Smoke?

[iank01]

In the mornings when I start my Surf diesel a significant amount of blue white smoke comes out of the exhaust and then disappears. Is this something to be concerned about or is it normal?

[laser_jock@work]

In the mornings when I start my Surf diesel a significant amount of blue white smoke comes out of the exhaust and then disappears. Is this something to be concerned about or is it normal?

Left overnight a small amount of oil and moisture will collect in the combustion chambers particularly in older or more worn engines. This will manifest on start-up as bluey smoke and steam (on cold mornings). If it goes with within 30 seconds to a minute of the engine running then I wouldn't worry. Also on very cold mornings the steam may last a bit longer till the exhaust is hot.

Nevillef

[iank01]

The vehicle is a 1998 3.0 L with 50025 muiles on the clock hence my concern. I would have expected it at about the 100000 mile mark but not in a low milege vehicle unless it has been clocked.

[Rob]

I don't think i get much or any smoke when i start in the morning. I get a decent sized cloud of grey smoke when starting hot though :/

[paulh]

I don't think i get much or any smoke when i start in the morning. I get a decent sized cloud of grey smoke when starting hot though :/

White smoke, grey smoke, blue smoke? I thought they picked the new pope yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!

[mickey]

hey ian, seems like we have similar probs, you may have seen my recent thread, re blue smoke? as you say, on a motor of such few miles, you wouldn't expect wear to be an issue just yet..hell, i used to own a little 1ltr nissan micra, she had 150,000 on the clock, but was only really running blue for the last two years of her life..my pugeot diesel van, 1.8 was running as clean as a whistle at 120.000..

i'm no mechanic, i keep making that point to cover my ignorance..but the way i see it, oil getting into the motor whilst not turning, must be coming from above, i'm sure gravity does that, so valves..has to be valves, doesn't it..so we can at least take comfort in the fact our rings are as god intended..

i've been checking mine at every start, i can now make the leap from front to rear of the vehicle in one..this is how mine works..turn the key first thing, no smoke..unless i didn't wait for the glowplugs to stop heating, then i get loads of grey stuff..when its really cold, the vapour tumbles out of the rear like a dry ice machine..when i stop at a garage or something, then, as a previous poster observed, then i always get a large black, quickly turning grey cloud.

ok, yesterday i did this..put it out of overdrive, and went for it..my stomach really went crazy as my surf protested at the rpm, but i held firm..there was a huge trail of black gunge behind me, it was embarrasing..but i know i dont drive my car right, i just don't give it enough stick, and i don't think i really ever get the exhaust up to temperature, i mean, there is a lot of pipe there.

now, even when i start it from hot, no smoke, nothing..for now anyway.my mate swears he was seeing blue smoke on hot start..maybe he was.if i've got a valve issue, then at some point i'll have to get it checked..maybe we have a similar problem here..maybe a valve can get coked up and stick, i've heard of sticking valves, but wether it could allow oil to trickle through i don't know, maybe the guys can put us right..on my post, valve stem seals were mentioned, so maybe that is the situation.

my vehicle is low mileage, you say yours is also..maybe our cars are higher mileage than indicated, but in that case, they would have had to be wound back a hell of a lot to get it from a shot block to 50,000 k..and talking to people, the consensus of opinion is that the japanese, having a greater sense of honour than the average uk counterpart, would be unlikely to have been the perpertrators of the clocking scam..i'll bet your wagon didn't arrive into the uk with an alarm system fitted?

maybe you should just aim your beast down the motorway for a white knuckle ride, see if you can clear it out a bit, then see if the blue is still there..just a thought, if you get rid of the grey, it might be easier to see the picture..i hope this doesn't sound patronising? i really don't know engines..but i've gained so much from this site, it seems rude to not give an opinion, seeing as we seem to share symptoms at the moment.

[InfraRed]

A new silencer on my exhaust seems to have sorted mine out. When I first had the car hoofing it enough to cause a gear down change was embarrasing due to the smoke screen I left behind. There must be an incredible build up of soot in that silencer over fairly short milages, mine had covered 36k when I bought it and was still on the original exhaust, the silencer was close to the end of its life though. I do get a slight blue tinge to the steam first thing on a cold morning but then we are burning diesel oil and not petrol.

[iank01]

I will try hoofing down the motorway or as they say redlining it for a bit to see if it clears anything.