PDF Problems?? White smoke without answers? Help desperately needed pls..

[happyjames013]

You mention in one of your early answers, the oil looks good, black but good. New engine oil doesn’t look black, more amber colour. Old oil looks black. In my experience white smoke is a classic sign of coolant getting into the oil via the head gasket, which then burns white. I’d do an oil change, plus new oil filter. Two reasons. First take a close look at the old oil coming out and see if there are any waxy / jelly like globules (emulsification of oil and water), and bizarre as it sounds, smell the oil as the antifreeze in coolant has a particular odour, even when mixed with oil. Do a smell comparison with new oil. And second, after running on fresh oil, see if this then turns black. It shouldn’t for a few thousand miles.

My money would be on the head gasket, so eliminate this first. You don’t need much of a coolant leak, so you probably won’t detect a drop in the coolant header tank unless it gets really bad, and the oil goes milky.

Diesel oil goes black by the time you’ve driven it home from the garage (I exaggerate, but not much).
You can’t tell much from the colour of oil as as you can with a petrol.

Generally can you smell diesel in the oil? A bit is ok, but more than a slight whiff and that could signify issues with rings.

Emulsification.

How does it feel between the fingers.

Most of these indicators need experience to judge, and even then, it helps to know how many miles the oils done.

Obvious contenders are injectors and the temp sensor. But, his garage appears to be doing the right things. It’s perfectly reasonable to replace suspect parts.

Surprised it’s not throwing up codes.

If I were him I’d take it to an indie specialist. Which is where i always take all our cars.
Modern stuff is too hard for old lags like me.

 

[Nik_campervan]

1st confirm if the white smoke smells/tastes of unburnt diesel, its pretty nasty compared to burnt coolant so thats your 1st step.
Assuming its diesel then find someone with vagcom and they should be able to identify out of balance/excess adaptation on a single cylinder which is likely an attempt of the ecu to offset a mechanical fault.
Injector loom in the head are known to fail due to heat cycles and oil ingress, check for fault codes and visually for oil within connectors or brittle/degraded wiring insulation.
Check the injectors are clamped down to correct torque.
I5 PD engine has little metal in the head to adequately clamp the injectors over time they wobble loose and elongate the injector hole leading to misfuelling.
Camshaft lobes driving the injectors wear out leading to misfuel, look for obvious signs of wear/rough edges to lobes. Only fix is new camshaft and buy a quality part.
Injector seals (both orings and copper washer) pull the injectors and replace. If the injectors are out get them overhauled and spray patterns correctly setup.
You need a specialist in the vw PD engine as they have unique weakness.
Obviously check for fault codes with vagcom or at least a tester that can read all codes not just ones present with the engine light on, fix those issues 1st.
Check dpf soot level and differential pressures - again someone who knows their stuff not a jockey who simply forces regen without fixing source of problem.

 

[Ichidon]

You mention in one of your early answers, the oil looks good, black but good. New engine oil doesn’t look black, more amber colour. Old oil looks black. In my experience white smoke is a classic sign of coolant getting into the oil via the head gasket, which then burns white. I’d do an oil change, plus new oil filter. Two reasons. First take a close look at the old oil coming out and see if there are any waxy / jelly like globules (emulsification of oil and water), and bizarre as it sounds, smell the oil as the antifreeze in coolant has a particular odour, even when mixed with oil. Do a smell comparison with new oil. And second, after running on fresh oil, see if this then turns black. It shouldn’t for a few thousand miles.

My money would be on the head gasket, so eliminate this first. You don’t need much of a coolant leak, so you probably won’t detect a drop in the coolant header tank unless it gets really bad, and the oil goes milky.

