2008 C3 1.4 Cachet (petrol) Smoking heavily and pollution fault

[tomk86]

Hi all, First post here.

I have used the search function but I haven't been able to find anything that's overly similar. Really hoping someone can point me in the right direction as i'm feeling a bit hopeless at the moment.
My C3 one day just started throwing out copious amounts of white smoke and cutting out. Would only run very slowly. I started investigating and notice that the injector closest to the passenger wheel was stuck open. I went to to car spares and got a replacement. I put the new one in and it was the same. I took it back and got a replacement. Still happening.
I wasn't sure what to do, so I ordered a wiring harness for the injectors. Still no good. I then spent £125 on an ECU, BSI and transponder chip for the key. This came off the same model car that someone was breaking on ebay.
I put it all together minus the coil and turned it over - all injectors let out a nice little spurt of fuel. Great stuff I thought and put it all back together properly.
Needless to say, I start the car and its still running like a coal miner with black lung and the smoke is still thick and white. It then cut out.
I really need my car for work and am not in a financial position to be going through even more parts. Has anyone got any ideas of where I am going wrong?
Thanks so much in advance for your help.
Tom

[xantia_v6]

If the open injector filled the cylinder with petrol, then the engine may have suffered hydraulic lock and blown the head gasket (or maybe worse but unlikely?). You need to check the compressions.

[PaulC5]

The cylinders are numbered from the gear box end, just in case a code reader is saying which injector to replace. Being a petrol though I would think excess fuel might not give white smoke. If you have not yet used a code reader it might give a clue on what is happening.

From experience white smoke could be head gasket failure with coolant going into a cylinder - is the coolant level falling, is the end of the exhaust tail pipe wet ?

I had a turbo fail on a petrol Saab and that gave out a lot of white smoke surrounding the car from the exhaust and also in the cam cover, seen when the oil filler cap was removed. I think you do not have a turbo but maybe something else is putting oil in to a cylinder (head gasket leak) so check the oil level.

[tomk86]

Hi I cant check the compressions its beyond me and dont have the equipment...

It had indeed lost all its water and seems to be bogging more with water in it so ill have a crack at the head gasket tomorrow. Doesn't look too bad a job on this little engine touching wood

[ozvtr]

The stock head gaskets are s#!t. Most of the TU3 engines will only do about 150000Km (from new) before you start having trouble.
Problem number 2 is the cylinder heads. They are made of French cheese! They warp if the engine has ever boiled over or over heated. I highly recommend the head be inspected by a machine shop.
The cylinder head bolts can be re-used but you need to check the length first.
The head bolts and threads in the block need to be scrupulously clean and free of oil and dross. The threads of the bolts and under the head need to be lubricated on installation. Failure to do this may result in broken head bolts or compression leaks.
The head bolts are torqued to 20nm then 240 degrees in two 120 degree stages (IIRC). So you'll need some way to measure the angular torque.
If the engine oil has turned to "chocolate milkshake", the crankshaft bearings may be damaged.
Just "throwing in a head gasket" will probably solve your problem, but without checking the head flatness it probably won't last long. But, that's your decision.