W211 blue smoke after idle

[ian_rowley1]

Hello all,have a 2005 e280cdi om642 engine,if left on idle for 10 mins and then driven clouds of blue smoke out of both exhausts clears in 5 mins then no further problems.I suspect turbo oil seal failed but might be totally wrong.Car drives perfect no loss of boost even when smoking.In the old days I might of said valve stem oil seals but you can rev it till the limiter comes in and back off and no suction of oil/smoke.Any help or previous experience of a similar problem would be appreciated.Many thanks Ian.

 

[ian_rowley1]

Hello all,have a 2005 e280cdi om642 engine,if left on idle for 10 mins and then driven clouds of blue smoke out of both exhausts clears in 5 mins then no further problems.I suspect turbo oil seal failed but might be totally wrong.Car drives perfect no loss of boost even when smoking.In the old days I might of said valve stem oil seals but you can rev it till the limiter comes in and back off and no suction of oil/smoke.Any help or previous experience of a similar problem would be appreciated.Many thanks Ian.

When I say turbo seal I mean the internal shaft seal not the red/orange seal.thanks

 

[Taffy7hfa]

Failing turbo seals can lead to an accumulation of oil in the bottom of the intercooler and pipes which can lead to blue smoke when you put your foot down. does it use a lot of oil ?

 

[ian_rowley1]

Failing turbo seals can lead to an accumulation of oil in the bottom of the intercooler and pipes which can lead to blue smoke when you put your foot down. does it use a lot of oil ?

Hi,no uses next to no oil,500ml in 3000 miles,I think you might be right oil accumulation but surely it can only come from turbo internals i.e.seals? The

 

[chrispynuts]

Hi it could be the valve stem seals, diesls dont have a negative pressure inlet manafolds and it might be the oil weeping down past the seals at idle. I would think if it is the turbo you would get either constant smoking out the exhaust and worse when accelerating thats if it was the exhaust side of the turbo seal had gone now if it might be the inlet side i would expect smoke to be more constant and again worse when accelerating

 

[ian_rowley1]

Hi crispynuts thanks for your thoughts,it's only a short period of blue smoke,does not do it under Italian style hard acceleration and not using much oil.Car has done 177k miles if that helps.Slight play in turbo shaft but very slight.thanks

 

[Westheath]

When I say turbo seal I mean the internal shaft seal not the red/orange seal.thanks

This might help in an internal view of whats going on perhaps turbo wise

Please note its not your turbo but a generalization

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a20/Runtmasterflex/http___makeagifcom_media_4-20-2012_QxTCE9.gif

I think your problem lies somewhere else though

 

[ian_rowley1]

This might help in an internal view of whats going on perhaps turbo wise

Please note its not your turbo but a generalization

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a20/Runtmasterflex/http___makeagifcom_media_4-20-2012_QxTCE9.gif

I think your problem lies somewhere else though

 

[ian_rowley1]

Thanks for diagram,where else do reckon problem could be?

 

[Westheath]

Thanks for diagram,where else do reckon problem could be?

Book a session on a Star diagnostics machine.

Everything else is speculation until then.

 

[John Laidlaw]

^ what he said...

 

[ian_rowley1]

Bit of an update,started car which was left overnight so can't be valve stem seals,no idling then driven hard when warm Italian tune up style no smoke nothing even pulled over to double check.Back at home took turbo y pipe off turbo dry.Connected everything back up left idling on drive smoke after 15 mins.took everything apart again turbo very wet with oil.Seems like turbo oil seal failure.

 

[ian_rowley1]

Bit of an update,started car which was left overnight so can't be valve stem seals,no idling then driven hard when warm Italian tune up style no smoke nothing even pulled over to double check.Back at home took turbo y pipe off turbo dry.Connected everything back up left idling on drive smoke after 15 mins.took everything apart again turbo very wet with oil.Seems like turbo oil seal failure.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Certainly sounds like it!

 

[ian_rowley1]

Certainly sounds like it!

Hi John thanks for your reassurance,I think for the sake of a couple of hundred quid and a few hours spannering its worth replacing anyway.Will post photos and outcome when done.

 

[alexanderfoti]

What does the oil smell like. Does it smell like oil or diesel? Could be injectors if the latter.

 

[ian_rowley1]

What does the oil smell like. Does it smell like oil or diesel? Could be injectors if the latter.

Oil in turbo is definitely engine oil,so oil seal failure.I think what's been happening is that when idling oil builds up in area around orange turbo seal and only gets through induction system when driven.When driven the amount of oil (probably minuscule in terms of the volume of air required by the engine)gets dispersed by the car and very little shows at the exhaust.Please correct me if wrong,but from a logical point of view seems possible.

 

[alexanderfoti]

Very possible, but, poor injector atomisation gives a bluey gray smoke that smells like fuel and can be mistaken for oil smoke.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Very possible, but, poor injector atomisation gives a bluey gray smoke that smells like fuel and can be mistaken for oil smoke.

Would that not be constant though, Alex?

 

[ian_rowley1]

Very possible, but, poor injector atomisation gives a bluey gray smoke that smells like fuel and can be mistaken for oil smoke.

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.