Pulled up at some traffic lights, and waited patiently on tick ovver for approx 90 seconds.

Nowt unusual, no dash lights, no odd noises, water temp normal.

Gently pulled away when they turned to green, looked in the mirror as i suddenly noticed a HOOGE plume of white smoke envelop the poor Audi behind me.

Sorry mate for stopping you dead in your tracks

Unbelievable, but absolutely no problems since, in fact, no problem at the time in terms of performance either.

Most odd.

Anyone else ever experienced this?

I'm 95% sure it was white smoke btw, as it disapated as quickly as it appeared...albeit, it was very windy at the time.

Edited 10 March, 201313 yr by Mr Ree

Petrol or Diesel engine?

Petrol or Diesel engine?

Sorry mate..it's in the bit under my name though actually...diesel.(CR)

Does that ruddy DPF thing kick out a load of smoke when it regenerates itself I wondered?

Hope it's not a pending sign of head gasket failure, but as I say, it only did it once 20 miles into a 60 mile journey.

Edited 10 March, 201313 yr by Mr Ree

Are you sure it was your car, hehehe

Could it be fuel vapour in this cold weather?

Or like you say it was doing a regen?

If it was a major problem I think it would be doing it all the time.

I noticed a large puff of white smoke from the back end of my CR Superb last week, the car was doing an active regen and I was driving quite slowly down some country lanes, I joined a large road and gunned it off the blocks. Result? white smoke. I've only noticed it a few times in 2 and a half years.

If it does it again, check for the signs of a DPF regen: fast idle of about 950rpm (not to be confused with a fast idle in low temperatures or low battery), lumpy partial throttle, higher than normal oil temp, sometimes a booming noise from the exhaust at about 2500 rpm or thereabouts.

Do you get a light on dash when it's doing a regen or does that mean its got a fault?

not for the normal regens you dont.

I thought you had news on the election of the new pope. :-)

Sorry mate..it's in the bit under my name though actually...diesel.(CR)

That doesn't show up on the iphone or ipad.

Blue smoke = oil

White smoke = water

Black smoke = unburnt diesel

Edited 11 March, 201313 yr by Metblackrat

My 07 Vrs diesel put out a puff today when I took off after a regen,was light grey ash tho it's nice too see it all the same every few months.

Well I don't know then.

Been ok all day today.

I can only assume that i must have driven over and burst a whoppin' big bag of steam. :think:

Tell you though. there was that much of it that it caused the Audi behind me to stop and vanish from view momentarily.

Edited 11 March, 201313 yr by Mr Ree

That doesn't show up on the iphone or ipad.

Blue smoke = oil

White smoke = water

Black smoke = unburnt diesel

Is that right?

Surely its

Blue smoke = oil

White smoke = water or unburnt diesel

Black smoke = partially/badly burnt diesel - usualy sign of failing injectors causing over-rich running.

When I had problems with glow plugs on an old Xantia diesel I would crank over for ages then when it finally fired up I got an enormous cloud of white smoke - no doubting it was diesel - you could smell it!

During regen, extra diesel is injected on the exhaust stroke to get burnt in the exhaust/DPF to raise the temperature to burn off the collected soot. Must've been happening on tickover then got pushed out as you powered away.

Do these things really help the environment or have they just swapped 1 problem for another?!

Do these things really help the environment or have they just swapped 1 problem for another?!

What, by making the car less fuel efficient it helps the environment? In my view the DPF is nothing more than a money printing machine.

Mine did this yesterday and never makes smoke, glad to see its normal. I had been sitting idling in a traffic Jam for 30 odd minutes and then ragged it off the mark when the road was clear. It was a bit like naval warfare, make smoke so the enemy can't see you!   

What, by making the car less fuel efficient it helps the environment? In my view the DPF is nothing more than a money printing machine.

 

Particulates are worse for the environment (and our health) than the negligible additional CO2 generated by a regen cycle.

 

If the car manufacturers could get away with not fitting DPFs, they would!

If you have seen some of my more recent posts, I have since done more research and updated my views accordingly

Particulates are worse for the environment (and our health) than the negligible additional CO2 generated by a regen cycle.

 

If the car manufacturers could get away with not fitting DPFs, they would!

 

Do you really think that these small particles disappear completely after a full regeneration? I'd say they get smaller but they stay...

The regeneration isn't a wonder. It's like not dropping a piece of trash after 5 minutes but dropping the daily trash each evening. That's my opinion.

And if I'd be able to buy a car without that then I'd be happy about such possibility. Right now nobody asks my opinion. I have to buy and that's all. That's a nice business actually. Some people might buy some auxiliary stuff like leather seats, advanced navigation or audio system but most of them probably not. One should buy DPF without any choice.

If you have seen some of my more recent posts, I have since done more research and updated my views accordingly

 

Yes - sorry, didn't realise this was such an old thread!

 

Do you really think that these small particles disappear completely after a full regeneration? I'd say they get smaller but they stay...

The regeneration isn't a wonder. It's like not dropping a piece of trash after 5 minutes but dropping the daily trash each evening. That's my opinion.

And if I'd be able to buy a car without that then I'd be happy about such possibility. Right now nobody asks my opinion. I have to buy and that's all. That's a nice business actually. Some people might buy some auxiliary stuff like leather seats, advanced navigation or audio system but most of them probably not. One should buy DPF without any choice.

 

DPFs are actually pretty good at removing PM10 and PM2.5 particulates, although not as good as might be hoped because they get filled with caked particles which reduce efficiency. Regeneration doesn't just make soot particles smaller and then release smaller ones, it oxidises them and releases gases instead. It's not a perfect technology but it's better than the alternative of releasing soot without any filter.

 

DPFs are part of a system to ensure cars meet legal emissions standards. It prevents you externalising your costs (i.e. disposal of pollution generated by your car) onto other people. You pay in reduced fuel efficiency and increased maintenance rather than other people having to pay with reduced quality of life and lifespan.

 

You also do not get the choice to order a car without seatbelts - although with this option the only person put at risk would be yourself

I'm guessing DPF equipped cars generally emit less smoke? Do they still emit some smoke when you floor it for instance?

 

The other night I'd been doing a steady 70mph for ages (about 100 miles) and I floored it to overtake before the approaching car caught up. The smoke out the back was very visible in the cars headlights behind! But mine's an old 1.9 PD.

I used to notice a lot of smoke in following cars' headlights in my Golf Mk 5, which was also a 1.9 PD. With the CR 170 I have never seen any smoke at all. 

 

The white smoke in this thread sounds like water/steam which is accumulating in the exhaust when sitting with the engine running for a while, and then all released when accelerating afterwards.

That doesn't show up on the iphone or ipad.

 

Or my laptop.