Smoking Sprinter

[Higgi]

Hello all, Newbie here... Right here goes, Just bought a 2009 Sprinter 311 cdi 150,000 on the clock... Drove it back from Towcester about 140 mile, Engine sweet as a nut, Very quiet, Anyway after a couple of days i noticed bit of white smoke when at Traffic lights etc, Get going all clears and all is well, Next set of Traffic lights, Nothing no smoke all is well, Engine still sweet as a nut No lumpy running or rough idle, Starts the next day first Flick of the key, Drive about 100metres, Stop, then bit of white smoke, Get going on dual carriage way Engine runs Beautiful, No smoke, The next set of lights, It smokes.... Get going then all is well.... some days it does it some it doesn't.. Weird !!!... No lights on the Dash, always starts first time, No smoke on start up...... if any one could shed some light... Many Thanks

 

[m80]

Does this do this on cooler days?

Is there an oil or diesel smell when smoking, you might need to get close to the exhaust for that?
If there is a sweet smell it would be coolant.

Most like it is steaming off coolant in the system when that gets to the exhaust.
Is there evidence of contamination in the coolant header tank, or in the oil?
Hopefully neither.

 

[Higgi]

Oil and header levels are bang on the Mark... I would say there is a sweetish/Diesel smell, But not overpowering.... Missus was behind me when i drove the van home, She said there is No smoke, But smell of Diesel....

 

[Higgi]

Just had a double check, Oil is black and smells of oil, and is on the mark, Coolant is on the mark nice Green coolant colour, No oil residue...

 

[m80]

Sweet smell would indicate coolant.
Diesel smell would indicate over fuelling.

Has it been mapped?
Some maps over fuel and the unburnt fuel will cause smoking.
Otherwise you may be looking at the injectors.
A leak off test of the injectors is a good starting place to show up a worn injector/s.
A MOT style emissions test could show over fuelling. Of course if you wait for the MOT and it fails you have more immediate problems to solve.

 

[m80]

Just had a double check, Oil is black and smells of oil, and is on the mark, Coolant is on the mark nice Green coolant colour, No oil residue...

That's good.
We 'should' be able to ignore head gasket issues.

I'm guessing this is the 646 engine, 2,148cc.
Although for what were discussing it makes little difference.

 

[Higgi]

Thanks.. Just had a new mot, Woman who sold the van has had it from new, Told me she just had new ECU/ or whatever it was fitted at a cost of £500.... The only thing i see new is large match box size black plug thing that sits directly under the air filter housing/ towards the front... Excuse my ignorance but iv come from a life time of 80 series Landcruiser ownership... to this world of ECU/DPF/EGR... etc etc etc... Yes the 2,148..... 311 cdi..

 

[m80]

£500 for a new ECU sounds cheap.
Is it possible she is referring to another electronic module, there are a few?

There are several 'tuning' boxes sold. Most are snake oil.
They will sit in line to the fuel rail sensor/s, and can be returned to standard by unplugging and taking them out of line. That is to install the plug is removed from the fuel rail at the end, goes into the box and the box then plugs into the empty fuel rail socket. This 'can' be at both ends of the fuel rail.

If you're confident you might unplug the 'box', and see if the smoking is gone.

TDI do a tuning box that has 7 user selected settings. 'Possibly' these are of better quality. But if it causes smoking it is a failure.
Maybe better for another thread but I would be interested to hear others views on the TDI boxes.

 

[Higgi]

Yes, like i said, she wasn't sure, But i think she meant EGR..... Any way just drove 15 mile to my local garage, and No smoke, everything running fine, Had nothing to show him, He did a few checks to confirm its not Head gasket related.. any way he got me to run through the scenario again and this time i mentioned id just put Diesel in from My local Tesco, Literally 100 metres then it started smoking... He thinks shitty Diesel.. so he said swap fuel filter out and put some premium shell in or something... SO i put £40 of Diesel in at the nearest garage and hey presto, 100 meters later at the first roundabout it smoked briefly.. Then ran sweet as a nut with no smoke 15 miles home..... Left it ticking over for 5 mins,, No smoke so im thinking shit in the Tank that gets Dragged through now and then..... He says its not a myth that supermarket Diesel is Shit, He's had motors in with problems that have been linked back to Dodgy Diesel..... So im going with that for Now.... Lord Knows, But im all ears for comments/ suggestions..... Thanks

 

[Petrol Pete]

The little old lady that owned it from new probably drove it like an ...errr , little old lady ! Give it a good kicking, get 'medieval' on the loud pedal , Italian tune up and all that stuff. !

Post a picture of the 'large black plug thing' you have spotted under the bonnet. Someone on here will know if it's stock.

 

[Higgi]

Garage that i took it to said its New EGR valve.... Thats a plus i guess...... But vans still running sweet as.... So fingers crossed