Technical smoking

[reddevil01]

my fiat 500 1.3 multijet diaseal is belting out white smoke mainly when underload, and smells of oil in the cockbit more so when the heater is on. does not do all the time. sometimes wont smoke at all. does not lack power. previously we had a engine management light come on, breakdown service told me it was egr valve. took it off and cleaned it. the inlet manifold had a lot of gunk in it so cleaned that out. put back together. engine management light no longer on. came on again after 3 months of being off. came back on for about 4 miles went off not come back on again. but still smoking. it had a oil change couple of months ago. the oil light is on flashing, is there any way of getting this turned off without taking it to a garage for them to use a computer to turn it off. the main thing is the smoking to get sorted any ideas anyone? i wonder if it the turbo oil seals that casuing the white smoke? but not sure where the turbo is located on the fiat 500. please help lol

 

[g8rpi]

Hi,
White smoke is as you say likely to be a leaking turbo oil seal. You can replace just the cartridge that costs £100-200.
You need Multiecuscan and an ELM 327 interface to reset the flashing warning light. A dealer or reputable garage won't do it unless they do the service as well. MES nd an interface will cos around £70.

Roert G8RPI.

 

[swifty500]

The flashing oil light is a concern and you need to change the oil immediately-these cars send fuel into the sump if its not regenerating and this can cause your symptoms as well as making the engine ru. Beyond the red line (even when turned off) and wreck the engine

 

[Texas149]

If you check the dipstick to see if the oil level has changed and find it has gone Up then this indicates that the engine oil is getting contaminated with excess fuel and eventually your engine might go into what's called a 'Diesel Runaway' situation whereby the engine runs at full throttle on the excess oil/fuel now in the sump and even if you remove the Key the engine will not stop. The only ways to stop total destruction of the internal components in a runaway situation is either try and stall the car in gear with brakes on hard, but this normally burns out the clutch! Or the other what to stop a runaway is to direct a CO2 fire extinguisher into the air intake of the engine ( that's if you have a CO2 and can find the actual point of entry into the air inlet system, I have on more than one occasion cut the rubber bellows on the air filter box with a Stanley knife and directed the CO2 in there!) Do Not attempt to use any other Type of fire extinguisher or you will hydro lock/trash engine definitely!
Check out Utoob for 'Diesel Runaway'. Up close The noise will be scary!

Paul m.

 

[rallycinq]

Get it properly serviced and use it properly. Absolute minimum of 20 miles per day not sitting in traffic queues.

D

 

[Texas149]

I've always said that Diesel engines should not be in small/mid size road vehicles. Diesel engines are suited for constant revs with high load for long durations ie generators or ships whereby they run for days or weeks! Not in a small car doing the school/coffee shop run twice a day and certainly not coupled to and start/stop shenanigans!
Manufactures were under great pressure to get rid of the massive Heavy Oil glut back in the early 80's and put direct injection Diesel engines in fiestas which was ok to start with but then came the push to get the emissions down and well we all know what happened then!
I believe Diesel has had its day in small vehicles. More trouble than it's worth now compared to petrol versions.

Paul m.

 

[reddevil01]

Today whilst stuck in traffic waiting for people to negotiate the snow all of a sudden white smoke was coming from the engine and through the vents in the car! But when I turned the heater off the smoke stopped!