Hi there.. thanks for the thought. yes so i did say the oil looked good, black but good! My last oil change was just under a year ago and i have made a few thousand kms since then. I said it looked ok because i saw no white or milkyness to it but i did not do a smell test.
Since 5 days now i have been driving the bus. I picked it up once again from the garage with the hope that the problem is fixed. I had a beand new secondhand DPF installed. For 5 days the bus ran like it should, no problems but now ive pulled at home and the thing is smoking and stinking once again. Intense white smoke pumping out!
A question please from a novice.. If i had Compression problems, a crack or a broken gasket.. would it not smoke earlier?
Another 400 Euros for nothing.. im at a complete lose?
Thanks for any advice

 

[Ichidon]

1st confirm if the white smoke smells/tastes of unburnt diesel, its pretty nasty compared to burnt coolant so thats your 1st step.
Assuming its diesel then find someone with vagcom and they should be able to identify out of balance/excess adaptation on a single cylinder which is likely an attempt of the ecu to offset a mechanical fault.
Injector loom in the head are known to fail due to heat cycles and oil ingress, check for fault codes and visually for oil within connectors or brittle/degraded wiring insulation.
Check the injectors are clamped down to correct torque.
I5 PD engine has little metal in the head to adequately clamp the injectors over time they wobble loose and elongate the injector hole leading to misfuelling.
Camshaft lobes driving the injectors wear out leading to misfuel, look for obvious signs of wear/rough edges to lobes. Only fix is new camshaft and buy a quality part.
Injector seals (both orings and copper washer) pull the injectors and replace. If the injectors are out get them overhauled and spray patterns correctly setup.
You need a specialist in the vw PD engine as they have unique weakness.
Obviously check for fault codes with vagcom or at least a tester that can read all codes not just ones present with the engine light on, fix those issues 1st.
Check dpf soot level and differential pressures - again someone who knows their stuff not a jockey who simply forces regen without fixing source of problem.

Thanks very much for your input.. I will pass on the info.
My girlfriend seems to think today thats its a smell of rubber, or something thick and sweet. Im guessing this could be coolant?
Ive just wrote to someone else that i picked the bus up 5 days ago from a garage. a referbished DPF just with the idea of wanting to rule out problems with my old one.. anyway.. for 5 days it drove very well but now as ive come home.. ive pulled up outside and once again i see the dreaded thick stinking smoke.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Hi there.. thanks for the thought. yes so i did say the oil looked good, black but good! My last oil change was just under a year ago and i have made a few thousand kms since then. I said it looked ok because i saw no white or milkyness to it but i did not do a smell test.
Since 5 days now i have been driving the bus. I picked it up once again from the garage with the hope that the problem is fixed. I had a beand new secondhand DPF installed. For 5 days the bus ran like it should, no problems but now ive pulled at home and the thing is smoking and stinking once again. Intense white smoke pumping out!
A question please from a novice.. If i had Compression problems, a crack or a broken gasket.. would it not smoke earlier?
Another 400 Euros for nothing.. im at a complete lose?
Thanks for any advice

You maybe should get an engine oil analysis done. The worst it would do is to rule out what it’s not, at the best you may get a good indication root cause of the problem. In the UK such a test costs about €70.

Interesting you mention a rubber smell in another reply. I had an old banger of a car and the exhaust started to smell of fish - similar to rubber smell! I did a compression test and found problems, so completely stripped it and replaced the piston rings, valves and head gasket. It probably would have been more economic to buy a secondhand engine, but I was younger and keener then!!

 

[sidepod]

Thanks very much for your input.. I will pass on the info.
My girlfriend seems to think today thats its a smell of rubber, or something thick and sweet. Im guessing this could be coolant?
Ive just wrote to someone else that i picked the bus up 5 days ago from a garage. a referbished DPF just with the idea of wanting to rule out problems with my old one.. anyway.. for 5 days it drove very well but now as ive come home.. ive pulled up outside and once again i see the dreaded thick stinking smoke.

Unlikely its head gasket/compression related. You state it ran fine for five days.

Westfalia’s theory is worth a look assuming it has that system installed. Disconnect the injection module and run it.