RRS 3.0 blowing smoke (lots of it)

[GregMilner]

Guys, my 2010 RRS 3.0 has recently picked up a bad habit - under reasonably hard acceleration it's blowing a ton of grey smoke, to the point where I'm being flagged down by other drivers to tell me about it (as if the obscured cars behind me weren't enough of a giveaway).

It's just been serviced, so I'm a bit surprised the dealer didn't pick this up when they test drove it. Seems to happen around 2000 revs - could it be a blown turbo?

It's booked in for another issue this week (steering wheel wobble under brakes - the return of a disc brake problem it was recalled for a year ago) and I'll point out the smoke issue when it goes in then, but just wondering if anybody else here has had the same problem...

The car's done less than 25,000kms since new, so it's a bit of a worry. I know it's under warranty, but still....

[MR LR]

Most modern diesels will blow smoke, considerably more then older diesels IMO, in your tag it looks like you have the car chipped, am i right?, this can contribute to the smoke blowing and if it is chipped it will probably not be covered for fueleing problems any more under warranty, if i'm wrong disregard it, our SDV6 D4 (3.0) blows smoke under hard acceleration but nothing excessive.

[GregMilner]

Thanks, yes mine always blew a little smoke (black) but not this huge cloud of grey smoke.
Not sure about the warranty issue re the chipping.

[MR LR]

I don't like the sound from grey smoke from a diesel, if it looks like its burnng white-ish like as in engine oil, i wouldn't even start it, some chips are active too, so it will change how the fuel is delivered, may need a reset, but grey rings alarm bells to me !!!!

[101RRS]

I thought that there was an issue with the second turbo suffering from some pooling of oil in certain conditions causing the white smoke. I understand the if this is the issue the turbo needs to be replaced.

I recall there are quite a few threads on this issue so a search in the D3/D4/RRS section should show up a few comments.

Garry

[GregMilner]

Thanks Gary! I found those threads, seems the problem is widespread and not at all uncommon. From my reading the other threads it does appear to be a turbo issue, and will need replacing.
I guess my concern is I've got a 1200km trip coming up in three weeks, towing a boat from Perth to Exmouth...on previous experience with a recall for brake issues a year ago it took the dealer (Barbagallo) three MONTHS to get the required parts from the UK.
I hope like hell that's not going to be the case with the turbos.

[gghaggis]

I would remove your chip immediately. Check the smoking issue after a few hours running without. Some chips are more detrimental to this issue than others. And implications for warranty work on the turbo (assuming the chip wasn't fitted by the dealer) are not good.

Cheers,

Gordon

[GregMilner]

Hmmmm....I just took the car for a drive, accelerated sharply from standstill several times. Maddenly...zero sign of blue/grey smoke!

As far as I know there's no actual removable chip in it. I believe one of the ECUs was remapped, but that was 18 months ago, and have had no problems until immediately after the most recent service 300kms ago.
(The remapping was done by a workshop in England that does this for hundreds of LR vehicles every year. I was assured at the time that it had no effect on the warranty, but now you've got me worried.)

[gghaggis]

(The remapping was done by a workshop in England that does this for hundreds of LR vehicles every year. I was assured at the time that it had no effect on the warranty, but now you've got me worried.)

So you sent your ECU to England for remapping (not chipping), or did you purchase a second ECU and have that remapped? A remap is generally safer than an intercept box (or "chip"), so doubt it would be the issue - and of course it's not obvious to the service agent!

It definitely has an effect on the warranty - provided they know it's there. The point with remaps is that they are supposed to be undetectable.

Cheers,

Gordon

[Mungus]

Interesting to note from what i have read re: blue smoke and turbo issue, that in both cases it has occurred after service with oil change?