Thread: TD5 white smoke

Originally Posted by davrac

Hi All

I have checked heaps of threads relating to white smoke and have to say that the info is exhausting and the characteristics of individual problems vary greatly.

In short I have a 2004 TD5 Disco 2a (80000km). On cold start after leaving overnight I can start the engine and it will idle fine. However once started and engine revs lifted to about 2000rpm it seems to miss on one cylinder. and blows white/light blue smoke for about 10 seconds. Once the engine miss has gone there is no further smoke or engine problems.

Could it just be a glow plug, or the facts that it only has a glow plug on 4 cylinder and not the fifth.

I never have a lack of power. No diesel in oil. no black smoke. And best of all NO COOLANT LOSS.

Ant thoughts on this one before I start the diagnosis process.

Thanks

Dave

Have you checked for oil in the injector loom?

Delaminating turbo hose? (normally associated with black smoke an loss of power though)

White smoke indicates either water in the diesel or a lack of fuel, amongst other things. I had a problem with not enough diesel on an old Hilux, due to gunk in the injector pump, due to water leading to algae in the diesel .

From costeffectivemaintenance.com.au

Cost Effective Maintenance - Diesel Smoke tells YOU a Story...
White smokeoccurs when raw diesel comes through the exhaust completely intact and unburned. Some causes of this include

• Faulty or damaged injectors
• Incorrect injection timing (could be a worn timing gear or damaged crankshaft keyway).
• Low cylinder compression (eg caused by leaking or broken valves, piston ring sticking, cylinder and/or ring wear, or cylinder glaze)

When white smoke occurs at cold start, and then disappears as the engine warms up, the most common causes are fouling deposits around piston rings and/or cylinder glazing.


Water entering combustion spaces will also create white smoke. Faulty head gaskets and cracked cylinder heads or blocks are a common cause of water entry, and are often to blame. Unfortunately, expensive mechanical repair is the only proper solution here.

I am thinking sticky injector(some trucks do this).
I don't know if the fuel tank additives could help(cleaner).
Need to ask the more knowlegable folk if they are ok to use on TD5's.

Originally Posted by Franz

Have you checked for oil in the injector loom?

Delaminating turbo hose? (normally associated with black smoke an loss of power though)

New injector loom fitted 10000km ago when I replaced the injector washers and seals. I did wonder about a dripping injector or leaking copper washer as cold unburnt diesel will cause white smoke.

If it was diesel dripping past a copper washer I would have thought that this would cause bigger issues like compression pushing back up past the copper washer with engine running. Just a theory .

Oh and replaced turbo hoses when got rid of EGR.

Will do some diagnosis in the morning while engine cold and post some results in the near future.