Thread: white smoke black smoke no power

white smoke is loss of compression
black smoke is over fueled.

if you're lucky its just the turbo hoses delaminating stopping the air flow, once enough fuel goes in and the RPMS come up the hose may be re-inflating and letting the engine breath as the boost begins to come on.

Hi Alex
I had a very similar issue on my 2000 TD5, symptoms are pretty much the same.
I would lose power occasionally with black and white smoke billowing from behind! and after letting it rest for a few minutes would be back on my way as if nothing had happened, until one day where I could only crawl along at about 20klm
Mechanic informed me it was the old inter cooler hose causing the issue, as the inner lining gets warm it swells up and literally chokes the engine
Had a new inter cooler hose and new air cleaner fitted and haven't missed a beat since

Hope this helps, just joined AULRO, nice to be part of the community

I have fairly new silicone turbo hoses, so delamination shouldn't be an issue. . .

I'd be looking at all turbo and airflow devices. Start from the air-cleaner and work through visually. Check boost pressure too.

Air Filter?

Not air filter, it was new just before it started this...
Hey, just thought - could it be due to the engine flush I put through with the oil change?

Uh oh !!

I had a similar problem with my Td5. Funny coloured smoke which would change colour through the rev range, no power until the revs got up higher. Took me probably a couple of months to figure out the problem! Finally tracked it down to a hole in the vacuum hose to the EGR valve. Letting to much of the exhaust back into the motor then not enough. Which explained the colour change (was my guess anyway). So my suggestion would be track the vacuum hose back from the air filter box to the EGR valve for any holes, breaks or blockages. Of course null and void suggestion if EGR bypassed.
P.J.