adampaquette
Member
Hi everyone,
I recently posted here about a clattering sound in my engine which did indeed turn out to be the timing chain. I had that replaced, and the sound was fixed.
However... I now have a pretty serious smoke issue & an odd situation with my mechanic - hoping you can be of help once again!
So, a few months ago, I noticed a *little* bit of smoke occasionally when driving. Not enough that it really sparked my concern - I would just glimpse it in my driver side mirror and then it would be gone again. Fast forward to the post-chain fix, and the smoke is back with a vengeance. If it hadn't been happening before, i would have said the new TC 'caused' it, because it was significantly more noticeable.
Video:
photos.app.goo.gl
So - after reading all that, you'd probably just tell me to get it back to the mechanic, right? Did that. Here's what he said.
He basically said he didn't know what was causing it, and considering the expense it would take to start digging around to find the problem, his advice was to just ignore it, and probably it would be fine. 'Normal diesel engine stuff'. I pushed back with a bit of concern but he just kinda waved me off. I'm a total engine amateur, so I don't have much to do but trust the guy, however, I have a 3500km drive Berlin > Sicily coming up in 6 weeks, so I'm kind of worried about heading out on a long trip with a smoking van!!
Ideas about what it could be might help if I decide to see another mechanic, but its already been to two and they both said to just drive it. So I'm wondering, *can* it actually be normal to just drive a van that smokes like this in city driving? Is it relatively safe to take it on a long trip, having done these basic checks for the big obvious problems?? Many thanks everyone!
Adam
I recently posted here about a clattering sound in my engine which did indeed turn out to be the timing chain. I had that replaced, and the sound was fixed.
However... I now have a pretty serious smoke issue & an odd situation with my mechanic - hoping you can be of help once again!
So, a few months ago, I noticed a *little* bit of smoke occasionally when driving. Not enough that it really sparked my concern - I would just glimpse it in my driver side mirror and then it would be gone again. Fast forward to the post-chain fix, and the smoke is back with a vengeance. If it hadn't been happening before, i would have said the new TC 'caused' it, because it was significantly more noticeable.
Video:
New video by Adam Paquette
photos.app.goo.gl
- The smoke is whitish-grey. I would call it white from what I see in the mirror, but not as thick and pure white as I would expect billowing steam to be.
- Smokes on 30-50% of accelerations from stopped - beginning in 1st, peaking at the top of 2nd, and thinning out in 3rd gear. Sometimes it will do it on one acceleration, then nothing on the next, then back to smoking again on the following...
- By 4th gear, & during highway driving, the smoke is gone completely.
- After a long (1hr) highway drive, the smoke is mostly not present when back to city driving, but still occasionally throws out a puff or two.
- It is there each time I drive, but the amount is somewhat inconsistent. Sometimes it is low enough that I feel the problem is getting better, once or twice it has been bad enough to put my hazards on and pull over until it stopped. Usually its enough that cars behind me are backing off. The attached video shows about the average.
- Engine temp normal
- No milkshake to indicate a head gasket issue.
- Maybe a slight loss of power? I don't fully trust my intuition on this. But it feels a little less gutsy on acceleration...
- There is also different smoke when punching high revs - a more normal looking dark gray/brown sooty smoke that leaves residue on the ground & cuts off immediately after backing off the pedal.
- Important: when repairing the timing chain, I also had an oil & filter change and it had clearly been a long time since it was done (this is a second hand van and I hadn't done an oil change yet - stupid me). He was pretty shocked at how blacked out the oil was & clearly it was well overdue. Could it be something to do with this change of oil & a 'cleaning out' of the old crap?
So - after reading all that, you'd probably just tell me to get it back to the mechanic, right? Did that. Here's what he said.
- Turbo looks fine
- Doesn't think its anything to do with the head/gasket
- The underside of the engine was covered in oil, there's a leak somewhere but we don't know where. He cleaned all the oil and I'm to drive it a bit and take it back to see where the leak is coming from. He was pretty insistent though, that the smoke didn't have anything to do with this leak.
- No water in the oil or anything similar indications.
- Did the TUV yesterday (main 2-yearly inspection in Germany) and it passed everything including emissions test.
He basically said he didn't know what was causing it, and considering the expense it would take to start digging around to find the problem, his advice was to just ignore it, and probably it would be fine. 'Normal diesel engine stuff'. I pushed back with a bit of concern but he just kinda waved me off. I'm a total engine amateur, so I don't have much to do but trust the guy, however, I have a 3500km drive Berlin > Sicily coming up in 6 weeks, so I'm kind of worried about heading out on a long trip with a smoking van!!
Ideas about what it could be might help if I decide to see another mechanic, but its already been to two and they both said to just drive it. So I'm wondering, *can* it actually be normal to just drive a van that smokes like this in city driving? Is it relatively safe to take it on a long trip, having done these basic checks for the big obvious problems?? Many thanks everyone!
Adam
