General Severe smoking on tick over..MOT looming

[richtheracer]

My 2.8 JTD 2005 Ducato is great most of the time but has developed a really annoying habit!! When it's warm it smokes on tick over at lights, Junctions etc.
It runs fine uses no more fuel than usual, but has become more frequent lately, and annoys the hell out of me when I pull away!! MOT is looming and money is tight, cant help thinking there's something expensive going on!! Any ideas chaps?
Thanks Rich

 

[moodrater]

My 2.8 JTD 2005 Ducato is great most of the time but has developed a really annoying habit!! When it's warm it smokes on tick over at lights, Junctions etc.
It runs fine uses no more fuel than usual, but has become more frequent lately, and annoys the hell out of me when I pull away!! MOT is looming and money is tight, cant help thinking there's something expensive going on!! Any ideas chaps?
Thanks Rich

Whats your vin number.

 

[richtheracer]

Vin is ZFA24400007501177
Rich..

 

[moodrater]

Vin is ZFA24400007501177
Rich..

Fiat eper says thats a 2.3jtd

 

[richtheracer]

yeah its definitely a 2.8 JTD. I have a problem with this all the time when looking for parts etc, I have a letter from DVLA with vehicle stating the problem with vin number and engine size! Original VIN read ZFA2440000501177 on first owner logbook, engine number on logbook is 3650234. I will have a look later on again at VIN plate but MOT reads VIN as above!
Cheers Rich..

 

[cris1117]

Black smoke I assume ?

 

[richtheracer]

No white ish smoke not black at all!

 

[richtheracer]

Any ideas chaps?

 

[moodrater]

White smoke is unburnt diesel, unburnt diesel will wash the oil from cylinder walls and wear the rings and bore, you can't hang around on this one, take it to a diesel specialist.

 

[richtheracer]

So had someone round to take a look at my van to see if he had an idea on cause of smoke, he says its definitely oil not diesel that its burning on tick over when warm. So if its oil what are the possible causes? oil is 2/3rds on dipstick so hasn't lost a lot of oil, changed air filter today and took pipes off turbo and no oil ingress! engine is running sweet, but as I mentioned in 1st post as soon as engine is up to temp when stopping at lights and junctions etc when pulling away lets out lots of smoke!!

 

[Murviman]

Interesting. I've had the exact same problem on my 2.3JTD for 3 years. I've had 3 separate garages look at it with ideas ranging from contaminated fuel, egr valve problems to leaky injectors. No joy and very frustrating. I have noticed the problem cleared temporarily after servicing so maybe oil quality is an issue.

All I can say is it passes mots no hassle. Just embarrassing when it happens!

 

[moodrater]

Oil is blue smoke and it stinks its unmistakable and if you have large quanities of it you'd be topping it up unless of course you're diluting the sump with unburnt diesel at the same rate your burning oil. Does the oil smell of diesel. Unburnt diesel in the exhaust is a white smoke and smalls of diesel.

 

[richtheracer]

Its definitely blue smoke after following my wife driving it yesterday and it does smell oily!! Had what I thought was the crank case breather off from front of engine and was pretty mucky but ran some petrol through it and eventually ran clear so put it back on and reassembled all components but no joy still smoking on tick over when warm. What else could it be? If it was turbo or seals, wouldn't it be smoking all the time? and wouldn't there be some running issues? Must be getting a small amount of oil from somewhere during tick over but where?? Took it to a local diesel garage today and they want to look it over for about 3-4 hours just to diagnose at £55+vat, simply cant afford that. Hasn't lost a lot of oil, probably a litre or so since xmas so topped up again today and see how much has been lost in next week! Sometimes not doing it at all but other times when pulling away from lights / junctions its pretty bad! I'm ok with the spanners but need to have an idea where to investigate next!
Cheers Rich..

 

[moodrater]

Is there oil in the intake? Is it smoking/blowignthrough the filler cap. Maybe valve stem seals. Cat could have melted into a solid lump by now too.

 

[jontee61]

only thing i can think of that has not been mentioned. that i can suggest. try running it without a air filter . i remember a similar issue i had with a van many years ago tried different things nothing worked then more by luck then design i had removed the air filter and air filter box to get to something else and started it up without replacing the air filter housing and filter and the bloody thing ran as clean as a whistle i seem to remember it had something to do with a cheap air filter and was causing some sort of restriction on tickover. i know it s very unlikely the cure but it may be worth a try. jt

 

[cris1117]

Hi. The first thing I would do is change the oil and filter make absolutely sure the right grade oil is being used, the wrong oil will make it smoke as you described.

 

[richtheracer]

If it was the wrong oil, wouldn't it smoke all of the time? Ok so what is 100% the right oil to use? Its a 2005 2.8jtd
Thanks Rich..

 

[cris1117]

Hi. No it would not necessarily smoke all the time the oil thins as it gets hot, not sure which oil your engine takes you will have to research it maybe ask main agent. Make sure it isn’t overfilled.


If it’s defiantly oil being burnt, making sure you have the right stuff in the engine will be a good first option, and then it starts getting expensive.


The most obvious would be valve stem seal’s they tend to go hard and suck oil into the cylinder on tick over.
What mileage you got?

 

[richtheracer]

Mileage is just over 100k, thanks for the info. Thought it may have been egr valve, but having looked don't think my van has one!!
Cheers Rich..

 

[cris1117]

Hi. That’s not a lot of miles for a diesel is it a camper van, does it stand for long periods?