Hello, first post for me.

We just got 2003 LWB Ducato Maxi. 2.8 JTD with about 117K miles.

She runs pretty well and starts fine.

However, when the engine is cold it produces a quantity of white smoke on acceleration and when coming to a stop. When it's warmed up (i.e. temp indicator at 1/4 mark) this smoke disappears on acceleration.

When I got to work this morning I parked and left the engine running. The engine nice and warm. I then blipped the throttle a few times. This also produced a clouds of smoke with each blip.

I've searched this forum and it looks like it could be an oil-burning issue?
Not sure about the smell of the exhaust. I'm not sure if its normal diesel smell of burning oil.

It did not see much use from the previous owner. It's only done 10K since 2010. The previous owner said it was serviced before the last MOT which was 3K miles and over a year ago. However, just to be conservative I'll call it 2 years and 5K miles ago.
I've pulled up the MOT history and there have been no failures or advisories for the engine or exhaust.

The oil level is just under the MAX line. However it is black. So I figure a change of oil, oil filter, and air filter would be a good start.

Any other suggestions? Would the smoke be oil burning?
Also, the big question...I have an MOT due in July. Anyone failed due to white smoke?

Cheers!

Hi. Burning oil is usually blue smoke 117k isn’t a lot for a diesel engine, if the smoke is white it suggests unburnt fuel.
When you change the oil make sure it is the correct grade for your engine, I would personally suspect a faulty injector.
The only other thing is check the header tank is not loosing water as the white smoke could be steam.
P.S The engine oil will turn black within a few hundred miles this is normal on a diesel engine.

I'm beginning to suspect that it is oil smoke that I'm seeing. Here's an amendment to the symptoms I've seen. When it first starts up from a cold engine there is no smoke on acceleration. Smoke does apppear on acceleration after a few miles. After several minutes of 5th gear cruising I do not notice any smoke on acceleration until I get into a village or somewhere that only needs light throttle work and sub-2000 RPMs. Then the smoke will re-appear. Especially if I accelerate after I've stopped waiting for traffic signals to turn green.

I'll be changing the oil, but as I have no user's manual can someone point me to the correct weight and oil spec for my vehicle? 2003 Ducato Maxi w/ 2.8 JTD.

Thanks.

sufood said:

I'm beginning to suspect that it is oil smoke that I'm seeing. Here's an amendment to the symptoms I've seen. When it first starts up from a cold engine there is no smoke on acceleration. Smoke does apppear on acceleration after a few miles. After several minutes of 5th gear cruising I do not notice any smoke on acceleration until I get into a village or somewhere that only needs light throttle work and sub-2000 RPMs. Then the smoke will re-appear. Especially if I accelerate after I've stopped waiting for traffic signals to turn green.

I'll be changing the oil, but as I have no user's manual can someone point me to the correct weight and oil spec for my vehicle? 2003 Ducato Maxi w/ 2.8 JTD.

Thanks.

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Does your van have an egr? Fiat changed oil the spec to 5w40 but if there's any suspicion of burning oil I'd put in a fully synthetic 10w40 from a main brand. If you're still getting white smoke put some ash free 2 stroke oil at 1:200 to the diesel this will help lubricate and take up clearances in the injectors and pump.

I always thought white smoke was due to water. So maybe a coolant leak like a head gasket?

First, thanks all for the advice.

MOT failed yesterday.

[7.4.B.4] Exhaust emits excessive smoke or vapour of any colour.

I can better characterize the symptoms now.

On startup, there is no smoke. Then I have about a minute or two on a farm track (i.e. low speed) until I get to a road. When I pull out onto the road, using moderate throttle, I start seeing the blue smoke. I get up to 60 - 70 mph on an A road and I don't see any smoke. I pull off onto a B road and do not see any smoke when accelerating there. Then I get into a village with some stops and more low-speed driving. Now the smoke re-appears especially I've sat at a stop for more than a few seconds.
If I'm parked up, in neutral, and the engine is warmed up, then I will get some nice puffs of blue smoke when I blip the throttle.
No smoke on overrun that I've noticed.

Checks of the oil dipstick shows that oil is being consumed.

