sprinter 311cdi lumpy engine white smoke on idle very strong fuel smell help please ?

[nc57]

first off would like to just say hello as this is my first post and hoping someone here can help with my problem as i am throwing money down the drain now

as my title says i am having lots of problems with my van over the past few months, it is a mercedes sprinter 311cdi on a 57 plate 314000 miles although it had a new block and internels put in nearly 2 year ago so that actual engine has done around 80,000 miles.
the van is serviced every 9000 miles with mercedes oils and filters
it is not burning or loosing oil all fluids and water is fine.

my problem started around october the van started blowing white smelly smoke on idle and a strong fuel smell in the cab, the eml came on lip mode etc so i took it to bells trucks and vans and it needed a new travel sensor and new probes on the dpf, dpf levels were slightly high so the gave it a re gen and away i went everything went fine no more smoke although a week later i got the strong fuel smell back in the cab.

and the eml light returned limp mode but re set itself after it was turned off
shortly after i heard a loud ticking and the injector had come loose from its seating so it went back to bells trucks they helicoild it and re seated it and did the same with the rest whilst they were at it, got it home and another injector had come out obviously wasnt seat correctly so they fixed it for me.

back on the road 800 mile round trip and the van still didnt seem right and the eml back on but no limp mode, so goes back on the computer and its the actuator on the turbo sticking, these guys are great and they did try to source me just the actuator but couldnt so £1100 for a new turbo
fianlly i thought great nothing else can go wrong, back on another trip and its still not running correct strong fuel smell white smoke on idle (nothing when actually driving) so does back and they said the injector still not sat correct so they re seat it again.

by now i am sick to the back teeth i have a fotune in the van i am self employed and need it for work can not afford a new one or lease hire so i put up with this problem for a while as luck has it had been busy with work and needed to get some cash back i have spent on the van, by now the smoke is getting worse and the van is running lumpy every now and again like it is going to run out of fuel on idel it is up and down with the revs smoking like mad and realy smells.

i get it booked back in last week and bells do lots of checks and can find nothing, he has gave me about 30 pieces of paper from the read outs showing what is happening and it points towards the high pressure fuel pump but they can not be certain, they do appologise and says because no new faults are shoing its hard to pin point but on the prinouts the computer advises to change the fuel pump.

so £330 later re con bosch fuel pump fitted today and guess what still the same i am at my wits end now if these guys dont know the problem who the hell does !!!!

i am hoping somone on here has had same sort of problems and can help me out, i will be calling the garage again tuersday to let them know and see what they can do, they are very good and not charge me a penny for these extra tests so i can not knock them att all great service but still doesnt help me when they dont know what the problem is

would the ecu need re teaching to know it has a new fuel pump ?
although i doubt that would make the van smoke....
i still think it is an injector problem although bells have done compression tests and and leakback tests on the injectors and all values have come back fine

i am sorry for this long post but not sure what to do next and any help would be ver much appriciated

thanks in advance

 

[mersum1es]

No need to tell ecu pump change.

Maybe one injector is leaking fuel to cylinder have they tested in bench? Have the injector electrical correction values checked, it may give a hint about the leak too...?

Is it checked that there is no continuous regeneration of the DPF on? Sometimes when DPF or some sensor fails, it may start to do that.

 

[nc57]

hi
thanks for taking time to read my post, the questions you have asked i am unsure of, the print outs they gave me are over my head but i would of thought these things have been checked, and from what you say about constant re gen it sounds reasonable because the van is running rough loss of power and has a strange blowing sound from the exhaust when it starts really smelling and playing up

 

[Dieselman]

I would say either a badly spraying injector or possibly air in the fuel, causing poor spray pattern.

 

[nc57]

I would say either a badly spraying injector or possibly air in the fuel, causing poor spray pattern.

thanks for that, how can you check for air in the fuel, the van did run low a few ago months and started to splutter just as i reached a service station
thanks

 

[toolski]

I had a similar problem had sort of smells of fumes in my cab and loss of power etc put it in Mercedes and it had a sticking waste gate which was easily fixed for now anyway

 

[Astris]

Cracked pipe

I have the same symptoms, but idle is OK.

The cause in mine seems to be cracks in the DPF pipe bellows close to the turbo.

Needs a new DPF - £1,800!

 

[Trickythemerc]

Is the DPF a genuine Merc one,after market ones are a waste of time and money.

 

[Sarim@MSL]

Its sounds like the dpf is trying to regenerate, check your oil level has it risen or does it smell like diesel?

The dpf will most likely need to forcefully regenerated on star, if not need replacing or removal, quite common on these

 

[650max]

I've got very similar problems, 2007 311 CDI with 150k Miles.

Once the engine is up to temperature it goes into a very rough lumpy idle and starts blowing white smoke out of the exhaust, this usually clears within 30 seconds of setting off and revving above 2500rpm. Most of the time the exhaust fumes stink, not of fuel, it's more of a sooty burnt smell?

No warning lights on the dash and no codes stored in the ECU (don't know what make of code reader was used but it was laptop based not just a hand-held device), the mechanic did use the laptop to force a valve closed (it was either throttle valve or idle control valve, can't remember which), this immediately stopped the smoking and smoothed out the idle.

I've checked the EGR, clean as a whistle, so was the inside of the throttle housing, there is a little oil staining around the turbo.

Is this a case of trying to regen the DPF and it isn't quite happening so it needs a forced regen then oil & filter change?

Suggestions please? The van starts & runs fine, will pull up to 85 when empty (it's a LWB Luton) but is possibly a little heavy on fuel, averaging 22mpg, around the same as my old 2004 311 Luton, I had sort of hoped the new generation engine would be a little more economical.

Thanks

 

[prestige lease]

I have recently bought a 59plate sprinter 313cdi lwb, it's been fine but not driven much in the last 5 months, today when starting it didn't want to start and was chugging and blowing white smoke, then engine light came on while parked and now loss of power..
I'm wondering if it could be same problem as above posts? Haven't done nothing to it and only drove a mile and parked it up due to loss of power.
Do you think it needs a running on a motorway to maybe clear dpf?
I'm going to disconnect battery to see if that resets anything..