w211 e220cdi: Blue smoke in the morning

[haydar]

My w211 e220cdi gives off blue smoke in the morning for about 5 minutes. During this time (and maybe a little afterwards) the idle is irregular. Once cleared, the car gives off no smoke for the rest of the day. Performance of the car is A1, though the injectors do sound a little noisy.

Recently the CATs seemed to have become blocked, as there was some really horrible smells coming from the exhaust and the cars performance was down. I've just had the CATs removed and the car in comparison seems like a performance car. Let me add I'm based in Lahore, Pakistan and the quality of the fuel is really bad and there is no real low sulphure fuel. Probably the reason the CAT's got blocked.

What could be the reason for the smoke in the morning? Could it be a seal on the turbo charger? Turbo seems to whistle up ok. Are these cars know for valve seals going? But if the valve seals had gone, wouldn't the car be smoking all the time?

All help appreciated.

 

[Brian WH]

My w211 e220cdi gives off blue smoke in the morning for about 5 minutes. During this time (and maybe a little afterwards) the idle is irregular. Once cleared, the car gives off no smoke for the rest of the day. Performance of the car is A1, though the injectors do sound a little noisy.

Recently the CATs seemed to have become blocked, as there was some really horrible smells coming from the exhaust and the cars performance was down. I've just had the CATs removed and the car in comparison seems like a performance car. Let me add I'm based in Lahore, Pakistan and the quality of the fuel is really bad and there is no real low sulphure fuel. Probably the reason the CAT's got blocked.

What could be the reason for the smoke in the morning? Could it be a seal on the turbo charger? Turbo seems to whistle up ok. Are these cars know for valve seals going? But if the valve seals had gone, wouldn't the car be smoking all the time?

All help appreciated.

From your description the problem is when the car engine is Cold. Once the engine and the exhaust is warm the fuel is being burnt efficiently, so no blue smoke.

I personally wouldn't worry too much, keep an eye on it as the injectors/turbo could be playing up a bit. What mileage have you done?

 

[haydar]

Car's done about 100k miles. Could it be just unburnt fuel? I do think I've got a sticky injector, as it can get a little noisy on idle.

 

[DieselE]

Blue smoke usually means burning oil. Black smoke is associated with injector problems.

As long as the oil level is not going down too quickly then, as Brian says, it's probably not too much to worry about.

 

[haydar]

But I don't think this is the usual Diesel black smoke stuff (which I'm used to since I owned a BMW 330d before). This is only first thing in the morning and it's definately white/blue smoke. The car didn't do this before the problem with the exhaust, or at least not to the extent that I noticed.

I guess I've become paranoid. The 330d I owned had a catastrophic engine failure when the turbo blew up, sending engine oil to the engine. Even when I removed the key and jumped out of the vehicle, the engine revved it's heart out until the car ran out of engine oil. Scared the s*** out of me. Need new engine, exhaust, wiring, etc... £14000 to fix!!! I'm worried that if it's a turbo seal that's gone, this car could be headed in the same direction.

 

[Dieselman]

Run a strong dose of injector cleaner or ATF through with the fuel and see. It could be a dribbling injector causing quenched combustion when cold but you are correct that this should give black smoke.

The cat blocking won't have done things much good, the EGT will have gone sky high and could have cooked either the rings or valve seals or the turbo seals.

You need to check for oil in the intake after the turbo as if it dumps a quantity of oil in there your worst fears will be borne out.

Good luck.

 

[haydar]

Thanks for the info Dieselman.

Can you tell me, how big these jobs are.

I'm guessing if the rings are gone, it's basically goodbye engine. The valve seals don't sound so bad, is this correct. If it's the turbo seals, then is this a new turbo, or can the seals be fixed.

Thanks

 

[Dieselman]

It doesn't sound like rings because the smoke clears, so that leaves valve guide seals and turbo. Both are do-able jobs.
My money goes on the turbo seals being gone and leaking oil when switched off.

Seal and bearing kits are available but the best bet is an exchange turbo.

Before doing anything have a compression and leak down test performed and take off the intake pipe and check for oil in there.

 

[haydar]

Looks like it is the Turbo. Not sure I'm going to be able to get an exchange turbo in Pakistan. Any ideas of how much a new one costs?

What's damage can I cause if I continue to drive the vehicle?