Technical tempra with smoke problems

[jeanie]

hi there
i have a tempra sw and there seems to be an excess of smoke coming out of it. i have had four new injectors put on it. could it be something like a cold start thing sticking on.

any help would be appreciated

Thanks Jeanie

 

[Hellcat]

What year/engine/spec please?

 

[jeanie]

OLOR]
Hi there

its a 1992 Tempra SW TDS with a 1929 cc engine. it runs absolutely brilliantly but sometimes it smokes really badly and sometimes it doesn't.

any advice would really be appreciated

thanks, Jeanie

 

[Hellcat]

Is it smoking while hot or from cold?

 

[jeanie]

it smokes quite a bit on start up then calms down. it then sometimes smokes a lot or not at all it doesn't seem to be consistent. it seems as though its running a bit fast but i have had it into the garage and they said they turned it down ?? as much as they could. its a shame cause everything else about the car is great.

thanks Jeanieeace: :

 

[Hellcat]

Did they do a compression check?

When is your MOT due, how long have you owned it and did they say what they had turned down?

On diesels there is an adjuster which is affectionatly known as the smoke screw. Adjusting it can seriously reduce the amount of smoke, useful for scraping through MOTs. I'm not saying this is at fault on your car but it might be worth a check. I'll see if I can find someone who remembers where it is and what it adjusts.

Other than that how many miles have you got on the car, when was its last oil/air/fuel filter changes, and what diesel are you running it on? Supermarket or shell/bp/esso?

As for the possibility of a cold start sticking, I seem to remember the 'choke' being controlled by a balloon valve on the side of the engine, with a cable going to the fuel pump.

 

[jeanie]

hi again its just gone through the MOT and the guy passed it. it has 120,000 on the clock - my hubbie says that he does need to change the oil filter. we have had the injectors done and have owned it for about 5 months. we originally got it cause of the size and the way the tailgate thing drops down - we have three bull terriers and this car is ideal for them.

we used to have a guy in southend we advertised as nigel loves fiats but i can't seem to find anything on him now or i would take it to him.

jeanie :wave:

 

[Hellcat]

hi again its just gone through the MOT and the guy passed it. it has 120,000 on the clock - my hubbie says that he does need to change the oil filter. we have had the injectors done and have owned it for about 5 months. we originally got it cause of the size and the way the tailgate thing drops down - we have three bull terriers and this car is ideal for them.

we used to have a guy in southend we advertised as nigel loves fiats but i can't seem to find anything on him now or i would take it to him.

jeanie :wave:

How does the tailgate drop down? Is it like the Marea Weekends rear end?

If it's passed then after an oil and filter change it should be good for another year. Does yours have a hydraulic clutch? If so its well worth changing the brake fluid as dirt in the brake fluid can damage the clutch cylinders. These can be quite expencive for the Tempra. Failed clutch master cylinder caused the premature end of my gf's parents tempra.

 

[Ziomike]

hi again its just gone through the MOT and the guy passed it. it has 120,000 on the clock. we have had the injectors done and have owned it for about 5 months. we originally got it cause of the size and the way the tailgate thing drops down - we have three bull terriers and this car is ideal for them.
jeanie :wave:

These older diesel Tempras are quite smokey, but they pass the emissions test usually.
What was done to the injectors, new ones or rebuild ?.
I had a smoke problem, was caused by a sticky injector, a can of injector cleaner into the tank cured it. Both my diesel Tempras are running on original injectors at over 120k miles.
Is it running well?, could be the timing belt is not quite timed properly, 1 or 2 teeth out either way won't kill it but it will run rough.
Is it smokey (and slightly rough) on start from cold getting better after 30sec or so, if it is then the preheaters need checking. They go randomley making starting a bit rough and smokey. This is quite common.
Timing belt and preheaters can be done at home easily if hubby has the inclination. I can give details if required.

 

[Ziomike]

How does the tailgate drop down? Is it like the Marea Weekends rear end?
If it's passed then after an oil and filter change it should be good for another year. Does yours have a hydraulic clutch? If so its well worth changing the brake fluid as dirt in the brake fluid can damage the clutch cylinders. These can be quite expencive for the Tempra. Failed clutch master cylinder caused the premature end of my gf's parents tempra.

