Help! White smoke. No coolant loss. Clears after few miles
 

About 2 weeks on I am having white smoke on Start up. The smoke starts about 30 seconds into my journey. Then the white smoke comes out and fills the road pretty bad. Bad as in other drivers switch on their head lights and slow down behind me to keep their distance. The ones that overtake me try to flag me down or warn me of some danger.

The smoke used to clear in about a mile or 2 but last time I tried that it look much longer to clear out, but it did clear out. Now I am scared to try again.

1.
I am not loosing any coolant. I am losing a bit of oil as in I need to top up the oil every 1000 or 2000 miles as I keep checking.

I had my oil cooler replaced about 3-4 months back at a local garage (not Volvo) as it had compromised and my coolant tank burst out with black oil one day. Could this be related to the replaced oil cooler or some bad mechanic doing a bad job when replacing the oil cooler?

2.
I tried TEC 2000 in my diesel tank as advised my a mechanic to see if it helped. It did not help one bit.

3.
I tried Wynns stop smoking and Wynns stop leak and again nothing helped.

4.
Everyone I spoke to suspects condensation. Can condensation throw out white smoke like a cloud on acceleration enough to restrict views?
I mean 0 visibility at worst for a few seconds before it clears out.

5.
I read on here that it could be a faulty injector leaking overnight. Can the injector keep leaking for couple of days even if I am not using the vehicle? If so then that explains why it took longer to burn off the white smoke after I left it for 2 days untouched.

6.
I also read it could be the '0' rings on the oil cooler. The oil cooler itself was original from Volvo. So can I rule this out as it was replaced only a few months back. Could a mechanic that is not Volvo authorised make a mistake while installing it?

7.
The fuel filter was also replaced for an OEM one about a year ago. Could that be contributing to the issue (white smoke) ?

8,
When I had my Volvo XC90 taken into Volvo dealer for a diagnostics prior to the oil cooler going bust as I was experiencing engine cut offs (safety measure) and limp mode they had changed a couple of wires into the transistors.

Help if you can please.

Cannot be condensation. At worst in winter it is only a light mist. Never enough to block visibility

White is coolant. Check again thoroughly.

White smoke on a cold diesel engine can also often be caused by unburnt fuel particularly if one or more of the injectors are not working correctly.

Get someone to do a " Leak Off test" for you ( well documented on here if you search ) and that will quickly identify which injectors are at fault.

As the engine comes up to temperature it is better able to deal with a faulty injector and excess fuel being burnt hence the smoke trail decreasing.

As I didn't knew, what @S60D5-185 meant with this test, I did a little search. That's a great test, simply out of curiosity I'll try that tomorrow.

Here is the video I found, from @cheshired5 (from whom else could it be :D ):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbQhKjj6jis

Swiss XC90
Thanks for your reply.
No coolant loss at all. I have been keeping an eye on this for 2 weeks not=w. If anything the coolant level was above max. I syringed out enough water to bring it between min and max.

S60D5-185
Thanks for your reply.
This is my no 1 priority. I will probably need to find a good garage I can get AA to take it to. I am having panic attacks when I see the smoke. Afraid someone will report me for the white smoke. Is it illegal to drive with the white smoke???

one question here on the back if this reply is '''''can the injector keep leaking even if I do not start my car for 2-3 days?'''''

If it does then explains why I have to smoke out a lot of white smoke than if I used the car everyday.

If you loose no coolant, than I would suspect to much fuel. Have you ever "smelled" the smoke? You should smell, if coolant is burnt. Check also the colour of the coolant, maybe some part of the fluid is "replaced".

Do you have the possibility to clamp the fuel line, when you leave the car for a few days? Maybe disconnecting the battery could help here as well...? :)

paddy 74

Thanks again mate.
You suspect fuel. Another mechanic tells me if it is fuel it should be black or dark smoke and not white. Somehow I think white smoke is possible. Please enlighten me on this if you can.
The cooler of the coolant is clear as water. No change of colour.
Clamping the fuel line sounds like a great solution. Will google it to see if can do it myself after a journey. Disconnecting the battery should be easier although for the xc90 its behind and under the back seats.

XJSDriver
Thanks for the link

Head gasket. Check the coolant for hydrocarbons.

gmanag

Thanks for your reply. I did have an oil cooler failure few months back and replaced my oil filter with a new one from Volvo. Although genuine product I got it replaced in a local garage. I was not happy with their flushing however. They did a pretty bad job. Although most oil was removed from the container it is still stained dark. But the water/coolant is clear or it looks clear. Could this coolant not being of excellent quality also create problems?