Excessive smoke and emissions.

[rob-hill-1]

Hi all,

I have a problem at the moment which is seeming to be very hard to solve with my 08, 311 Sprinter van.
Hoping to find some more clues here!

Main symptoms

- Excessive white smoke when stationary / pulling away in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear.
- Excessive diesel fumes in cab.

Symptoms come and go as they please (roughly every other journey, every 100 miles or so)

Typically, I will be driving down the motorway for an hour and then suddenly start to smell fumes. As I slow down / pull away the smoke begins. Which typically lasts until I turn the engine off and leave it for a few hours.

The next journey, everything is fine again for an hour or so and then the fumes / smoke re appears.

Additional info

- Had van checked over at a Mercedes commercial vehicles garage - they cant find anything obvious wrong with it
- Had the van plugged in at the Mercedes garage and no fault codes shown
- Had all the injectors changed at the same Mercedes garage (solved problem for approx 400 miles, then the smoke / fumes re appeared)
- no warning lights on dash
- Van had been re mapped by previous owner
- Seems to lose power when revving away hard in 1st / 2nd gear
- Under performing with fuel consumption
- Occasionally jumpy revs when revving at idle
- no correlation between using different grades / brands of diesel


I'm thinking it could be something to do with the re map / a faulty MAF sensor

What are your opinions?

thanks a lot for reading through this

Rob.

 

[mersum1es]

Is there DPF (data card code 474)? Or has it tried to remove DPF, but programming gone bad....? Could be vain DPF regeneration attempt...

 

[rob-hill-1]

There is a DPF, but the Merc garage ruled that out and said it was not the problem.

However, it seems like that could be a cause based on how the smoke / fumes seem to come around in cycles i.e: regeneration.

 

[BlackC55]

Has it got a DPF?

Is t he turbo worn?

 

[rob-hill-1]

Has it got a DPF?

Is t he turbo worn?

It does have a DPF, which apparently is not the problem - but still could be I guess.

Unsure if the turbo is worn.

 

[E270 Owner]

Put the ecu back to standard mapping.

Then start fault finding.

 

[ACID]

Had a few like this, the van is trying to regenerate the DPF, the injectors throw extra diesel through to help it regenerate causing the smoke on idle, the only solution we have found to work is too remove DPF and recode

But firstly put it back to standard and see how you get on.

The van must be using a lot more diesel than normal as well?

 

[6cyl]

Have you checked the EGR valve? Breather hoses blocked?

 

[rob-hill-1]

Had a few like this, the van is trying to regenerate the DPF, the injectors throw extra diesel through to help it regenerate causing the smoke on idle, the only solution we have found to work is too remove DPF and recode

But firstly put it back to standard and see how you get on.

The van must be using a lot more diesel than normal as well?

Thanks, this seems like the best thing to try next.

Next step is to find out where the van was re mapped from previous owner. Unless any Mercedes mapping specialists are able to reset to standard?

Removal and recoding of the DPF also sounds promising. Hopefully its not quite as expensive as buying a whole new one

fingers crossed.

 

[rob-hill-1]

And yes, seems to be going through a tank of diesel faster than it should!

 

[rob-hill-1]

Had van remapped back to 'stock' settings yesterday. Seems OK so far, except the van will now no longer go over 65mph, although accelearates up to it just fine.... Apparently this is because the limiter has now been restored?

Will be giving the van a good drive at the weekend into Europe, this should test out if its fume / smoking habit has really gone for good.

 

[mikemanc201]

i am having the same problem also just replaced 3 injectors with refurbed ones and now got a chuffing sound as well injectors are going back or for a bench test as before this it wasn't as rough idle as it was now thanks guys any info would be much appreciated

 

[Vlad]

Chuffing sound is likely to be a dodgy injector seal, ie they didn't re-cut the seat or use a new seal...result: exhaust gases escaping up the side of the injector.

 

[WG M-B]

As Vlad says, chuffing = leaking injector seal