White smoke

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Jonathancilia
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White smoke

Post by Jonathancilia »

My fathers peugeot 305 1.9D is smoking white under acceleration and when i rev the engine. Engine has been refurbished once about 10 years ago. Any ideas? When under load its smoking more white. Ita not coolant, coolant is at the right level.can it be water in the diesel fuel filter maybe? Or this is definitely oil burning ?
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Re: White smoke

Post by white exec »

Black smoke = excessive fuel
Blue smoke = engine oil burning
White smoke = coolant/antifreeze ethylene glycol being burned.

It doesn't take much ingested coolant to produce lots of white smoke, which increases with acceleration, and doesn't go away even with a hot engine. The coolant level drop likely to be so small that it isn't really noticeable.

Water-in-fuel will either not be a problem (it collects at the bottom of the fuel filter, and can usually be drained off), OR it will cause real problems with starting, if there's enough of it.

Engine oil burning is usually most visible after letting the car go into over-run, and then accelerating. When you put your foot down, the smoke is most visible, but it will not persist. For burning coolant, the white vapour just keeps on coming.

Burning engine oil normally stinks; burning coolant is almost without odour, maybe just slightly sweet smelling.
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Re: White smoke

Post by Jonathancilia »

Then it is most likely oil burning, as it is only smoking when pulling away mostly or under load, coolantdidnt go down, its dead on level. Its also has problems starting when cold, he has to press the accelerator pedal or it wont start, and the glow plugs we have removed them, they take about 8 to 10 seconds to get red hot
Jonathancilia
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Re: White smoke

Post by Jonathancilia »

He had problems with the factory diesel filter housing leaking and fitted a universal housing abut 3 years back, it is not staying hard, when i press the primer it goes hard and then goes soft again after a few seconds, is this normal?
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x 1752

Re: White smoke

Post by white exec »

Sounds like the supply to the glow plugs is struggling. Check out the heavy-duty connections to the GP relay.
GPs should be getting minimum of 10.5 to 11v when switched on.

The priming button should go solid, and stay that way. Suggests a leak, or non-return valve not working.
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Re: White smoke

Post by Jonathancilia »

At this stage he is really concerned about the smoke because if its oil he is going to give up on the car as its on its 2nd engine now and not worth it anymore
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Re: White smoke

Post by Jonathancilia »

The priming bulb going soft wont cause white smoke right?
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and lots of Rovers before that: 1935 Ten, 1947 Sixteen, 1960 P5 3-litre, 1966 P6 2000, 1972 P6 2000TC, and 1975 P6B 3500S
x 1752

Re: White smoke

Post by white exec »

Jonathancilia wrote: 15 Dec 2020, 18:23 The priming bulb going soft wont cause white smoke right?
No, it shouldn't. You would normally expect a good quick start from cold if the priming button feels solid.
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Re: White smoke

Post by Jonathancilia »

The car starts first time if you let the glow plugs heat up until you hear the click from the relay, but only if you press the accelerator pedal when starting. If not it just keeps turning and when it does fire it stalls
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Re: White smoke

Post by Peter.N. »

White smoke on a cold engine is unburnt fuel, if its doing it when hot could be low compression, although if that were so it would be difficult to start, or possibly an injection problem.

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Re: White smoke

Post by Gibbo2286 »

Late pump timing will give white smoke/unburnt fuel, has it been checked?
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Re: White smoke

Post by Peter.N. »

I would concur - almost forgotten about adjustable pump timing, that would also make it slow to start - and quiet.

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Re: White smoke

Post by Jonathancilia »

Yeah its doing it both when cold and hot doesnt matter, when its hot starts instantly though.
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Re: White smoke

Post by Jonathancilia »

How can i check if pump timing is correct ?
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In the past: 3, CX td Safaris and about 7, XM td estates. Lovely cars.
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Re: White smoke

Post by Peter.N. »

Unless anyone has moved it or the belt has jumped a tooth it should be correct. When was the cam belt last changed?

Peter
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