V50 Engine 2.0D : Excessive smoke, Help needed

[paddyred]

Okay so turbo change aside, does the vehicle perform as expected? I.e pull well? That just rules out a boost issue and rules out the possibility of a vacuum solenoid issue. Oil past the turbo is normal. As an example the porsche carrera turbo usually has 0.4l of oil sat in the intercooler and thats the usual expected amount of blowby on a brand spankers porsche. By all means take the intercooler out and drain it. You can fill it with petrol if you want and clean it out. If you can also blow it out with a leaf blower or compressor to evaporate the petrol. Take the inlet off the turbo too and check the play on the turbo. There should be a little wiggle on there as thats normal because its a floating bearing but worth checking. Are you experiencing a loss of oil? I would expect the level to drop with that much smoke but if the bearing/seal is that far gone it will wiggle a good amount. Next thing is a dodgy injector. Two things you can do here is a leak off test on each one, also grab a mechanics stethoscope on eBay (they are cheap and worth it as you can check injectors and bearings etc) or you can go redneck and use a long screwdriver pressed against your ear to listen to each injector and look for a dodgy one.

[daveyonthemove]

Originally Posted by paddyred

Okay so turbo change aside, does the vehicle perform as expected? I.e pull well? That just rules out a boost issue and rules out the possibility of a vacuum solenoid issue. Oil past the turbo is normal. As an example the porsche carrera turbo usually has 0.4l of oil sat in the intercooler and thats the usual expected amount of blowby on a brand spankers porsche. By all means take the intercooler out and drain it. You can fill it with petrol if you want and clean it out. If you can also blow it out with a leaf blower or compressor to evaporate the petrol. Take the inlet off the turbo too and check the play on the turbo. There should be a little wiggle on there as thats normal because its a floating bearing but worth checking. Are you experiencing a loss of oil? I would expect the level to drop with that much smoke but if the bearing/seal is that far gone it will wiggle a good amount. Next thing is a dodgy injector. Two things you can do here is a leak off test on each one, also grab a mechanics stethoscope on eBay (they are cheap and worth it as you can check injectors and bearings etc) or you can go redneck and use a long screwdriver pressed against your ear to listen to each injector and look for a dodgy one.

Car perfoms as expected, pulls nice and no drop off, but as the smoke gets worse the power feels a little bit 'held back'. Difficult to explain.
The petrol tip is a great idea, and a leaf blower would be a great way to blow out any crud.
Oil hasn't dropped off, but I've barely covered 400 miles since collecting it, so the lack of use is not giving me a great indication.
Not done a leak-off test before, so I will have to do some research on this and give it a go. Part of me hopes it isn't an injector, but part of me hopes it is so I can finally get the problem resolved.

[paddyred]

Well the oil level not dropping is a good start! The fact it smokes like that but gives full power suggests that its possibly a fuel issue as opposed to air. An injector leak off test involves getting the injector leak off pipes and disconnecting them then routing them individually into a bottle and running the engine for the same period of time to see which injector is chucking out the most fuel on the leak off

[daveyonthemove]

Originally Posted by paddyred

Well the oil level not dropping is a good start! The fact it smokes like that but gives full power suggests that its possibly a fuel issue as opposed to air. An injector leak off test involves getting the injector leak off pipes and disconnecting them then routing them individually into a bottle and running the engine for the same period of time to see which injector is chucking out the most fuel on the leak off

Thanks for this tip, I have some see through tubing on the way and will be doing a leak off test this weekend along with intercooler removal and clean up.
I have found a local company selling refurbished injectors 'just in case' but hoping I don't need to spend anymore than I already have.

[Bloders2]

Originally Posted by daveyonthemove

.

whats fuel economy like - has it got worse?

[daveyonthemove]

Originally Posted by Bloders2

whats fuel economy like - has it got worse?

Still poor, 300 miles per tank (full to brim to red light).
Luckily I don't use the car other than weekends, but I'm not able to drive it anywhere at weekends as it's too smokey and I risk a fine if I get pulled over, or causing an incident for someone else.

I have spent this evening removing the throttle body (oil in there again!) and taking the intercooler off.
I poured quite a bit of petrol in the intercooler, left it to soak for a good 10 mins, sloshed it around and left it again before draining off and repeating.
After draining it the second time we blasted air through it with a leaf blower and only got a few spots of oil/petrol on a cloth, so we were satisfied that it was clean.
I wiped out as much of the intercooler>TB hose as I could to remove oil residue, and tried to remove any residue in the Turbo>IC hose on the other side.
TB and sensors cleaned again, and all put back together. Started first time and ticked over nice, but smoke still blasts out the exhaust under acceleration.

