Smoking Diesel A Class

[CliveWarren]

My A 170CDI smokes after short trips under 10 minutes.
In the cold weather under 5c.
Mercedes say that nothing that can be done to stop this.
All the manual say's is that it may smell slightly, but my one smokes when parked in the garage.
Does anyone else have this problem.
Where do I go from here the fumes can't be healthy.

 

[Anonymous]

This does't sound right.  Where is the smoke from. If the smoke is coming out of the exhaust then there must be residual fuel in the cat.
The question is why is there residual fuel on a diesel.

Take the car for a good low gear thrash to see if it improves it.

 

[fuzzer]

This sounds like the heater on the CDi engines . On the first day i had dads  car , i throught i had blown the engine whena  puff of black smoke came from under the offside wing . Turns out , there is a small switch . On an a170 , this will be .. ehh ... next to the handbrake , it will have some wavy lines on it . Turn it to the off position and the smoke may stop . This is to warm up the inside of the car and should be refered to as the AUx heater in the owners manual .. its quite effective as the C220 CDi diesel engine takes a lot longer to warm up than my C240 .. give it a bash , it sounds right about the below 5 degrees and i think the other condition is the coolant is under 80 it kicks in this heater. let me know how you get on ...

 

[dave elcome]

A kinder way to clear it out rather than a "low gear thrash" would be to just use it on a long journey on a more regular basis.

 

[Matt Crooke]

Dave,

depends on how much fun you wanna have!!!!

(not that i condone speeding of course!)

 

[Martin]

I found the auxilliary heater on my E220CDi was coming on at the end of a journey, inspite of the coolant being above 80c and the external temperature above 8c. The dealer (Dick Lovett, Swindon) fixed the problem and I think they referred to it as a known CDi problem. Perhaps it also affects the A170CDi, check with your dealer.

 

[Andy]

Hi

This one took me by supprise one day. Left the vehicle outside only to find smoke coming from the front os wing (C220CDI) It is a auxillary heater. Something to do with the common rail injection system takes longer to warm up. So they have this heater which is a little diesel enginel (hence the smoke) and the exhaust is at the front lower part of the wing.

I know its weird. But it must need it otherwise they wouldn't fit it! Although if you just pulled up at a clients or a posh hotel. And you get out of you car while its still smoking. You could come back to the fire brigade giving it a good dousing of water. Or worse foam.

Regards

Andy @ www.mercedesservicing.com

 

[Anonymous]

Andy

It's not really due to the common rial, but more the efficiency of a modern direct injection diesel engine.

There is such a small amount of fuel burnt, and upto 50% is transmitted into moving the vehicle, so there is not a lot of waste heat to use in the heater.

 

[Andy]

Hi

I would agree with that statement. But it is with the advent of common rail injection system.

Glad to see you reading and commenting. Very appropriately I must say.

Regards

Andy @ www.mercedesservicing.com