White/grey smoke?? Any thoughts appreciated

[Adrianh1]

Hi, I have a 190D 2.5 with 192k on the clock, regularly serviced and oil change every 3k. It runs perfectly but have noticed, particularly at night, that the exhaust kicks out a fair bit of pale white smoke under hard acceleration. I've just had all glow plugs changed and the injectors are clean (according to the garage). What could be causing this? Or is it fairly normal and I shouldn't be so fussy about an old car...

Any feedback would be great. Thanks

ADrian

 

[whitenemesis]

I think this normal for all diesels old and new. The headlights of the following car illuminates the cloud thats there everytime you accelerate hard. Its much harder to see in daylight. Its just unburnt fuel, or am I wrong?

 

[mattkh]

. Its just unburnt fuel, or am I wrong?

Wrong.
Unburnt fuel is black.
White smoke is normally from oil

 

[Adrianh1]

Thanks for these replies. So are you (Mattkh) suggesting it's an oil problem? It burns little oil generally - and I get 45 mpg on long runs quite easily. The engine runs very smoothly and quietly, esp for an old car.

 

[Stevie A]

Don't worry about it. You see smoke from diesels when they accelerate all the time.

 

[Daeths]

Hi, I have a 190D 2.5 with 192k on the clock, regularly serviced and oil change every 3k. It runs perfectly but have noticed, particularly at night, that the exhaust kicks out a fair bit of pale white smoke under hard acceleration. I've just had all glow plugs changed and the injectors are clean (according to the garage). What could be causing this? Or is it fairly normal and I shouldn't be so fussy about an old car...

Any feedback would be great. Thanks

ADrian

Wen I first spotted this on a brand new 2.2 Saab 9-5 tdi I had kittens. This happened to be in the winter when it was dark and as mentioned prev. the following headlamps illuminate the crap coming out of the exhaust.

I discussed this with the guys at Saab City (they know service!) who explained when you trundle along various exhaust fumes etc "sit" in the various crevices of he box/cat etc. When you boot it, the extra exhaust pressure forces these sitting gases / fumes and this is what you see from your tail pipe. An analogy would be have a pipe going up and down (horizontally) filled with silt. At a gentle flow the silt will rest in the low troughs of the pipework and the flowing water would be clear. Increase the waterflow and the silt will be disrupted and literally muddy the waters.
A quick blow of crap under hard acceleration is normal (you mention your oil consumption is aok), I would suggest you may just not have noticed it before.
Hope this helps.
Adam

 

[Adrianh1]

Thanks Daeth for this good explanation. I do quite a bit of city stop-start driving too, which probably means the engine gets bunged up. It's just a bit embarassing if I go beyond 3,000rpm - in normal driving there's no need though - following cars can tend to hang back to avoid the fumes...

But she's just passed her MOT and no problems with emissions... And no, I only noticed it recently and it probably has been going on for years. But once you notice something, it's difficult to stop noticing it, especially if you're slightly neurotic about the health of your car...

 

[Daeths]

it's difficult to stop noticing it, especially if you're slightly neurotic about the health of your car...[/QUOTE]

It not sure if it's being neurotic or the trait of being a MB owner. I certainly get a little concerned at every new noise and then immediately think wallet etc etc

rgds

Adam

 

[Adrianh1]

Agreed. BUt when you run a 190 diesel, there shouldn't be that much to worry about. It's a simple, strong engine and easy to work on generally... I've also got a good local mechanic who also runs a 190 and charges £25 per hour labour - it could be a lot worse!

Cheers

Adrian

 

[wireman]

Keep it as it is! if the following car holds back he wont shunt you in the rear, and that can realy hurt.