My Fiancé has bought a TDI estate with a known engine problem, smoking HEAVILY from cold but actually running not too badly (diesel smoke, white, smells 'dry' and not oily).

I suspect that there is a sticking injector but am not too sure how to diagnose which cylinder. Currently I'm considdering just swapping the engine for a younger/working one (this one is 149k with failing clutch and cambelt due in 10k).

Are there any 'easy' methods of diagnosing this problem?

Dave.

With VCDS you can look at injector values on the measuring blocks, it would be obvious to see which one has issue.

Hmm, the only cable I have is an old ELM327.

Is there a register of people in the area who have VCDS?

To be honest we've already paid for the new engine but I'd still like to find out whats going on with this one before its removed.

Dave.

There's q map/list somewhere in the diagnostics subforum (hard to link on my phone, sorry!).

I'm not on there but have it around Aylesbury (home) or Oxford (uni) if it helps at all...

I've managed to get VCDS lite running, not 100% sure what blocks to look at but block 13 showed up as idle speed injector trim, the following is the log from VCDS.

Monday,26,March,2012,18:56:26
038 906 019 HT,,1.9l R4 EDC 0000SG  1503,
,Group A:,'013,,,,Group B:,'016,,,,Group C:, Not Running
,,Cyl 1,Cyl 2,Cyl 3,Cyl 4,,Generator loading,Aux. heat,Activation,Voltage supply,,,,,
,TIME,-2.8 to +2.8 mg/H,-2.8 to +2.8 mg/H,-2.8 to +2.8 mg/H,-2.8 to +2.8 mg/H,TIME,,(see label file),Hi/Lo,from ECM,TIME,,,,
Marker,STAMP, mg/str, mg/str, mg/str, mg/str,STAMP,%,,, V,STAMP,,,,
,0.01,-3.01,2.99,2.99,-3.01,0.42,0.0,10000000,	  00,14.44,,,,,
,0.81,-3.01,2.99,2.99,-3.01,1.21,0.0,10000000,	  00,14.44,,,,,
,1.61,-3.01,2.99,2.99,-3.01,2.01,0.0,10000000,	  00,14.52,,,,,
,2.41,-3.01,2.99,2.99,-3.01,2.81,0.0,10000000,	  00,14.59,,,,,
,3.23,-3.01,2.99,2.99,-3.01,3.66,0.0,10000000,	  00,14.52,,,,,
,4.11,-3.01,2.99,2.99,-3.01,4.54,0.0,10000000,	  00,14.59,,,,,
,4.97,-3.01,2.99,2.99,-3.01,5.41,0.0,10000000,	  00,14.44,,,,,

If I'm reading it right, 2 injectors are trimmed up full, and 2 are closed right down. I'm presuming it will be the latter 2 that are injecting too much fuel.

Unless I'm reading it wrong, if so, can someone tell me which blocks I should be looking at?

Thanks, Dave.