UKC

My Freelander Diesel is emitting light blue smoke with a sluggish start when cold. It's done 93000miles. Once its warmed up and running there's no obvious sign of smoke.

Anyone able to suggest what the problem might be, worst case scenario cost etc.? Googling suggests piston rings, valve seal....

Thanks

In reply to FesteringSore:

light blue smoke is normally oil,white is water and fag coloured is diesel ,try checking your turbo before you go down the road of piston rings ,take either inlet or out let off turbo grab the spindle and give it a little lift , normally if the bearings are gone theres a massive amount of play and the hoses have oil residue in them , if this is ok time for a compression test .only advice some one else may have better but thats where i would start(ps check turbo with engine off)

Engine started fine this morning(from cold) with a minimal amount of smoke - possibly no more than expected? However there was a bit more that came out momentarily about two hundred yards down the road.

Any more thoughts folks?

In reply to FesteringSore:

wind Blown used sanity towel stuck up the exhaust?

In reply to Choss:


with a remark and spelling like that I find myself questioning your SANITY

In reply to FesteringSore:
Oh my sanitary is fine.

I was just putting Two and Two together From your Other thread

In reply to FesteringSore:

Light blue smoke is usually engine oil. The three usual places it can get into the combustion chamber are down the valve stem seals, up the bores past the oil control rings or in with the air from the turbo shaft bearing.

If it's not burning a lot and the puff is mostly at start up I'd suspect the stem seals or the turbo. That said, it could be the oil control rings getting gummed up when cold. Can't think how you could easily and reliably tell the different sources apart to be honest. Personally I'd be inclined to ignore it and top the oil up occasionally but then that's a character flaw more than a maintenance recommendation.

jk

In reply to FesteringSore:

Could be first signs of Head-gasket failure!

Making a guess on the age of your Freelander due to milage, 03/04? BMW diesel engine.

BMW Diesel Head-gaskets tend to fail between the main oil feed gallery and the cylinder bore (Same as Mercedes Diesels). When the engine is cold and the oil pressure is high, oil passes into no 1 cylinder bore, as the engine warms and pressure drops, it will stop.

Not easy to diagnose at this stage I'm afraid. As JK said, let it develop and see what happens, its going to be expensive whatever. Sorry.

Adam

In reply to All:

Well I've finally been able to speak to a friend who is a professional mechanic at a main dealership. Given that the engine is otherwise running smoothly throughout the speed range he is pretty sure that it's a glow plug problem. He's going to check it out on Wednesday.

Thanks for comments; useful, intelligent and otherwise.

In reply to FesteringSore:
Just a quick one, have a sniff of the smoke.

Burnt and oily smelling - Oil getting into bores or exhaust
Diesely - Unburnt Diesel, caused by incomplete burn due to heater plugs on startup (slow to start, maybe firing on one or two cylinders first), or overfueling (other clue would be fuel knock on tickover).
Damp - Condensation I exhaust system, or coolant (with other obvious symptoms)

Cheers Adam

Just read the sluggish start bit of your OP

In reply to butteredfrog: Mate's going to check it out on Wed.

In reply to butteredfrog:

The car, or Choss's sanity?

In reply to FesteringSore:

Not a huge milage. If it starts better in the warm than cold it's probably unburnt diesel due one or more of the glow plugs not working. Other than that it could be oil which may be seals or turbo but turbo is usually sudden and very obvious!

In reply to FesteringSore:



I was going to suggest glowplugs. When the glowplugs on my Ford 1.8 TDi were no good, it took a while for the engine to spin over and start up and it would chuff out a cloud of light blue smoke when starting from cold. I fitted new glow plugs and now it starts fine and there's no noticeable smoke on start up.

In reply to Choss:



Bloody hell...