Thread: white smoke on start up

Have a compression test done, I suspect the rings are shot.

White smoke is cold unburnt diesel. Black smoke is hot not well burnt diesel. Either the pump is out of timing or excess fuel. The rack may not be returning.

I read somewhere that if this is happening, particularly in the winter, that you're using oil that is too thin.

Although I suspect it's a roundabout way of saying the same as the above posts.

Another possibility is head gasket failure.

My 200tdi does the white smoke thing when cold, and the responses I got were that it was most likely tired injectors not atomising properly.

Steve

my 2 cents, white smoke, raw/unburnt fuel due to poor combustion, lack of compression to create the heat needed for complete combustion. As the engine comes up to opperating temp and expand the compression come up, The fuel is now being burnt better but won't be perfect.

I would do a compression check to isolate rings or valves.

compression test
leakdown test
injector pattern test.

IT'll be a combination of worn rings, carbon'd valves and poor injector pattern.

Originally Posted by steveG

My 200tdi does the white smoke thing when cold, and the responses I got were that it was most likely tired injectors not atomising properly.

Steve

this can be true but you would do a compression check first, most people don't get there injectors serviced when they should. If injectors are shot you would get excessive black smoke even at operating temp.