Volvo XC90 163 D5 Smoke on Startup

[47423]

Mine has just returned from the rather excellent Clive Brooks.
The DPF has been bored out and this could be the cause of it smoking, at a cost of £800 i declined the replacement as it may not be the definite cause of the problem and tbh i can live with it as long as it passes the Emissions test. It had just recently passed the test and i wondered if anyone else with similar empty DPF`s that had any problems come test time. ( I do not know for certain if mine passed the test or they got round it if you know what i mean!).
Volvo cleared the faults on the last visit and it has not thrown up any since, they cannot see anything wrong with the engine although a few repairs that have been do look a bit iffy and it sounds a bit throaty (could that be because it has or hasn`t been re mapped after the removal of the DPF inners? )
At least this has not left me out of pocket,
Thanks to Craig at Clive Brooks

[5cilinder]

What kind of rocketsurgians are that? Demolishing a DPF without the proper software modification to supress faults and underpowered running?

Besides arent they checking nowadays with the MOT that there is indeed a working DPF ?

[47423]

Originally Posted by 5cilinder

What kind of rocketsurgians are that? Demolishing a DPF without the proper software modification to supress faults and underpowered running?

Besides arent they checking nowadays with the MOT that there is indeed a working DPF ?

No idea as to its previous, it did concern me why they would need to do it on a car that appears to be doing a good mileage.
The MOT only checks its present, which externally it is, an emissions test is all it has to pass (which it appears it did).
Thats not to say they wont tighten the test up in future though.
He did comment it runs well which i can assure you it goes very well indeed.

[sarkie83]

Just to update the thread, the XC90 eventually went in to get the leaking injector replaced. No difference. I was then told it was a faulty EGR valve, which they replaced. No difference. So they put it back as it was, and it's still sitting on the drive not being used and smoke seems to be worse than ever. I'm starting to think head gasket might be the issue, but I will prob just sell for spares.

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by skyship007

The old pre ECU/common rails diesels did smoke a bit on start, but the modern ones don't!

@OP:
When were the air intake and EGR last cleaned ??
Have you checked the crank case vent system is not blocked ??

How much oil is this car burning?
Any coolant loss?
When were the oil & filter last changed and what did you use ??
Have you checked the oil level and done a finger rub inspection ??
,
The engine is also rough running at cold idle, so this does not look good. Wild guess, but HG failure, bad rings, blown turbo or wrong oil in use.

Seriously thin oil caused by gummed up injectors (It won't show a code) and too many short trips or time at idle and a poor quality 0 or 5/30 is in third place, along with a half blown turbo oil seal.

The key question would be, is the coolant level going down or the oil level going up and does it smoke when started ??

If you want to know about the HG, one easy way is to send a 200 ml sample of used oil (Must be at least 3K miles old) to Blackstone Lab Inc. Their analyst will let you know if the HG or an injector is leaking. Volvo anti freeze contains both Sodium and Potassium compounds which are rare in engine oil (Castrol GTX and Valvoline Maxlife do contain Sodium), so they should both show below 10 ppm after 10K miles.
If the injection system has a fault, then the flashpoint of the oil will drop and a direct test for fuel will result in a warning.
Bad rings dump Chromium into the engine oil, but there is no easy way of checking an EGR from a UOA report. A blocked EGR or CAT can cause a check engine light.
A blown turbo will show up as a high Copper reading, as the steel bearings in a turbo are the only ones in a diesel that contain Copper.