W211 blue smoke after idle

[alexanderfoti]

Would that not be constant though, Alex?

Tends to only accumulate at idle. If they are dripping for example, then it just gets burnt as normal at higher loads.

 

[alexanderfoti]

Hi Alex, hence why I did before and after idle test which eliminated unburnt atomised fuel in the exhaust system, and narrowed it down to turbo oil seal.As I said previously the amount of engine oil around the orange turbo seal after left idling can only mean turbo oil seal failure.

Sorry, I am misunderstanding something here. Are you seeing pooling oil in the turbo inlet?

 

[John Laidlaw]

Tends to only accumulate at idle. If they are dripping for example, then it just gets burnt as normal at higher loads.

Thanks Alex, I thought it would be constant, learning all the time!

 

[ian_rowley1]

Sorry, I am misunderstanding something here. Are you seeing pooling oil in the turbo inlet?

Yes Alex,if you look earlier up the thread it may make more sense.anyway thanks for your valued input and experience!

 

[ian_rowley1]

Sorry, I am misunderstanding something here. Are you seeing pooling oil in the turbo inlet?

Yes Alex,if you look earlier up the thread it may make more sense.anyway thanks for your valued input and experience!

 

[ian_rowley1]

The plot thickens,just had a reply from a friend who worked for Chrysler when the same engine was fitted in C300 ?(correct me if I'm wrong)Apparently some engines would smoke on idle(now get this)depending on if the were parked on a slope.Parked down hill no smoke at idle.parked uphill smoke at idle.Guess what my drive slopes uphill.Will park car other way round tomorrow.

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

642 engines suffer from nozzle seals leaking, when on idle it has a very small diesel leak causing the blue smoking, have seen it quite a few times. If your injectors have done 100k or more, then its likely the issue.

The residue from the turbo in the inlet tube wont be oil, but EGR residue, carbon and condensation mixed in the inlet manifold and sucked back up through. If it was oil getting past the turbo impeller, it would smoke like a trooper on hard throttle.

 

[ian_rowley1]

Parked car downhill no smoke,.parked car on level ground no smoke,parked uphill smoke!Rules out a lot of things but doesn't give me an answer,seems like it maybe one of a batch that Chrysler had issues with.I guess I'll live it for the time being and see if it cures itself lol. Thanks for all you replys fellow members.

 

[oigle]

Hi Alex, hence why I did before and after idle test which eliminated unburnt atomised fuel in the exhaust system, and narrowed it down to turbo oil seal.As I said previously the amount of engine oil around the orange turbo seal after left idling can only mean turbo oil seal failure.

The oil that accumulates in the turbo and inlet system is most often just PCV gases. These are of course engine oil. The intercooler can have quite a quantity of it after many thousands of kilos. If your engine is getting on a bit, blowby could be increasing and making excessive PCV gas and/or maybe you should clean out the PCV strainer and make sure it is working properly.
Otherwise, I would be much more inclined to think valve stem seals than a turbo seal.

 

[mark mills]

did you ever solve the smoking issue.

 

[R0SSY]

I'd like to know too....

 

[mark mills]

so many posts with the same issue and no one ever posts about what they did to fix it, so far i have changed 4 injectors which made no difference and shutting off the remaining injector on each bank did nothing. pulled intercooler pipe off which made no difference so its not that side of turbo, pulled pipe off the exhaust side, no oil came out just smoke so if it is the turbo exhaust side its burning off inside there, got some lucas stop leak coming this week to put in the oil just incase its the valve stem seals.


my issue is after 5 mins of idle if i rev it or drive it theres clouds of smoke once cleared no smoke till its left to idle for 5 mins or more again.

