Vaneo Diesel 1.7 CDi Excessive Smoke

Tony Russell

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OK, before you start the slagging me, I am a Vaneo owner.

I have an 02 Vaneo diesel 1.7CDi. 85K miles. We've had it since new.

Recently I've been getting excessive blue / grey smoke.
The exhaust pipe is sooty, rather than oily.

Smoke is prevalent when pulling off cold, increasingly smokes diring the journey and seems to be greater if it's been idling / stopped and then pulling off.

No particular increase in oil consumption.

I have noticed, though perhaps psychosematically, a wheeze on accelleration from the offside (right) side of the engine.
For all I know it might have always been there.

One unofficial Merc expert said "Oooh, Injectors and turbo. £1500 straight off. Plus whatever else it takes for me to put stuff in and see what happens".

Another gave a very sensible discussion and prognosis that it might be a pipe with a leak causing some fuel / air / exhaust mismatch.
I liked him best ! He's in Glasgow and has, I am told, a very good name - but not available for a week or so.

Suggestions on another forum kind of back thhis theory up:
"Sounds like turbo boost leak, ie either the pipe from the turbo to the intercooler or the intercooler to the inlet manifold"



I've added Coma and Redex with no improvement.
Performance is fine. Speed, accelleration and pull are spot on. Hence the reason I tend to go with #2 diagnosis.


This is the first diesel I have ever owned, so I don't even know how they work. If it were petrol, I'd be a lot more confident.

BTW - it had a full oil / filter service about 6 months ago.



Thanks in advance for your help,

Tony
 

turbopete

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2017 '17' Ford Mondeo 2.0TDCi ST Line X 180 (sorry)
it sounds like a split boost pipe to me. ive run diesels for years! that would be my first point of attack. check boost hoses are fitted correctly, clamped tightly and that theres no splits, holes etc for air to escape. after that id be tempted to check the EGR valve as if this sticks (open if memory serves me well but cant be sure) it causes excessive smoke
 
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Tony Russell

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Hi,
Thanks very much. I'll be buying one of those workshop manuals from EBay today then - see if I can find all those funky components like EGR's and stuff.

thanks very much !
 
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Tony Russell

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Hello,
I had a few goes at taking the car apart and finally got the appropriate panels off and identified the right hoses and stuff last night.

Viewing from the front of the car, it looks like the turbo is on the left hand side and is almost directly connected to the exhaust output department.
from there, a flex hose drops down to the intercooler, a small radiator on front of the cooling radiator.
It passes through that, out to another hose on the right, up through an interconnect with some electrical bit on it, and then into the top on the engine case where there looks to be some kind of valve / sensor doo dah.


So, I went round all the hose clips and wiggled up / tightened them.
I started tyhe car up and it looked to be less smoky at rest. Result ?

Took it for a run up a hill and it was as smoky as ever.

So I opened up the top right hand hose and observed that the input side on the top of the engine had a very strong sook, indicating the direction of airflow.

The hose that feeds that had oil in it, presumably the source of the smoke material.
I cleaned that out, but obviously there would be a load of residual oil in the intercooler and pipes then.
Problem still exists.

So, I'm thinking now that there is probably no air leak in the system, but that there is an oil leak into it. It is using a bit of oil - maybe a litre a month or so.

Also, from underneath, there is some oil around on some hoses, indicating that there is some oil leak going on somewhere.

So, I'm at a loss for now, short of taking the engine apart - which I'd rather leave to a proper mechanic.
 
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Tony Russell

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Hello,
After a couple of weeks of pfhaffing around (read the whole sorry tale here: http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/engine/72585-vaneo-diesel-1-7-cdi-excessive-smoke.html )
I am now in a position where the car is constantly pumping out smoke and lost power - ie it doesn't really accellerate, and can't go up hills.

So I went in to see a well respected independent in Glasgow on Friday.

He says it's only firing on 3 cylinders, the oil in the boost and breather pipes are only symptomatic of a deeper problem, and that it could be the pistons.

He's taking it in on wednesday to do diagnostics and stuff.

So, here's the question.

Has anyone any idea about what the book time is for doing pistons, what it might cost for bits and all that ?
Would it be cheaper to buy a new / reconn engine ? And if so, where does a person go to buy one ?

Just want to be clued up before I go in so that I understand his prognosis when I get it.


thanks,
Tony
 

Xtractorfan

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You could possibly just need a new set of copper seal washers on the injectors, The vans tend to blow past more simply because people expect vans to be smelly and smokey so dont bother checking them..worth a check, a blown copper injector seal will cause blue/black smoke
 
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Tony Russell

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Thanks for that - I like the sound of it :)
Would that stop it firing though ?
 
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Tony Russell

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All sorted after a visit to TJ O'Neill in Glasgow.

I'll post the full diagnostics and results later as it's quite a good lesson in reading the clues and working them out.
 
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Tony Russell

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Hello,
Meant to post the remedy a while back and never got round to it.
So here's what I posted at http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/859727-post37.html




OK. Sorted. And passed the MOT emissions.

What I was referring to previously as the breather was not. It's called an oil separator.
It's number 9 in this pic:

B01120000003.1039.gif



I got the following info from here.

oil_separator.jpg


What it does is take excess gas out of the crankcase and send it down a spiral. The diameter of the spiral decreases along the length causing the gas to accellerate.
Being a spiral, it acts as a centrifuge on the gas, and the heavier components, oil, are spun out to the edges and are drawn down by gravity into an escape hole and back into the crankcase via the dipstick tube.

The remaining gas material passes into the next tank, is filtered through a gauze and then passes out and into the turbo.

***I think ***

Now, I couldn't open said unit as the captive nuts weren't very captive.
The dealer quoted me something like £130 for a new one.
So I took a chance.

Having applied an engine flush and wilst draining the sump, I did the following:

I plugged the 3 openings with cork, and filled the unit with Gunk.
Then I spent the next hour or so agitating it.
Next I drained the unit onto white paper and noted the amount of particulates that came out. Quite a lot - indicating it had had a right good blockage and a right good cleaning.

Then I started cleaning it out with Carb Clean. Bits continued to come out and I ran out of carb clean.
So I filled it with petrol and agitated it for a bit again before emptying the petrol and allowing it to dry out. Don't do this at home kids.

Back to the oil thing. Fitted a new filter, added new oil and let it settle.

Refitted the separator and re-connected all the hoses.

Took the car for a run. As soon as I left the street and started on a hill, huge amounts of smoke came out. Kept it going and ran it for a mile or so uphill and down repeatedly.

Smoke cleared.

Was lacking any oomph though, like the turbo wasn't cutting in.
Went a longer run and it remained clear but still no boost.

Remembered I'd left off the hose that comes out of the inlet manifold to some sensor on the bulkhead. Cursed myself and plugged it in.
Boost came back and it was off like a shot.

Went for an MOT this morning and sailed the emissions.

Failed for a broken spring. :)
 

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