E220cdi Black smoke under heavy load

[Hillman]

Hi All

Can anyone advise. I have a 2000 E220 CDI with 60,000 miles on the clock. I bought the car in January of this year and I love it. But it has started to develop a problem. Under heavy acceleration it produces excessive black smoke which appears to be getting worse!
The performance of the car is excellent lots of power and the fuel economy is excellent. Just this smoke problem. It has a full MB Service History. The only other issue is a very very slight missing on tick over every now and again. Hardly noticeable but it is there.

Also the car was missing its owners manual when I bought it and there is a switch inside the ashtray that I don't know what it does. It has a horizontal line on it with three vertical wavy lines above it. When I switch it on a red light comes on! At first I thought the car had heated seats but they don't appear to get any warmer no matter what I do with this switch.

Any advice would be very welcome.

 

[Daeths]

Your switch is the thingy that heats the cabin from cold starts more quickly. LIght on means the system is off (yeah, work that one out !!). When on the mpg, until warm, does get affected.

Re the smoke my E320 cdi puffs under load/kickdown. Is yours the same or is it constantly puffing out under load ?

Rgds

Adam

 

[IAN MAC]

Black smoke = excessive fuel

 

[star]

smoke can be caused by a number of things, inlet manifold valves, split pipes , air mass or even just a build up. In WIS it says that a build up is quite common but should go after some heavy use??

 

[C250TDSportAuto]

Although not an E220 CDI, When i bought my C250 TD it used to pump out black smoke all the time if i kicked down. This didn't last long. Only until the car got used to my driving style. i.e I'm always late for work. The previous owner was in his 60s, so I imagine he didn't drive like I do. I think they call it the Italian tune up. BTW, it still occasionally does, and I often see new diesels puffing black smoke out when they kcik down.

 

[hmang]

Black smoke = excessive fuel

or shortage of air...

....same result...rich mixture...black smoke.

 

[FIBAMAN]

you need to analyse exactly when the smoke occurs.
Continuous smoke under load, as people have previously mentioned, indicates lack of air or incomplete combustion.
First port of call- check your airfilter.
The Italian tune up is also not so daft as it sounds, turbo chargers need to be worked hard as they rely on higher temperatures to keep the turbine blades clean, as operating at low loads can deposit carbon which does not burn off and consequently reduces the efficiency of the turbine which results in less air being pumped by the compressor blades, it can also lead to unbalanced rotor set which can ultimately mean bearing or blade damage.
Faulty injectors can also be a possibility, again sometimes caused by too much low load work.
so as usual it will be a process of elimination, try the easiest(and cheapest) options first.

 

[Hillman]

Wow you guys are fast off the mark thank you for all the replies. In answer to the questions. It only blows smoke on kick down or heavy accleration. I get soot deposits on the rear bumper over a 2 week period. I'm going to get an airfilter today and change that as I have had a scout round ont this forum and that came up quite a bit!

Well, since I have had the car the cabin warmer has constantly been on as I had no idea that a light being on ment that the sytem was OFF! Not the best idea in the world.

Another question is on what I think is the airfilter housing there is a dial with a clear window. I can see the figures 100 and 75 by the window and there is a dial to turn. I haven't touched it just wondered what it was for. Does anyone know?

As one last question. Does anyone know at what speed the autobox should change down? If I am coasting up to a set of traffic lights etc I feel the box change to a High gear say 1/2 at 22mph. It's quite distince and I'm sure it shouldn't do this. If I am breaking normally then I don't feel it as much. Any ideas??

Cheers

Paul

 

[Rory]

Well, since I have had the car the cabin warmer has constantly been on as I had no idea that a light being on ment that the sytem was OFF! Not the best idea in the world.

It probably only works when it needs to (outside temp below a certain level) so not a problem to leave it on.

 

[Daeths]

Airfilter dial

"...Another question is on what I think is the airfilter housing there is a dial with a clear window. I can see the figures 100 and 75 by the window and there is a dial to turn. I haven't touched it just wondered what it was for. Does anyone know?..."

You can twist it by hand and it will ping back, this is the easy visible reading to tell you the condition of your air filter, if on full your air filter needs changing (knowledge courtesy of BlackC55 at his open day - see Olly, I did listen !)

Adam

 

[BlackC55]

I would put money on your EGR valve playing up.

Clean it or replace it.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I had the same problem with black soot blinding the poor sods following me out of fast roundabouts etc. I religously used shell diesel at the time and the car although sooty under hard acceleration ran welll and was economical.

However, a friend of mine said he was more impresssed with BP diesel so I changed and guess what no embarrasing clouds of soot under hard acceleration plus even better economy.

Before you start pulling the engine to bits try some decent fuel for a few hundred miles to see if you get the same result but make sure the air filter is OK.

Hope this helps!

 

[FIBAMAN]

not having experience of one of these engines, do they have any turbo lag? as he states that it is only on kick down could be lag.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

No Turbo lag, the throttle response is as good as petrol and when the turbo really kicks in above 2000rpm the performance is very impressive.

 

[Hillman]

You can twist it by hand and it will ping back, this is the easy visible reading to tell you the condition of your air filter, if on full your air filter needs changing (knowledge courtesy of BlackC55 at his open day - see Olly, I did listen !)

Adam[/QUOTE]

OK that makes sense, but what colour should be seen in the plastic screen? At the moment it is all white, is this right? I'll give it a twist when I go out to the car later. Cheers Buddy and BlackC55

 

[Hillman]

You can twist it by hand and it will ping back, this is the easy visible reading to tell you the condition of your air filter, if on full your air filter needs changing (knowledge courtesy of BlackC55 at his open day - see Olly, I did listen !)

Adam[/QUOTE]

OK that makes sense, but what colour should be seen in the plastic screen? At the moment it is all white, is this right? I'll give it a twist when I go out to the car later. Cheers Buddy and BlackC55

 

[Hillman]

I would put money on your EGR valve playing up.

Clean it or replace it.

Sounds like a fun weekend job, BUT Where do I find the EGR valve and how can I clean it?? Cheers Paul