C30 D5 motor white heavy smoke

[doyakah]

Hello everyone,

It's my first post on the forum and i would need some help and/or insight.

Car : Volvo 2007 D5 automatic, 180hp

I have a problem of really heavy white smoke on cold morning and cold startup.
The smoke is coming from the front left of the car (see picture included).
It would seem that i am consuming coolant, either through a leak directly on the engine block, or, i hope not, a dead head gasket.

The first time it happened was at idle on a cold day at a drive through, starting with white smoke after some time, it started turning grey/black. I then proceeded to stop the car to check. I saw water coming from the exhaust, i assume it was linked to the cold weather. When i restarted the car, no symptoms whatsoever (White smoke or water from pipe).

No problem for the next days as the weather was less cold.

Just to check the car, I started it again at night, it was around 15°C, no problem, but the next morning, starting it at 3-4°C, it started smoking once again (That is when i took the picture).

Does anyone have an idea of what could be going on ?

[Kev0607]

Is there any coolant in the engine? The coolant reservoir doesn't look like it has much in it.

You could have a split coolant hose or cracked radiator.

[doyakah]

Thank you for your answer,

The coolant level is low but there was coolant in the engine when i took the picture, i bought the necessary to top it of.

I don’t think it’s a cracked radiator, the symptoms makes me think that something is leaking on a part of the engine that gets hot relatively fast (2-3 mins)

[doyakah]

Ok, so i went and started the car (i stopped using it the last time it had heavy smoke, around mid January), no problem, white smoke from exhaust (condensation) but nothing coming from the engine.

The only thing that scares me is a weird odor from the exhaust, but I’m not qualified to know if it’s just normal exhaust gases or something mixed within. It has a strong alkaline smell i’d say (like salty).

It’s weird but from what i see, this only happens on cold weather (below 5°C)+ cold start. From this, i’d say it’s either lightly warped head gasket (i don’t know if it’s possible) or a leak from a component that is highly subject to heat deformation (a metal coolant pipe ?)

I will post a video of the motor running, if anyone can take a look and tell me if sees or hears anything, that would be much appreciated.

[doyakah]

Here is the video
https://youtu.be/DtjuzlxgtfQ?si=QBCS2-PGNtTor0Ws

[Teddy1975]

Since it only happens in cold weather and because I'm fairly sure I can spot an auxillary heater on the firewall in your video, right here:



I think you'll need to have the aux heater serviced. A cloud of white smoke means the fan in the heater isn't working well/at all. The exhaust for the heater is located so it looks like the smoke comes from the engine room. You can also remove fuse 21 and the heater won't try to come on. That just makes it a little longer for the engine to warm up.