 

[bembo449]

Land rover discovery have this problem and its caused by the oil return pipe in the turbo

 

[R0SSY]

Sorry for length....but my story in short believe it or not!! (just hope it helps others)
Mine is same but needs to be left to idle for over 20mins or more.....not offen you do that (traffic jams mainly) but my worry is MOT time....
Its not valve stem seals and does not smoke on 1st start...even when left a few days....or down hills, which are signs of stem seals from my research....
Its been to two Garages.....1st general diesel specialist...as was going there anyway for a remap....they basically said "its fine and should pass an MOT.....its a diesel after all", but still seems off to me but heard there a few OM642 out there that simply do not want to be left to idle and will smoke.
Then as I got the dreaded oil cooler leak it went into an MB Indi I've used before.....I also explained about the smoke and that I have already replaced the Turbo with a recon unit, they did all the work (New Oil Cooler/2nd Turbo/Swirl Motor and bolth inlets cleaned etc) but the "new" turbo was wet only on the exhaust side and told me its was faulty so was exchanged and then told me its now not smoking....but will need some good runs to burn off any old build ups.
But its still the same so far....only a few days after tho.
I fitted a Catch Can quite early on (In a lot of peoples view, a must if you want to prevent Crank Vapour clogging up everything in its path to the combustion chambour!!!) and before it went in it had what I would call expected BLOWBY .....now its much worse!
I think this is in part to them having to flush everything and put in new oil, filters etc and refill coolent after the work they did.
I have bought some low ash thicker oil (ment for DPF vehichles but mine is none DPF) as I think the "water" like oil they say use is to thin for our uk cold climate. I also read it produces less vapour or fumes....but will not do any harm as fully sythetic etc...
I've also bought an in line, one way valve, so I can fit the aditional air filter to my catch can. So crank pressure will be vented and drawn into the turbo inlet...but under load (vacume from turbo spooling) the PCV valve (Also replaced) will still close as the valve on the filter will shut being one way!
Then I will put a few miles on....then see if it will pass an MOT....if it does, descision time, either sell...or if I feel happy there are a good few miles in it....keep running it.....for as long as it keeps passing MOTs.
Thats my main concern.....the Indi garage did say.....they do not leave the engines sat at idle when they do their MOTs...but every other garage I've been to does! Because and MOT "has" to take 1hr....at time of writing this....mine would be smoking its er you know what off!!! LOL
Its only done 130k clearly well looked after which sould be knowt for these OM642 engines....rest of the car (its a 2007) is perfect other than exterior small knocks and marks as you would expect....the inside is like new and apart from the above....literally drives like new with no smoke!
Dripping injectors (internally, not black death) also been mentioned, but its defo oil...I'd guess is its still from the exhaust or hot side of the turbo....I can't help but think there is some "gunk" somewhere internaly restricting summat.....like the oil return on the turbo....so too much going in than can get out....
I've asked on other forums....a diagram of engine oil flow in an OM642 would be a great help!

 

[R0SSY]

Land rover discovery have this problem and its caused by the oil return pipe in the turbo

On the OM642 fitted to the Mercs and Jeeps...the turbo sits on a pedistal....so oil in and out are from below and via the top of the engine! Hence my request for an oil flow diagram.
Mark, whats your crank case pressure like? Because these engines are known to have normal but above expected crank pressure...my other thought is, if the oil return from the turbo is "effectivley being blown back up" its gonna weap out the rear seal...
I think the crank case breather system is way too restrictive......
On another note...my cold side (inlet on turbo) is completely free of oil after fitting catch can!

 

[Uncle Benz]

The dripping injectors is common. The only sure fire test I have found for this is to take them out and get them tested under high pressure at a diesel injector testing specialist. I use Automarine Diesel Services in Portslade. They have seen the dripping injectors quite a few times. Of the eighteen OM642 injectors I sent them last week, only one didn't drip.

 

[R0SSY]

The dripping injectors is common. The only sure fire test I have found for this is to take them out and get them tested under high pressure at a diesel injector testing specialist. I use Automarine Diesel Services in Portslade. They have seen the dripping injectors quite a few times. Of the eighteen OM642 injectors I sent them last week, only one didn't drip.

But the smoke would be white right, not blue....and smell of diiesel not burnt oil...?

