HI , 

Right , My skoda octavia 1.9 tdi 110 bhp is having trouble starting up generally harder from cold but not really that much different from hot, 

 

History 

done 190k

new intercooler and pressure sensor last year 

new battery and alternator this year

20 litters of petrol put in and driven with a 50/50 mix of diesle ( unintentional) 2500 ago

new glow plugs last year (summer) tested and all working still

engine temp sensor unplugged to keep the glow plugs on for longer (9 sec)  because they weren't coming on at all even below the 5  degrees that they should come on for , the light would flash on and go straight out even after replacing 103 and 109 relay, the glow plug harness is working no faults in the cable either.

seem to be having a problem with air in the fuel line the pipes were badly decayed, so today i have replaced the fuel line to the filter and the one to the injector pump also. unfortunately now have no clear pipe to see if air is still getting into the pipe,

 

Problem

 when starting i turn to position 3 to let the glow plugs warm for 8 out of the 9 second cycle and then turn to the next position to start it, it cranks for roughly 15-30 seconds before a splutter of life then a few more splutters come and then she slowly gains revs and then sits on normal idle while i choke to death on the abnormal amount of white fuel smoke produced, this isn't just a small amount were talking of filling your street with smoke. 

 

when first driven after starting, general after about 200 yards from my house coming unto a roundabout i have to brake and then clutch , she dies, i manage to bump start her again by lifting the clutch, and resume the drive and then she behaves nicely for me ,

 

Can anyone help , please. 

 

 

Um, well I'm not some expert guru, but I've had some experience in my time...and white smoke is not fuel related, especially on a Diesel. Fuel problems = black smoke.

 

White SMOKE is generally from oil burning. So, white oil-related smoke is usually either from bad piston rings or dead valve stem seals. Piston rings normally give constant smoke whilst driving, valve stem seals normally loads on start-up and then not so much when driving.

 

HOWEVER - it is also easy to confuse white smoke with steam - it kinda looks the same. The only way to really tell is to smell it! If it smells 'burny / oily' then it's oil. If it doesn't smell, and disappears into the atmosphere fairly quickly, then it's steam.

 

Steam is usually produced from a dead head gasket, or on some horror occasions, a split cylinder liner.

 

HTH!

My old 110 TDI used to chuck out plenty or white smoke on cold starts when the glow plugs were knackered and it never used a drop of oil (never topped it up between services in 115k miles).

Excessive diesel and partial combustion gives you black smoke. Unburnt diesel gives white smoke. My old Citroen used to demonstrate this fantastically when it had only one working glow plug.

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When the glowplugs were duffered on my dads old peugeot van that produced tremenous amounts of white smoke.

I think your problem lays with the fueling somewhere.

Mine gave white smoke from unburnt fuel and slow start when cold due to timing being out. When was the timing belt last changed?Get it scanned with VCDS to check for fault codes and timing.

I would suggest that your timing might be a bit off.....

Timing belt was changed at 175k end of last summer, i haven't checked the fuel timing but my guess would be that its probably not that as it probably would of had the same symptoms from day one of timing belt change, 

 

its not burning any oil, the level hasn't changed in the last 10k and defiantly not steam,

 

 been speaking to my dad about this (ex-AA patrol of 30 years experience),and were looking more into the air in the fuel lines, just driven it and again smokey to start , cut out roughly 10 times within in an hour . The last cut out was pretty bad, my dad suggested loosening the rule filler cap just incase the breather in the cap was blocked and causing a vacuum so i done that and then gave it the beans off a roundabout up to 70 and snapped of the accelerator (because thats when it generally does it, and low and behold she died on me but was very reluctant to bump start herself , just produced tons of smoke for roughly 10 seconds and really holding back but eventually kicked back into life( moving the entire time). 

 

thinking of blocking up the fuel return line into the filter as thinking maybe air may be getting into the filter 

Having one or two bubbles in the clear section of fuel line is completely normal. Definitely worth getting the car scanned with VCDS though.

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well i will check it out on vag com on monday and get back to you

well it turned out that the fuel timing had become massively advanced , all sorted now and runs like a dream

I solved my smoke om startup problem by running a VCDS and noticed that the coolant temperature sender was reading 112 degrees at cold startup(ECU thinks engine is hot so no glow plug heating)?

Replaced the sender and now glow plug light stays on longer and no smoke on startup.

@simon7030 - Good to know. I notice your metadata says "1.9TDi Used Veg Oil". Do you mind saying which base tune, and maybe which engine code, you have?

ASV code so Bosch injector pump.Not sure what base tune is?203 Octavia Estate Elegance.I have converted 3 of the same cars ie 1.9tdi ...overy the last 10 years with massive savings on fuel and no problems.I'm just converting my "new"2002 Octavua Estate Elegance today.B31 5HQ if you are converting yours and want to view/advice.Thanks Simon.

@simon7030 - Cheers; I'm not sure how easy sourcing the oil would be here, plus I'm very limited on processing/storage space.

 

"Base tune" is the "as designed ex-works" power; for an ASV that's 110bhp (TDi).

Sourcing used oil is not difficult.Search locally on ebay and once you find someone they generally have a regular supply.

If you have time to collect try a local hotel they will give it you free generally.Filtering is easy one 1 micron sock off ebya suspended in a water butt with a tap on the bottom.Thanks Simon 

If your near Aberdeen or Edinburgh you could join Costco and get 20 litres new for under 80p per litre,Having said that I work for Costco Birmingham and we have opened a fuel station two months ago and diesel is £1.10 and its premium (has detergents like Shells top diesel)but new oil is still 30p cheaper per litre.