Ive got a puff of smoke on cold startup or when its been turned off for a few hours but still warm. Its a black/brown colour not oil it smells of diesel. I know a bit of smoke is normal for these engines but this seems to be getting more excessive since the temperatures have dropped. I can look in my left door mirror and see the big cloud of smoke which sometimes lasts a bit when its really cold. Car runs pretty clean when driving no smoke at all really that I can notice unless its at night in the car headlights. Wandering if its related to glow plugs, can't imagine they have been changed but don't know if i want to risk snapping them on removal.

I agree, it's probably glow plugs, they shouldn't snap and should come out easily enough, just test each one for resistance and change the one that's open circuit or markedly different from the others.

cheers sep, will give it a try over weekend

what sort of resistance should I be seeing just in case they are all bad

Edited 14 September, 20178 yr by clarendon462

43 minutes ago, clarendon462 said:

cheers sep, will give it a try over weekend

what sort of resistance should I be seeing just in case they are all bad

 

No idea, they'll all be open circuit if they're all bad but I seriously doubt it, it would be hard to start and smoke like crazy if they were all bad.

From Haynes - 1.5 ohms, taking  8 Amps. No meter- I'd suggest a stop bulb to check voltage at glo plug, then and in series ( supply to bulb, then to glow plug) . Bulb lights( AT switch on), then Glow plug OK.No light = no glow. ( AKA DUD)

I have a meter and some know how with electronics so should be fine. Thanks for those values will give it a go tomorrow

Just been out and tested them and getting 0.7 ohms on all 4.

is this within tolerance?

Sounds fine to me.

21 hours ago, VWD said:

From Haynes - 1.5 ohms, taking  8 Amps. No meter- I'd suggest a stop bulb to check voltage at glo plug, then and in series ( supply to bulb, then to glow plug) . Bulb lights( AT switch on), then Glow plug OK.No light = no glow. ( AKA DUD)

 

I would unplug the CTS and then turn on the ignition and make sure you have 12V to ground on each of the glow plug connectors. 

I have tried that, but don't seem to be getting any voltage. Im assuming its because the glowplugs aren't always fired each time the ignition is switched on.

I tried starting it with the harness disconnected from the plugs from stone cold this morning and it fired up as usual with the big cloud of smoke so Its making me think there is an electrical issue somewhere.

Relay next then.

Where is that located @sepulchrave?

 

Could it be something to do with my battery as i think its quite weak. Showing 11.9-12v normally with everything switched off. Also VCDS showing fault with the central electrics to do with low battery voltage.

I might be wrong but wondered if the bad battery and glowplugs might be related?

Edited 16 September, 20178 yr by clarendon462

5 minutes ago, clarendon462 said:

Where is that located @sepulchrave?

 

At the other end of the wire connected to the the glow plugs, in the engine bay somewhere I guess.

Just now, sepulchrave said:

 

At the other end of the wire connected to the the glow plugs, in the engine bay somewhere I guess.

Thing is, the glow plug harness goes off into the loom somewhere so its a bit difficult to trace. Will see what i can find tomorrow

It carries a lot of current so it'll be chunky.

I think it's under the dash in the relay panel there, position 3.

50A fuse for it should be in a clip-on extra fuseholder on the right end of that relay panel, lowest position.

Edited 16 September, 20178 yr by Wino

2 hours ago, clarendon462 said:

I have tried that, but don't seem to be getting any voltage. Im assuming its because the glowplugs aren't always fired each time the ignition is switched on.

I tried starting it with the harness disconnected from the plugs from stone cold this morning and it fired up as usual with the big cloud of smoke so Its making me think there is an electrical issue somewhere.

 

That is why you unplug the coolant temp sensor. This defaults the car to maximum glow plug run time which may be around 30 seconds to make it a lot easier for testing.

Edited 16 September, 20178 yr by SuperbTWM

Thanks @SuperbTWM, tried disconnecting the coolant sensor and sure enough a 10 second glow time. This allowed me to test each connector and they were all showing 12.25 volts.

I then cycled the ignition on and off about 3 times (30sec glow time) and then reconnected the coolant sensor and started it up. Hardly any smoke, just a whisp of black which I would expect. 

Could this be bad plugs on the basis i had to cycle them on and off to get it to start without all the white smoke. I tried testing the resistance on them again and the meter kept reading all over the place from 0 to 8 ohms so not sure whether the meter can stabilize or the plugs are bad.

Maybe the ECT sensor is dodgy...

2 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Maybe the ECT sensor is dodgy...

Would I not see any other symptoms like the temp gauge moving around? I replaced it a while ago with a ecp crap one and it caused lots of issues so just put the original back in which seemed to work ok.

 

1 minute ago, clarendon462 said:

Would I not see any other symptoms like the temp gauge moving around? I replaced it a while ago with a ecp crap one and it caused lots of issues so just put the original back in which seemed to work ok.

 

 

Nope.

But i am seeing the light for the glow plugs come on the dash even if the ect is connected, obviously its not 10 seconds in this weather its usually around 2-4 seconds of preheat which I would assume is normal. If the sensor was faulty then surely it would either not know what to do and allow the full 10 seconds of glow or not allow it to happen at all. Neither is the case.

I think you may benefit from a brand new set of glow plugs. 

 

Glow plugs age and don't glow red hot in as short a time as a new one. 

 

The fact you cycled them them a few times and this cured the smoke sort of points to this. 

 

Of course you could have an underlying issue which the glow plugs maybe masking such as a leaky injector seals or a dodgy injector dripping a bit of diesel into the cylinders causing a puff of smoke

Edited 17 September, 20178 yr by SuperbTWM

Someone posted this in another sub-forum recently. Some sensible advice on removal, amongst other things (e.g. reaming the tip area of the head to remove carbon build-up prior to installing the new ones).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNwi--n0h9Q

Edited 17 September, 20178 yr by Wino

I think im just going to change them out. ECP seems to list a few different fitments is there a specific one I should be looking for.