So, short term. I've put in some Wynn's Stop Smoke oil additive to see if that will get me past MOT. However, I realize that's just hiding the problem.

I've done more searching and I'm trying to see if my symptoms match any that I've read. I'm wondering if the turbo is on it's way out. How much "whistle" should I hear from the turbo?

Cheers,

Josh

sufood said:

First, thanks all for the advice.

MOT failed yesterday.

[7.4.B.4] Exhaust emits excessive smoke or vapour of any colour.

I can better characterize the symptoms now.

On startup, there is no smoke. Then I have about a minute or two on a farm track (i.e. low speed) until I get to a road. When I pull out onto the road, using moderate throttle, I start seeing the blue smoke. I get up to 60 - 70 mph on an A road and I don't see any smoke. I pull off onto a B road and do not see any smoke when accelerating there. Then I get into a village with some stops and more low-speed driving. Now the smoke re-appears especially I've sat at a stop for more than a few seconds.
If I'm parked up, in neutral, and the engine is warmed up, then I will get some nice puffs of blue smoke when I blip the throttle.
No smoke on overrun that I've noticed.

Checks of the oil dipstick shows that oil is being consumed.

So, short term. I've put in some Wynn's Stop Smoke oil additive to see if that will get me past MOT. However, I realize that's just hiding the problem.

I've done more searching and I'm trying to see if my symptoms match any that I've read. I'm wondering if the turbo is on it's way out. How much "whistle" should I hear from the turbo?

Cheers,

Josh

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First things to do always is change the oil to a quality oil with good additives, your oil could be totally worn out or have diesel in it from poor combustion.

I would much rather start with a 10w40 oil and if necessary a 15w40 oil than add crappy additives.

May be worth trying a high mileage oil with more seal conditioners as it may help with leaking valve stem seals.

If the turbo is 'on the way out' your intercooler will be full of oil easy to check

I may check out the intercooler for oil as you suggest. I finally got the eLearn manuals for my vehicle. The intercooler remove and replace procedure seems simple enough. However, I should really only have to disconnect one of the input or output pipes on the intercooler to check, right? Would any presence of oil in either of these pipes would indicate an oil leak in the turbo?

White smoke is either water in the combustion chamber, or unburnt, poorly atomised fuel, suggesting either heater plugs not working, or injectors not atomising properly. White smoke usually disappears as the engine warms up, unless it is ingesting coolant into the cylinders. This does not appear to be your problem, but is useful info for others.

Blue smoke is oil.
Worn valve guides or seals, worn piston rings, or worn turbo seals. Symptoms would fit turbo better than the other options. Checking the intercooler would be the first step.

Update.

A garage said that there's an air leak in the intake manifold. Either the manifold gasket or possibly a crack in the manifold. They thought the gasket is more likely than the manifold itself, but they won't know until they get down to it. Now this may or may not be the problem generating the exhaust smoke, but they won't be able to diagnose anything further until this issue is sorted. Has anyone else encountered leaking intake manifolds and have they caused exhaust issues?

The leaking gasket will allow some pressure out, so the engine will get less air than the sensors think. This will cause more fuel to be injected than can burn efficiently, which would cause black smoke. So assuming you may be mistaken about the smoke colour, seems a good diagnosis. Exhaust smoke colour can be difficult. The black smoke will contain some unburnt fuel, so may have a blueish tinge to it. Hopefully a "cheap" repair. Let us know.

JB weld can work fine for repairing intake manifold with proper preparation degrease and roughen it up.

Update:

The emissions problem turned out to be a two problems. The first problem noticed was that there was a leak around the intake manifold. That turned out to be a split manifold gasket. That needed to be replaced before any other work could be carried out.

On the other side of engine it was, as many of you suspected, leaking turbo seals causing the smoke. New turbo fitted. Now all is well.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and I hope this thread can be useful for others with the same symptoms.

Maybe this could throw some light on the issue. It regards an older model, but who knows?

http://www.motorhomediary.com/ducato-motorhome-smoke/

cosminman said:

Maybe this could throw some light on the issue. It regards an older model, but who knows?

http://www.motorhomediary.com/ducato-motorhome-smoke/

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The issue was already resolved in July 2014. Post 13 above.
.