Smoke

[Merc]

Hi

I'm getting greyish/black smoke out the exaust when using "kick down",now thats doesnt seem normal to me!!.
And when its "ticking over",theres a kind of whitish smike out the back of it,but that disapears hwen I start to move.As you can appreciate I'm a concerned that I might need oil rings/seals,could this be the case.

regards

 

[Merc]

What I meant to say previous,is that my oil pressure gauge doesn't faulter its still at 3.Could it be the exaust itself,I mean breaking up inside, now I think that sounds "far fetched" but is it possible.
Other than that,could I be right to think the worst!!

regards

 

[steveperry]

Hi Merc,

Umm my old '86 190E used to smoke when the engine was cold or during a kick-down, the colour was greyish. I was told that my valve guides were worn and would need replacing. The parts are dead cheap however I was told the labour for doing the job would cost hundreds

I never got the job done and the car never seemed to suffer at all, it was just embarassing seeing plumes of smoke coming out the back of the car when accelerating hard.

As for the white smoke, that sounds like a head gasket problem to me i.e. water getting into the combustion chamber / oil cavities. This happened on an old Peugeot of mine.

I'm not a mechanic btw, so I could be wrong, just my guess work given past experiences.

S.

 

[dave elcome]

Merc

Make an appointment with the bank manager, extend your overdraft, then fill the tank, and go for a long run, this will get everything nice and hot, and clear it all out.

 

[mhannaford]

Merc
The Grey/Black smoke you have coming out the back
on kick down is just unburnt fuel.If it has a blue colour to
it then it's oil but that's not your case (?). You could try opening your plug gaps a little,it might help.
White smoke that disappears when you move off is more
likely to be condensation in the exhaust.These cars have big exhausts on them and take some time to warm
up and expel the water in the system.It should have all gone after about 30 minutes of driving.If you do a lot of town/short journey driving it will always be there as the
system will not get hot enough to get rid of it.

Regards
Mark

 

[Merc]

Hi Mark

I'll have a closer look the next time I use kick down and take a better look at the smoke out the back.
But yep,I do quite alot of town/short journeys so that could explain that.I know what you say about opening the plug gap,to what size,cause' as you know there pre-set,oh! and I have the Bosh one's like everone said!.

Regards

 

[Matt Crooke]

Merc.

They grey/black smoke you are getting is the norm on a typical high mileage engine when under load, my 190 does it if i kickdown and hold the revs till just before the red line, nothing to worry about too much there, if it dosent do it under normal driving then i wouldnt worry.

As for the white smoke, thats only steam, most cars do it when first started up, especially in winter. You leave your car ticking overon your driveway on a cold winters morning, and there will be steam everywhere. Big engined cars, and those with wide bore exhausts do it more than little pop pop cars. After a few minutes driving it will disappear. It may come back again if you are sat in traffic on a freezing day, but its nothing to worry about.

I noticed steve mentioned about the head gasket, i had that very thing happen on my old Scorpio 2 litre, however that was plumes of white smoke on a hot day..plus the engine started to miss as well. Ive just had a thought, everything i have typed here has been typed already.....nevermind it makes the day go a bit quicker!!

cheers

 

[mhannaford]

Merc
I'm hoping you've got the normal single ground electrode plug.Try the gap at 0.95mm

Mark

 

[Merc]

Hi Mark

yea,I have!these W7DC's I know you say about opening the gap,but do they not came pre-set,or is this just a thing to try.

regards

 

[mhannaford]

Hi, Merc
All spark plugs come pre-set, supposedly suitable for the
application that you buy them for but that doesn't mean you can't improve on them! Those plugs of yours are probably a fit in an awful lot of other cars so just open them up a bit and see if it helps your smoke problem.
Regards

 

[dave elcome]

I really don't think plug gaps are going to cure this!!