Have noticed oil spot on underside of bonnet which appear to have come from the TB (see pics) so there may still be an oil issue.
Engine oil remains at max.
Stethoscope on the injectors wasn't conclusive, but two injectors may not be working correctly, but hard to tell. Hoping to do a leak off test tomorrow and re-check the TB for signs of oil.
If the oil problem has returned, then I will be looking at replacing all IC hoses and the IC itself (any links or advice to these parts is welcome).

I'm getting to the point where DIY mechanics is getting no-where and I need to consider spending lots of money for diagnosis and repairs, and I'm not in a position to do that.

Pics:
Oil on AIT sensor after only 40 miles


Oil on edge of (vacuum hole?) on TB


Oil spots on bonnet which was cleaned prior to a 5 mile test drive


Oil removed with Petrol from inside Intercooler

[paddyred]

Well for a start don't worry about the oil. I pulled off the intake the other day to clean the manifold and there was literally a little pool of oil on the boost hose that ran back down as a drip when I lifted it up at an angle. Its completely normal and nothing to worry about. if the oil was to the point where it was causing that much smoke then I would expect it to pour out the intercooler and boost hoses. I would suggest with that fuel economy that there is an issue on the fuel side. Black smoke is just poorly burnt diesel. You know your intercooler and inlet etc is clean and that means that if it was an oil issue then it would have stopped at least temporarily after you cleaned the inlet side out. Take the cover off and check your air filter (if you havent done this already) its really simple but overlooked and try running it with the top off the air filter housing to see if the little air intake scoop is clogged. If that's okay then its either fuel injectors sticking open and chucking in too much or a dodgy fuel pump. Only things left.

[daveyonthemove]

Originally Posted by paddyred

Well for a start don't worry about the oil. I pulled off the intake the other day to clean the manifold and there was literally a little pool of oil on the boost hose that ran back down as a drip when I lifted it up at an angle. Its completely normal and nothing to worry about. if the oil was to the point where it was causing that much smoke then I would expect it to pour out the intercooler and boost hoses. I would suggest with that fuel economy that there is an issue on the fuel side. Black smoke is just poorly burnt diesel. You know your intercooler and inlet etc is clean and that means that if it was an oil issue then it would have stopped at least temporarily after you cleaned the inlet side out. Take the cover off and check your air filter (if you havent done this already) its really simple but overlooked and try running it with the top off the air filter housing to see if the little air intake scoop is clogged. If that's okay then its either fuel injectors sticking open and chucking in too much or a dodgy fuel pump. Only things left.

Thanks for the advice.
I hadn't thought about the temporary fix where the oil cleanup was concerned, so that makes sense.
I have checked the air filter (first check I did) and it's brand new, but I hadn't thought about running it with the lid off, so I will give that a go later.
Injector bleed off test is top of my to-do list today, so I'll do that with the airbox open at the same time.
I don't think the fuel pump is dodgy, it seems too 'normal' to be that serious, but who knows. I will be calling a Volvo specialist later this morning to see if they can take a look too.

[Bloders2]

i agree with the post above.
No need to worry about oil.
Oil would make a blue smoke and you would be using lots of oil.
The smoke is caused by diesel.
Sorry, ive not read the full post in detail, but assuming you dont have any error codes relating to inlet air pressures etc, it has to be a fuel system problem.

too much fuel can only be the injectors.
A leak off test may not be that obvious either as the excess fuel is going into the cyclinder and not down the leak off pipe. they may be leaking off excessively also, but not guranteed.

I think id be taking the injetors out and having them bench tested.

[daveyonthemove]

I took the car to a Volvo specialist today who very kindly gave up his time for free and had a look for me. As the scan tool was working away, he was having a good look under the bonnet and spotted this:



It had a tuning box fitted all along, and it blended in quite nicely, so it wasn't spotted.
I have removed the Throttle body in order to get to the tuning box's connection to the fuel rail and discovered a massive amount of oil in there and a few hoses that were so sodden in oil, they came off their connectors at the slightest movement.
I've wiped away as much oil as possible with brake cleaner and rags, but I'm left puzzled at what hose connects where, and I may even have a hose missing.

If anyone can provide a good photo or diagram of what these hoses connect to, I would be very grateful.
The best I can find is this one, but it's not as clear as I need on a phone screen under a bonnet:
http://i50.tinypic.com/2ugyzq8.jpg

Thanks.