Tailgate drops just like the Marea, it was copied from the Tempra.
Clutch and master cylinders from our local parts factors were reasonably priced, both can be replaced by a competent diy-er, although the master cylinder is a bit fiddly and will take a bit of time (you have to remove the clutch/brake/acccellerator pedal assembly to get to the cylinder from under the dash.

 

[Ziomike]

it smokes quite a bit on start up then calms down. it then sometimes smokes a lot or not at all it doesn't seem to be consistent. it seems as though its running a bit fast but i have had it into the garage and they said they turned it down ?? as much as they could. its a shame cause everything else about the car is great.

thanks Jeanieeace: :

Ok, did not read the posts properly, smoking on start up and then gets better is usually the injector preheaters. They look like small spark plugs, located in a row below the injectors behind the injector piping, there is a metal bar linking them all together with a thick brown wire at the right hand end.

My local garage did not know about them causing lumpy starts and smoking, and it is a common problem.

These are powered during the time the dashboard preheat light is on but the light goes out reasonably quickly, it's only an indicator, the preheaters stay on longer, usually about 1 min.

Now, either there is no power to them in the first place or 1 or more of them are duff. If you have the skill and a meter check at the brown wire for 12v (or so can be between 10 to 12v) when you turn on the ignition, it only is there for about 1min. If it IS there then you have one or more duff heaters. If no power the relay / fuse needs checking changing, this has never happened to me, its allways been the pre-heaters.

Remove the brown wire, DO NOT TURN ON THE IGNITION, (or disconnect the battery, this is a VERY high power circuit) take each small nut of the end of each heater and remove the commoning bar. With a meter set to ohms check the resistance of each one, they should be less than 5 ohms, usually about 1 ohm, can be as low as 0.6 ohms. If there is no reading at all it's died, open circuit, fallen of it's perch, deceased.

They can die randomly, one or more of the four. Replacements from your local Fiat or motor factors. Unscrew the duff one and replace. For peace of ming replace all four and keep the old good ones as spares.

The job IS fiddly due to the location behind the injector pipes but can be done in about a hour, use a ring spanner on the heaters themselves (open enders slip off) and they WILL be tight, you may need to use another spanner or a bar as an extension for leaverage in the tight space. Replace is the reverse of dismantling, don't forget the brown wire !

I hope this helps.

 

[Ziomike]

it seems as though its running a bit fast but i have had it into the garage and they said they turned it down ?? as much as they could.thanks Jeanieeace: :

Do you have the "Starship Enterprise" dashboard ?, tick over should be about 800rpm (when warm), 4 or 5 little bars on the sliding scale, no lees than 4 - too slow and lumpy, and will not need to be more than 5 or 6 - wastes fuel on tickover.

I've never had to adjust the tickover speed.

There is a "choke" type advance, not that you can choke a diesel. It's for cold starting and advances the tickover on cold days, it is a small bycicle brake type cable from the injector pump accross the front of the engine round and up the right hand side to the thermostat area going into a cylinder. This could be stuck on "fast" or cold start, although it's never happened to my 2 diesels in 13 years.

 

[jeanie]

thanks everyone for your advice. i have told the bloke who is dealing with the car he says he thinks that it is the idler whatever that is that is jamming. there doesn't seem to be any consistancy with whether it smokes or not. i sat in traffic for two hours the other week going to work and it didn't smoke once whereas yesterday i had difficulty seeing the car behind me
i am hopeful that all the advice given here will help the guy. i have printed off all the replies.

thanks again everyone

 

[Ziomike]

he says he thinks that it is the idler whatever that is that is jamming.

Blue, Black or White smoke ?, the colour can point to the problem.
My previous post described the fast idle advance, there is another part connected to the injector pump which could be stusk/sticking I'll have to read the manual as it's never happened to me.

Your smoke only happens when you have been idling, or does it smoke otherwise. The Tempras do get a bit smokey when you put your foot down.

 

[jeanie]

hi there everyone
the car is fine now. the checked the fuel pump and done something with the solonode (don't know how to spell it) it now runs really well without smoking. thanks for all your advice.

Jeanie

 

[tempraman268]

I have a 1995 Tempra Turbo Diesel estate..sometimes it smokes and sometimes it doesn't..I have had new injectors fitted and also knocked back the fuel screw/smoke screw...Does this vehicle have an Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve fitted and if so can anyone tell me exactly where it is please
Chris Bennett
Hull