do you know if the car has ever had a replacement turbo?

 

just thinking that you may have residual oil in the intercooler / exhaust system which puffs out when engine is cold

Does the engine sound different when it is running cold? Do You hear a sort of tapping noise that disappears after that minute or so? 

 

 

Yes - very much so......

That sounds like tappet gaps, caused by running too high a viscosity oil. Try going to a VAG 500 series spec 10W-40.

Yes - very much so......

Smoke was in some cases related to very old hydraulic tappets. If the outside temperature is around 10 °C, you should hear them for no more than 5-10 seconds. If it is longer than that (around 30 seconds) I would suggest to replace them. But eitherway, try first changing the oil. I have got in mine 1.9 SDi 10W-40 (as suggested by Ken) and no problem.

I have oil and filter ready to change.

 

New glow plugs have made no difference.

 

Diesel flush treatment (injector cleaner) has made a noticeable difference to smoke on cold starts.

 

Problem only exists on cold starts, warm running and warm starts are fine.

 

Local trustworthy garage is suggesting an injector problem and suggests I run another couple of tankfuls of cleaner through first.

 

There's a lot of knocking when cold until warmed up - Haynes manual suggests loosening of injector fuel pipe unions to identify which injector is culprit - any thoughts?

i have a set of injectors which i took out of my car after upgrading mine if you are interested - there was no noticeable smoke on these when i used them last

Now on 4th tankful of injector cleaner and the difference on cold starts is remarkable, albeit slightly warmer in the mornings now.  No longer an embarassing smoke cloud.  Engine oil and filter changed tonight so will see what tomorrow brings.  2,000 miles since I bought the car and no real issues apart from this.

 

Still may change injectors and coolant temp sensor.  

Update.

 

New glow plugs, oil and filter plus several tankfuls of diesel flush.  4,000 miles on in last few weeks.

 

Still not much activity from glow plug lamp which stays on only for 1/2 seconds when cold.  Disconnected coolant temp sensor again today and glow plug lamp stayed on for 15 - 20 seconds.  Car started with a few puffs of smoke but much less than before.  CTS at fault maybe?

 

Still to do Mr Muscle clean and poss look at changing injectors.....................

Hey - is this the CTS which goes into rear left side of cyl block?

 

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Skoda_Octavia_1.9_2002/p/car-parts/engine-parts/fuel-and-engine-management/engine-management-sensor/?224440190&1&df143c3650b29616ef89a5f834fef65f0447b4b5&000572

 

:clap:

 

cheers

Iain

As a reference, outside temp this morning 2C, glow plug light stayed on for about 2s, and I got white smoke that cleared about when I'd reversed out of my parking space, so maybe 5s of that. Glow plugs are probably weak, but the car has never failed to proceed other than when it needed a new battery about 3 years back.

OK so now I've fitted new coolant temp sensor and when wired up then the glow plug lights up for a second or two.  

 

Disconnect CTS wiring and it lights for 15  seconds again.  Starts much easier when disconnected.  Smoke dissipates more readily.

 

What's up now??

 

Obviously can't run car with CTS wiring disconnected for ever..........