 

[Uncle Benz]

The smoke from dripping injectors is whitish blue, and smells horrible. It is difficult to distinguish from the smoke you get from a failing turbo. So much so I have seen many people replace the turbo and then wonder why it isn't fixed. That's usually when they come to visit me.

If the problem you have is oil burning, I'd be expecting it to need very regular topping up. How much are you putting in per 1000 miles?

 

[Darrendazza]

so many posts with the same issue and no one ever posts about what they did to fix it, so far i have changed 4 injectors which made no difference and shutting off the remaining injector on each bank did nothing. pulled intercooler pipe off which made no difference so its not that side of turbo, pulled pipe off the exhaust side, no oil came out just smoke so if it is the turbo exhaust side its burning off inside there, got some lucas stop leak coming this week to put in the oil just incase its the valve stem seals.


my issue is after 5 mins of idle if i rev it or drive it theres clouds of smoke once cleared no smoke till its left to idle for 5 mins or more again.

I’m having same problem I got the car with the oil cooler seals gone so I changed them all new turbo n manni gaskets n seals was wondering if mine was from a broken piece of the batwing allowing oil into turbo but I have now got the uprated blue pipe on there was hoping it was just oil build up burning off in the exhaust but with all the posts I’m seeing about only smoking after idle for 5-10mins not to sure now so was gonna change the crankcase pvc and add a catch can see if that stops it I didn’t even consider the velve stem seals as it doesn’t smoke all the time just if idling and for a couple mins after left idling soon as I’m down the road it’s clear again get a little puff every now n then if I boot it but that’s manly after sat in a few sets of lights hope we can find out as it’s doing my nut in

 

[R0SSY]

I only do about maybe 3000 a year as have two Mercs...1 for Winter the ML (Limited to 3k a year) and then a CLS55K AMG as my toy (only did 1300 last year)! so a total of 4300!!!
Also its kinda had 3 services in that time.....I did my own service as I alway do for peice of mind when I got it Oct, then oil and filters with the remap Nov, same again last week with the inlet manifolds comming off and the oil cooler job! So hard to say!! LOL

I''ve not ruled out injectors....but only have iCarSoft MB and tho there are mixed things said about themneeding to be "coded" and then only needing that if NEW as no point coding if remanufactured one as they self learn tho again this only seems to be if the odd 1 is changed and I would want to change all 6. (if ones gone then the rest are not far behind obv) There are sets of 6 reman from Germany for £411 all in, which is certainly doable as new ones start around that for 1....but having just spent £2k its another load of dosh I will only spend if its a guarentee.....and I'm just not sure....
Would said leaking/dripping injectors give the impression there is more blowby? usualy wet bore = higher compression = less blowby?
When the Indi did the all the above they told me they had set the current injectors to "re-learn" mode....as a test...
And then theres the 3 turbos all wet on the hot side...i.e. the original (Which had play but the turbo place said its was only leaking from the back also)....the replacment recon I fitted, then the return under 5 year g/tee of the recon that they recored....but even the turbo place said they only ever seen them weap from the rear hot exhaust side with blowby or blocked DPF (mine is none DPF...i.e. never had one, not had one then removed, another reason I went for this one) I wondered if restriction on the exhaust (cats in my case) could potencialy give impresson of higher blowby?
I'm still convinced the "recored recon'd turbo" is still dripping but that its not faulty....that oil's being forced out because for whatever cause it cant get out as quick as its going in.....
Whats your honest thought on changing all 6 injectors for remanufactured.....i.e without coding via xentry/star?
Only ask as think I could do that myself....I did fit the 1st recon turbo....but oil cooler+purple seals/swirl flaps and motor I just new was a job for the Indi! (Which as it happens ended with the same turbo having a fresh core....hence effectivly 3 since Oct)!!

and....still smokes but ONLY when at operating temp and left to idle for 20min or so....so wierd...and trust me when I say I'm loosing sleep over it.....I am!!