Smokey Volvo 2003T

[LJC]

Over the last few seasons the exhaust of my Volvo 2003T (1987) is getting progressively smokier, not so much when at full load but when it has idled for some time and then opened up. The smoke is greyish white and smells terrible. Apart from this the engine starts instantaneously and I have not detected a fall off in performance. It uses virtually no oil. I have heard/read that this could be due to injectors needing attention and/or failed seals on the turbo shaft allowing oil into the hot exhaust. Has anybody experience of this??

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[Guest]

sounds like dribbling injectors, if as you say hardly any oil consumption wouldnt be the turbo seals.
burning oil has that peculiar smell of vhot engine oil, the dribbling injectors smoke will smell of diesel
stu

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[oldharry]

It is very different to tell the difference between oil haze and unburnt diesel in the exhaust. A puff of bad smelling smoke after idling is a common symptom in older diesels, and has many possible causes:

Ifthe smoke is oil based then in addtion to the turbo seals you may have valve stem seal wear dropping oil into the manifolds at tickover. IS the crankcase pressure up? Check the breathers for blowby - if they are connected to the intake manifold as is common, engine oil can be blown into the inlets. However as you say it uses very little oil, this is unlikely.

If it is diesel fog, then it is unburnt fuel from the injectors, which means one or more cylinders are not firing properly at low speed. this can be an injector problem and its worth having them out for checking first. More likely there is some other problem causing compression loss at low speed, such as leaking valves, head gasket or general wear. There are also specifics such as valve timing, tappets, injector pump faults or mistiming which will cause this.

How often do you work the engine hard? If you habitually operate at less than half throttle, then all you need is to give it a good blast at full throttle for half an hour or more to blow all the accumulated carbon and gunge out of the engine and exhaust.

Good luck! Tracking down white smoke always requires a bit of detective work.

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[beneteau_305_553]

I have used STP injector cleaner in the fuel and found it made a big difference.

Worth a try

<hr width=100% size=1>Richard

 

[LJC]

Thanks for your responses. The engine gets a lot of hard work. I live in Rome and so do a lot of motoring. At full load there is the usual light haze but when I am mucking about in a marina when the engine is lightly loaded when full throttle is then selected a real cloud of smoke is formed.

I had thought of valve guide wear but as you say the low (virtually nil) oil consumption seems to get rid of that theory.

I suspect the injectors as it is a problem that has been gradually getting worse. Compression seems to be OK as the engine is an instantaneous starter. I'll have the engine out this winter and check all the valves, head gasket etc.

Thanks once again,
Lawrence

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[tome]

LJC

Are you in Fiumicino? I had some good sailing out of there and rented a place in Torrvaianica (sp?) whilst working in Pomezia. Great place, Rome!

Regards
Tom

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[pvb]

While the engine\'s out...

I'm sure you'll have a good look around the engine while it's out, but pay some attention to the thin steel pipe which takes high pressure oil from the starboard side of the engine to the top of the turbocharger bearings. I've just experienced a corrosion failure of this pipe - thankfully discovered before it sprayed all the oil out of the engine! It was corrosion next the the banjo connection on the block, leading to a tiny pinhole leak. Maybe worth a look.

By the way, many 2003T engines seem to have excess smoke, but with little or no oil consumption.

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[beneteau_305_553]

Before taking the engine out try the injector cleaner. it really does work...

I have a diesel Renault Laguna and the manual says it should be used every 5000 miles which is equivalent to every 100 hours running.

Renault dealers should have it in stock. They sell it for £1.00 per bottle here in the uk.

It had an immediate effect on my Volvo 2002 engine once it got through the filters.

<hr width=100% size=1>Richard