Common causes of bad smoking?

[JTaylor2005]

Hey guys. I know I have a bit of a boost leak but the amount my car smokes is really bad haha. I put my foot down at night and just leave a huge trail of fog behind me. I cant see it being caused by just a boost leak. Its really bad :/

Any other suggestions?
Cheers, Jack

[Paul_13]

Have you blanked the egr?

[Toms306]

It will be caused by the boost leak...

You're losing air that the ECU doesn't realise so chucks too much fuel in.

[Paul_13]

Reading your other thread, have you sorted out your bodge yet?

[JTaylor2005]

The EGR is blanked and then the vacuum pipe has been removed.

The boost leak doesnt seem anywhere near serious enough to cause the clouds im getting. Or can a relativly small boost leak cause a lot of smoke haha?

[Poodle]

If it's kicking out that much smoke it's not a small leak lol.

[JTaylor2005]

It just doesnt sound big lol. Is there nothing else that could cause a lot of smoke?

[pikeymikey]

If haven't already removed your catalytic converter do it! Or take it off smash out what's inside and re-fit so it's mot friendly. Hope this helps

[Poodle]

I can't be arsed to explain all the other possible causes until you can be arsed to go amd check for the bloody boost leak.

[Toms306]

If haven't already removed your catalytic converter do it! Or take it off smash out what's inside and re-fit so it's mot friendly. Hope this helps

If theres one thing that will not reduce smoke it's a decat...

[pug306driver]

I'm still a tyro with these cars but learning every day on here.........so do as the guru's say...they are guru's for a reason dude........

oil staining on turbo inlet hose area ( the middle "tube" ) ......ours chuffs out some fumes from the valve cover breather ( which feeds into the air hose from the air filter after the air flow sensor to the turbo ) but doesn't seem to use any oil...........but the turbo rides on a bush which is pressure fed with oil ( al least they where back in the 70's trucks ) .....what colour is the smoke coming from the exhaust...remember that oil will kill the cat........

egr blanking.....yes I understand that not "muck" will be recirculated if this devise is blanked off.....and the vacuum actuator disconnected...but is there feed back to the ecu that the ecu will compensate for the lack of egr.......and use more fuel??

also will low eng temp cause the ecu to fuel enrich??

[Piggy]

I can't be arsed to explain all the other possible causes until you can be arsed to go amd check for the bloody boost leak.

this!

If it sounds like a boost leak, has a boost leak and is smoking like a boost leak....it's probably a boost leak 

[JTaylor2005]

Managed to get the elbow out. The old gasket was proper dry and hard to get off. Managed it in the end. I used two new gaskets (have a pack of 10) and sandwhiched them together using instant gasket to make one thick one. I sealed up the egr and put a home made gasket between the metal blanker and the inlet elbow which will hopefully seal things nicely. Its all back together now but im going to give it a while to dry nicely. It looks like its made a good seal I can only hope haha.

I looked at the other end of the boost pipe where it joins to the turbo but that looked dry as a bone. I gently tightened the hose clamps about 1 turn and left them like that.

The pipe going into the intake on the turbo does seem to have some oily mist resedue on it but I cant work out why that would be considering that its the intake side of the turbo :S

[Iceman299]

How hard was the elbow to get off? Need to get mine sorted soon. Seems to be barely any room to work around it

[JTaylor2005]

Well im not going to lie it wasn't the funnest thing I have ever done haha.

The first thing I did this time was remove the drivers side wheel, then find where the turbo inlet is and remove the single 10mm bolt on the front of the turbo that holds the intake pipe onto it.

Then under the bonnet you want to remove the top half of the air box (ease of access really)

Remove the breather pipe from the top of the engine and the metal intake pipe (use a pair of those long handled pliars for this to remove the spring holder things. Then break the seal with a flat head screw driver if needed.)

Now you will need to get your hand down the back of the inlet elbow. On the bottom of it you will find a rubber hose that is clamped on with a jubilee clamp. If your in luck the bolt on the jubilee will be facing the rear or the right rear of the engine bay. That way you can get your arm down there with a 7mm spanner and gradually undo it about a quarter of a turn at a time

Once that is loose you want to remove the two allen bolts from where the EGR joins to the inlet elbow. Then the two 13mm bolts that hold the elbow to the manifold. And then there is a single 10mm that holds the intake metal pipe to the inlet elbow. You will need to remove this so you can move the elbow around. (Some HDI's may have an air doser as well which you will need to remove a bolt from. I haven't got this so I can't comment)

Once that is all loose with a lot of wiggling and pulling you should be able to remove it from the rubber hose and the intake manifold.

Do what you need to do with it off and then just do the opposite to put it back together. To re connect the turbo intake pipe I find that it was a lot easier to bolt it on the turbo side first and then bolt it to the inlet elbow second

[Iceman299]

Awesome, appreciate you writing all that out!

[JTaylor2005]

Right then, so having cured the boost leak I think. The car appears to still be pretty smokey. Not as much but its still there. Is there anything else I can do to try and cure it guys?

Thanks for the input so far and no worries iceman299 good luck getting yours done

[shervo]

Is it on a standard map?
When was it last serviced?
Do you spend most your time driving around at low revs then suddenly plant your foot allowing soot build up in the exhuast?

[Paul_13]

I just wrestled the elbow to the side and did it that way.
Lots of bleeding knuckles etc and swearing.
I'd prefer to do it your way!

[JTaylor2005]

Standard map (hence why im trying to clear the smoke first before a map makes it worse haha)
It has just been serviced totally apart from the fuel filter but do you think that could make a difference??

And well I just sorta drive regularly. 250rpm changes. I will look into that

[shervo]

If I was you id change the fuel filter then, genuine ones are about a fiver and they're a pretty important service item. I guess you mean 2500 rpm haha and yeah that might be your cause, especially if you're accelerating very gently. Have you tryed unplugging your MAF? They're known to cause smoke when dead.

[JTaylor2005]

Okays cool will get a genuine one. I have a eurocarparts one in the garage but everyone seems to like their grnuine ones on here. Although I think the one I got from ecp is a bosch one. I unplugged the maf and the car drove horribly haha so that must be working still.

[shervo]

Bosch one will be fine mate, at the end of the day any clean new filter will be better than a dirty old one. Chuck the fuel filter in and go from there. Seems like your MAF is working then.

[pro_steve]

So you've fixed the leak at the inlet end, what about the leak at the compressor outlet? Is it all oily down there at the join just after the turbo? Take it off and check, usually it splits.

[JTaylor2005]

Nahh the join it's self is dry as a bone. It looks oils around where the intake pipe enters the front of the turbo. If anything though that would mean it would be sucking more air than it thinks and causing less smoke?

[pro_steve]

Well it can't really leak out at that point because the turbo sucks air in, there isn't any pressure. Just make sure there are no leaks in any of the pipe work and then go from there. If it is still really smoky you need to get a boost gauge on there to see if you're getting 14psi of boost.

[Paul_13]

Is 14psi standard boost pressure?
What's the pressure needed for stage 2?

Sorry for the hijack, saves me starting a thread

[JTaylor2005]

Okay will get my self a boost gauge as well soon. Will need one eventually anyway haha.

[Poodle]

Is 14psi standard boost pressure?
What's the pressure needed for stage 2?

Sorry for the hijack, saves me starting a thread

14 psi is standard pressure, stage 2 is 19-21psi generally. Have a look in the guide section, loads of stage 2 info in there.