Hello,

 

I'm getting a plume of grey smoke when I first start my car. It's been like this for a while I can't see any leaks around the turbo. On other threads people suggest the glow plugs to be the issue. Their the OEM plugs and were cleaned about a year ago. The car has currently done around 74k. 

 

So any idea on the grey smoke? And also what is the service life of the OEM plugs?

A little smoke on startup is normal for a PD130. It's just soot from the exhaust being blown out. My MK1 did it for the whole time that I owned it.

Mines done it since i bought it with 74k on it and now its got 95k

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Same here, from 116k to 173k so far, it's rather large when it's mega cold but less so when it's warmer. 

Mine too.

depends what oil i have in and what temp is like.

i started using longlife 5w30 oil and the car ran better on it and less smoke on start.

then went to 5w40 platinum as the longlife was overkill i thought. But the car didnt run quite as nice on it and i found i got slightly more grey smoke on initial start plus it did it more when mild temps.

never use any oil neither so i figured it was all ok.

Normally do 2 or 3 oil changes a year due to miles i do and as she is getting on a bit (126k) i thought 6-8k between services is nice. Plus i get 40l+ of oil a time from tps as its on offer somr times and usefull to have

dont worry about it till its using oil.

Mine does it.  I put it down to slight overfuelling from my big nozzles, but it goes away quite soon once I am on the move.     Probably glowplugs but until anything actually breaks or the car really starts to struggle to start, I am not changing them.  They are probably quite old now though.

Well this is more grey smoke than black - this still the norm?

 

Also any idea about the service life of the glow plugs?

yes mate, I get a puff of black and then a few secs of grey then it goes. again I don't get it all the time just depends on conditions and what oil.

Mine does this now and again.

 

Try waiting a couple of seconds longer before starting when the glow plug light has gone out.

 

Might be worth doing a continuity test on the glow plugs in case one is faulty.

 

SN

I havr never ever waoted for glowplugs to work on mine . Never ever seen an engine like it for cold starting.

and as a mechanic working on only diesel engined vehicles I have started countless cold engines