again until it happens I guess which is annoying.

Puts a real worry in the back of my mind basically is it worth tuning, have a fmic ordered n all so god knows what will happen.

Ill report back with codes when I get my bluetooth reader.

[Seb_Ryan]

I know mines an XUD but simular happened to mine.. once the cloud of smoke caught fire lol.

Turned out it was turbo.. :/

[mcglynn]

Was it diesel smoke though? As mine is definately diesel smoke I got out and smelt it last night lol

[Seb_Ryan]

It was whiteish.. smelt slightly of derv but a mix of oily/burning smell.. mate said it was an epic flame lol.. if I drove it sensible it didnt happen.. only about 3k flat out sorta thing.. might just be something to check

[mcglynn]

Yeah think it was my fuel filter as I put a new one in today and it seems to have sorted the problem, still kinda weary about booting it to be honest!

[Poodle]

Can't get my head around how a blocked fuel filter would have caused this problem, still think it's more likely to be knackered injectors or turbo seals tbh. Meh, if it's stopped no worries eh!

[mcglynn]

Its not stopped was literally about to write

I think its definately fuel related as sometimes it cuts out and the oil level hasnt dropped, its only when im really pushing it. E.g. 4k rpm and in 3rd gear, it pulls it in second but I was thinking there's torque limiters in 1st and 2nd in standard maps so the fuelling would be different.

Going to try my 044s in it soon and rag it and see if it makes any difference, if its the injectors am I basically down £70 then? :/

[Poodle]

Fair enough, yeah i believe third is the first gear with full fuelling. What's confusing me is the cloud of white smoke - the reason it cuts out is because the ecu stops play when it sees rail pressure drop too low, ie it stops firing the injectors, so where's the diesel coming from to cause the smoke...? I guess if the injectors are leaking enough at high rpm, then maybe that could cause both the drop in pressure and the extra fuel in the cylinder.

Afraid so, hence why i always recommend refurbs over scrapyard/second-hand jobbies.

[mcglynn]

When it cuts the power it ticks, and the speed of the tick goes in conjunction with the engine speed.

Its then that it throws out the smoke. Almost as if the injector is stuck in the open position all the time or something, no evidence of blowby or diesel spewiing round the head so must be an internal fault?

EDIT; The tick seems to go away. Either one of two things will happen if I leave the ignition on and dip the clutch, it ticks its way back to idle and runs sweet or it conks out. When it conks out it takes the car a short while to 'prime' as such as it turns over thr first few timea but doesnt fire, then when it fires its all back to normal no smoke and normal power/smoke levels.

[Poodle]

The ticking is probably preignition, whatevers getting into the cylinder is igniting early on the compression stroke then stopping once its burnt off. This isn't something i've heard of before, be interested to see whats causing it.

[mcglynn]

If it was igniting woukd the smoke be white? Ive always thought white diesel smoke is unburnt vapourised diesel.

[Poodle]

Well i'm assuming what's happening is the injectors are leaking into the cylinder when they shouldn't be, hence the "ticking" - that's from leakage on the compression stroke. When the leaking gets too much the fuel rail pressure drops, as the hp pump cant match the rate of leakage, so the engine cuts out. Normally that would mean no more diesel being injected, but if the injectors are leaking diesel straight into the cylinder on the exhaust stroke it'll chuck it out unburnt as white smoke.

Must just point out i'm theorising based on what you're telling us and what I know of how these engines work, I can't guarantee it's right or even close to the mark.

[mcglynn]

Well your theorising is giving me a better chance of getting to the bottom of it that anyone else lol! Hoping the obd connector shows up and I can get on with code reading. Its thrown up the EML which has went out again, done that twice now so must be some sort of code logged.

Might not be much use but worth a try

[Poodle]

It'll give you a clue at least lol, got to be a p0230 in there I reckon. Good luck with it mate.

[Poodle]

Just seen your project thread, where those injectors already cleaned when you bought them? Cleaning them is pretty risky if you haven't got kit like a sonic bath.

[mcglynn]

They were already cleaned yeah, the guy is being pretty civil and said he will try get me another set as he works with a fella that has a few or sumthin. Said hed throw in a 1.6 rail sensor with it too if I want since the troubles.

[Poodle]

That's good of them, at least you know you've got a decent trader on the books.

[mcglynn]

Gonna take the injectors out one at a time to see if one of them is faulty, hopefully get to the bottom of this! Thanks again for your help

[mcglynn]

Fault code as you said poodle, p0230

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P0380 aswell, glowplugs

[Poodle]

That p0380 is on most hdis i've scanned, nothing to worry about there lol. The p0230 is low fuel pressure, all but guaranteed if you've got cutting out issues. When you say about taking the injectors out one by one, are you talking about swapping them with your old ones?

[mcglynn]

Yeah to find if there is one of them faulty then thr guy will replace that one faulty one. Bad or good idea?