D5 (2005 on) Cold Starting Issues & smoke on hard acceleration

[Craig S]

I have an Ex Police D5 on a 60 plate with the 205PS engine, which is suffering a couple of issues..... which may or may not be related.

On first start up when the engine is cold, I get about 10 to 30 seconds of rough idle and a large cloud of unburnt diesel out of the exhaust (white smoke very sweet smelling). The colder the ambient air temperature the larger the cloud and the longer the rough idle. Once the car has been going for a little bit it all dies down and runs smooth.

The second issue is that occasionally under heavy acceleration it can deposit a large cloud of white smoke behind me but only once the revs go over about 3000, and only in 3rd/4th gear.

This may or may not be of any relevance but it was in getting serviced at the local dealer, 132,000 miles on the clock, and it came back with a TMAP sensor error code being logged.

Part of me thinks that the issue on cold start up is either one or more of the glow plugs on the way out which is not a big drama, the other thought is that it is a leaky injector which will probably lead to a lot of expense.

With the smoke under heavy acceleration, I think that could be down to the TMAP sensor error that is being logged. Possibly as a result of a small leak in the intake system somewhere, which only becomes noticeable under pretty much full boost.

Oh yes, and the MPG figures seem pretty low, on a recent 400 mile motorway yomp, sitting with cruise control at spot on 70, I managed to average a frankly paltry 40mpg.... from what I have found on t'internet faulty MAP sensors can cause issues with fuel economy.

Any thoughts?

[Horton]

I'd agreed with your prognosis, the rough running on start up will be a glow plug..... Your occasional white smoke may be turbo related...

[Craig S]

Time for a bit of an update.

I have had the chance to check the glowplugs with a resistance meter, and all of the plugs are showing a 1 ohm resistance, which from what I have found elsewhere means that the glowplugs are fine. Will monitor the situation, and if it continues will do an injector bleed off test to see if it is a weepy injector.

When I was checking the glow plugs, I noticed that there was an oil leak onto the oil filter housing. Initially I thought that it was from the filter housing itself, however, above the oil filter housing, there is a connector (which is part number 31274139.... turns out is a Nipple in the Air Cleaner Shutter) which appeared to be leaking oil onto the oil filter housing. The nipple literally fell out from the air duct which runs from the air filter housing to somewhere behind the engine....(highly technical description I know.

I have reseated the item and put a layer of electrical tape on to try and get a better seal to prevent the oil leak.

On the other side of things, I think I have found answers to the MAP sensor error....... the sensor not being connected was the issue. When I was checking the glowplugs and looking for the MAP sensor to see how easy it would be to change i found that the wiring connector for the sensor was not connected to the sensor. Have reconnected it and will see what is what.

I presume that a main dealer when they get an error code during a software update all they do is simply say that the error code has been logged and dont even do a cursory glance at the part. As the car is an ex police car part of me thinks that may have been disconnected at the time the car was decommissioned and has been off ever since.

[Craig S]

So, after reconnecting the TMAP sensor wire, there has been a significant increase in fuel economy for the car - up from an average of about 40mpg on the motorway to an average of about 48. So happy days.

On the other hand, after testing the glow plugs and finding that they all seem to be giving the correct 1 ohm resistance, I have ruled them out of the equation for causing the white smoke on start up.

So I have taken the opportunity to do a leak back test for all of the injectors. After making a DIY test kit, i did the leak back test. Injectors 1 and 5 gave significantly higher leak back results than injectors 2, 3 and 4, but not significant by any stretch of the imagination.

I had found somewhere on these forums (or possibly the internet) that anything below 40ml per minute of leak back is within tolerance.

The results of the test were :-
Cylinder 1 - 18 ml
Cylinder 2 - 3 ml
Cylinder 3 - 3 ml
Cylinder 4 - 2 ml
Cylinder 5 - 8 ml

Mind you the 40 ml figure i found seems to relate to the older d5 injectors (the 163/185 bhp variants) not the twin turbo variants. I have a sneaky suspicion that with the newer Euro 5 injectors the leak back figures might be lower.

I don't want to start replacing injectors unless I'm certain that they are going to be the cause of the issues. From what I can find these come in at around £200-£250 per injector.

Anyone got any other suggestions?

[skyship007]

I would just try a can of Liqui Moly Diesel Purge direct feed injection cleaner. You can either use it to fill up the fuel filter housing (A bit wasteful), or make a loop as per the You tube clip. Vary the idle RPM as the cleaner is run through the system. 50/50 chance the tips are blown if someone has been using non Volvo, Ford or gen Bosch fuel filters.

Police cars do a lot of short trips and spend plenty of time at idle outside Dunkin Donuts or McD's, so they can suffer from gum deposits in the injectors if run on cheaper fuel in particular.

How much oil is this engine using every 10K miles ??

If it's more than one liter, the CCV might be blocked which can cause the turbo oil seal to leak. It will also push oil past the rings and valve guides when the go pedal is booted.

If it's not the CCV, then move up one oil grade from an xw30 to an xw40 AND stick a can of major brand oil stop leak in when the oil and filter are changed.
It might also help to clean the intake and EGR valve if there is any sign of a lag during acceleration.

Hope it's not got HG trouble.

[Shooter69]

Hmmm could the sweet smelling white smoke indicate head gasket? I had a heater matrix leaking which gave a very sweet smell I assume this could be the anti freeze...

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by Shooter69

Hmmm could the sweet smelling white smoke indicate head gasket? I had a heater matrix leaking which gave a very sweet smell I assume this could be the anti freeze...

It could well do, although it's difficult to describe a smell sometimes!

[Craig S]

Thanks for that folks.

As far as oil consumption is concerned the answer is zero. Between services (9000 miles), the oil level never varied at all that i could tell, but with the digital oil level indicator how much oil does it have to use before it shows up?

The coolant level has always remained constant with no oil residue visible on the surface of the coolant at the expansion tank, so I am pretty sure it is not a head gasket issue.

The smell as far as I can tell is definitely unburnt diesel, very reminiscent of the way that you can tell when a petrol car is running rich on start up... it is that very distinctive smell.

There is no sign of any lag during acceleration, or not since the TMAP sensor was reconnected.

As far as the servicing was concerned, I can only vouch for the servicing that has been carried out since I got it, which was done at the local volvo garage, but I would assume that the Plod would be servicing their cars with genuine parts, and looking down its service printout it had 18 services before i got the car from an ex-policecar company.

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by Craig S

Thanks for that folks.

As far as oil consumption is concerned the answer is zero. Between services (9000 miles), the oil level never varied at all that i could tell, but with the digital oil level indicator how much oil does it have to use before it shows up?

The coolant level has always remained constant with no oil residue visible on the surface of the coolant at the expansion tank, so I am pretty sure it is not a head gasket issue.

The smell as far as I can tell is definitely unburnt diesel, very reminiscent of the way that you can tell when a petrol car is running rich on start up... it is that very distinctive smell.

There is no sign of any lag during acceleration, or not since the TMAP sensor was reconnected.

As far as the servicing was concerned, I can only vouch for the servicing that has been carried out since I got it, which was done at the local volvo garage, but I would assume that the Plod would be servicing their cars with genuine parts, and looking down its service printout it had 18 services before i got the car from an ex-policecar company.

OK, so this is probably not a HG or worn block issue, just bad injectors. Let us know what happens after the Diesel Purge and a good Sunday morning motorway session.

[n217970]

Sorry to dig up an old post but OP if you are still around did you ever find a solution to the unburnt diesel on a cold start? I have the exact same problem on the same engine of the same age (although only 70k miles). Replaced all the glowplugs for new but to no benefit.