Smooooooking !!!!!!

[Merc808]

Would a leaky injector impair performance, i.e. as if where a petrol care miss firing ? and would it induce the effects of more black smoke ? If I floor mine at the moment the amount of black smoke that bellows out is phenomenal for the duration of the acceleration filling the whole path behind me with smoke that lingers in the air.

Any ideas ?
1999 E220 cdi facelift

 

[Vlad]

Would a leaky injector impair performance, i.e. as if where a petrol care miss firing ? and would it induce the effects of more black smoke ? If I floor mine at the moment the amount of black smoke that bellows out is phenomenal for the duration of the acceleration filling the whole path behind me with smoke that lingers in the air.

Any ideas ?
1999 E220 cdi facelift

I would imagine that you have got blocked injectors....have you tried run a tank full of diesel through with injector cleaner??? If you embark on this suggestion, I would also recommend taking the car out for an Italian tune up....ie; take it out for a good work out over 20 miles or so with a fair bit of high revs to clear the carbon out of the system.

From my experience the 220cdi engine does tend to puff out of bit of the black stuff as a matter of course, but this does sound like dirty injectors.

If this does not clear it you may need some new injectors as once past 60,000miles they tend to be getting near to the end of their lives.

Good luck

 

[GordonTarling]

I've done a fair bit of research into this very problem, because my E320CDI was suffering the very same thing - HUGE clouds of dense black smoke when accelerating hard - most embarassing at times! Anyway, car was back and forth to dealers several times and I was given all the usual runarounds Started to lose patience, as warranty was rapidly expiring and was fearing a large bill for new injectors, so dealer had car yesterday to, hopefully, sort it out. Last time they had it, they said it was being caused by one duff glowplug and if that didn't fix it, it was probably an injector problem.

They checked the EGR valve - OK
Checked another motorised valve on air intake system.
Did an idle check cutting out one cylinder at a time.
They started to try and convince me that the smoking was normal or to be expected on these cars and even gave me a technical handout from Mercedes to explain it all. Then, in casual passing, they mentioned that the airfilter was showing red and that I ought to get it changed. I told them to change it (another £52!) and have just collected the car - SMOKE GONE!!!!

I really booted it at times on the drive home from the dealers and didn't once see a sign of the black smoke! Frankly, I'm amazed that it has taken them around 6 months to find that a car with a full MB service history has a blocked air filter! What do these dealer's service departments actually DO when they service the car? I now know - AS LITTLE AS THEY FEEL THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH!

So, Merc808, change your air filter and see if that improves things. If it doesn't, then come back to this thread and we'll have to try some other things. One thing I can say (after speaking to an injector reconditioning company) is that the injectors themselves won't normally cause the black smoke. They reckoned 'normal' life of the injectors was 100 to 120k miles.

FYI - these are the people I spoke to - http://www.uniteddiesel.co.uk/ they were VERY helpful!

 

[Merc808]

Thanks Gordon,
I'm off work tomorrow, I'll change it and let you know. I will also try some injection cleaner as " Vlad " mentioned. I'll do these test independiatly so as not to compromise each other. Regards Merc 808

PS I’m just going to listen to Deep Purple, “ Smoke on the Water “ as it seems quite fitting

 

[Merc808]

" Wacky Racers "

Well Gordon, I eventually managed to get round to fitting a new air filter around £17 from the stealer, not bad when “Alfords” quoted me £21 for a pattern one. Still very heavy black smoke under hard acceleration. So I think it might be the injectors. I have put two tanks full of fuel through since with injector cleaner in and although there is slight improvement it hasn’t cleared it up. The back of my bumper soot’s up weekly. I went through a tunnel the other day and I dropped the window. I could hear the injectors “ticking” quite loudly when I pulled away. I have looked at the website for the injector reconditioning company you suggested. £Ouch, still I suppose they will be cheaper than the stealers. You say the are helpful I might give them a ring see if they have any ideas. I notice they have Trade strength injector cleaner and suggest putting some into the fuel filter. I might try that. Do you know where this is?. Do you think a new fuel filter would help ?


I might try the Italian tune up idea , but I’m very worried of causing an accident behind me and wonder how the “Old Bill” might view it if I put out a smoke screen like someone out of the
“ Wacky Racers”


Open to any ideas !!!!!!
Merc 808

 

[jgevers]

Any decent garage should be able to do an injector test on your CDi without taking your injectors out. A difference of more than 1% on the test means injector replacement.

It is very common for common rail injectors to produce the incorrect amount of fuel. Once they are 'gummed up', they do not seem to react to normal diesel addetives. The only one that seems to do something is the Red Line 85+. We do an injector test at time of service so that we can advise the customer of impending trouble.

regards,

Job

 

[GordonTarling]

Merc808 - sorry to hear that changing the air filter hasn't cured it. It'll certainly be worth your while to give United Diesel a call - their prices for injectors are quite reasonable. I've also seen them on Ebay from time to time at around £90 each - reconditioned. Sorry, I don't have a clue as to where the fuel filter might be on your car.

Job - intrigued as to how injectors can be properly tested without removing them - everywhere else has told me that they need to be sent to a specialist company for a proper test.

My car's smoking a bit more now, so I guess I'll probably have to bite the bullet and change the injectors sometime soon - will wait and see what happens at next MOT test before I do, though.

 

[jgevers]

Merc808 - sorry to hear that changing the air filter hasn't cured it. It'll certainly be worth your while to give United Diesel a call - their prices for injectors are quite reasonable. I've also seen them on Ebay from time to time at around £90 each - reconditioned. Sorry, I don't have a clue as to where the fuel filter might be on your car.

Job - intrigued as to how injectors can be properly tested without removing them - everywhere else has told me that they need to be sent to a specialist company for a proper test.

My car's smoking a bit more now, so I guess I'll probably have to bite the bullet and change the injectors sometime soon - will wait and see what happens at next MOT test before I do, though.

It is an electronic test that translates into a fuel delivery check. It takes 2 minutes with the correct diagnostic machines. It will also tells you which injectors are under- and which are over-delivering. We find that it is normally only one or two injectors that are gummed up.

I have had no luck with aftermarket 'reconditioned' injectors. All the ones I have tried have had problems. We just use the correct Bosch ones.

regards,

Job

Just a thought, I have had one CDi that smoked badly where the fault was the MAF sensor. It had failed in an unusual way. The voltage was higher than specified, allowing the ECU to increase the fuel demand.

 

[GordonTarling]

Job - thanks for that info - I'm obviously going to the wrong places! Will have to investigate getting mine checked soon. My MAF sensor was replaced about a year ago now, so 'should' still be OK, but may be worth checking all the same.