blue smoke on start up

[rod the sod]

try and undo the boost pipe that attaches to the turbo! mine was filling with oil and filling the intercooler up with oil! its the lowest boost pipe on mine so if there is any within the boost system it should show there!

blue smoke could be a wide range of things from leaking turbo oil seals or blocked oil feed on turbo to something like worn piston ringsin engine!

when i had blue smoke to took months of investigation!

good luck mate

P.s. its worth checking the engine isnt breathing too much - this could mean worn engine

 

[beezanick]

It can also be a leaking injector dropping derv onto the pistons whilst turned off.

 

[gaz2002]

im new to tdi's put can manage the basics etc. are these pipes you talking about easy to get to??? will have a look tmoz if so

 

[rod the sod]

if the oil seals on the turbo were gone u would kno all about it as there would b masses of blue smoke, but i would check the lowest boost pipe to check whether oil is getting into the intercooler!

all u have to do is get a screw driver and undo the c clip that holds the intercooler pipe together, its located under the car on the drivers side near drive shaft- is pretty easy to get to so worth a little check anyway!

 

[Deleted member 32025]

I had that problem before as well... I thought it was only the cold weather kicking in but about 3weeks later the turbo blew... Is there a strange whilsting noise of the turbo when your accelerating?

Costly repair indeed..

hmmm, i'm not sure that could have had a lot to do with the problem. I've been getting blue smoke on start in the cold as well and my turbo whistles a lot I wouldn't go as far as saying its going to blow!

I've been getting less recently since it's been above freezing in the mornings

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

as with mine its only when car is cold , when its walmed up , doesnt even smoke when hard acceleration

 

[gaz2002]

yea mines just wen started, after tht its ok. any1 know if my seat wheels will go on my mk4 golf. 2000 ??

cheers

 

[leontdi130]

I think its the winter fuel, we have 5 dervs at our house all of them different makes apart from my leon and my brothers golf but his is not a PD and every car chuffs blue smoke out and runs lumpy when you first start it in the morning. They've all done it for the past few winters but they are fine in the summer months.
I believe there is an addative in the diesel in winter to stop it waxing up and i suspect it is something to do with this. A turbo problem wouldn't just give you blue smoke on start up. Plus i fitted a hybrid in the summer and mine is behaving just as it did last winter. So personally i wouldn't worry.

 

[Joec1]

sorry for the old post being re-invaded...

I have recently started getting a puff of blue smoke, only on gear changes, and ive only really noticed it since i put in the hesitation gasket (on the EGR) and cleaned the EGR.

Car drives fine, (a little lumpy when cold but thats more due to the flywheel knocking a little) pulls like a train, engine sounds noisier than normal but ive put this down to me becoming more adjusted ot the noise it makes lol.

smoke only ever appears when stationary, and the car is warm. when sitting stationary for any more than a few seconds, as i pull away into second gear (so the turbo begins to work) i can see a bluish smoke coming out of the rear. the Cars run with Millers (on tank no.2 at the moment) but im running out of ideas to diagnose the fault? i have two weeping intercooler pipes, that i will remove and clean at the weekend...

any suggestions?

Ps car is a 2.0 TDi (140 brake) Altea

 

[leontdi130]

sounds like your into something more involved. Like valve stem seals or a head gasket problem.

 

[DarrenJ]

Make sure that it isn't filled too much with oil as it will exit out the crankcase breather and into your air intake system. I let out over a pint of oil out of the engine and the smoke is reducing and burning off each day. But blue smoke was always present after start up and I bought her with 54k on her and when I got her NCT'd (equivalent of MOT) her emissions were only .08 g/kg - extremely low, in fact, o co-worker in my office has a 2005 skoda superb, his emissions were 10 times more - .8g/kg.

So with this in mind, I wouldn't be too worried about the smoke. My neighbour has a 2007 Focus TDCI and when this yoke starts up it belches out blue smoke and clears and runs clean after it has taken off.

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

try and undo the boost pipe that attaches to the turbo! mine was filling with oil and filling the intercooler up with oil! its the lowest boost pipe on mine so if there is any within the boost system it should show there!

blue smoke could be a wide range of things from leaking turbo oil seals or blocked oil feed on turbo to something like worn piston ringsin engine!

when i had blue smoke to took months of investigation!

good luck mate

P.s. its worth checking the engine isnt breathing too much - this could mean worn engine

been as wre looking at the past , rod how can you check that the engine isnt breathing too much ??

 

[Joec1]

Make sure that it isn't filled too much with oil as it will exit out the crankcase breather and into your air intake system. I let out over a pint of oil out of the engine and the smoke is reducing and burning off each day. But blue smoke was always present after start up and I bought her with 54k on her and when I got her NCT'd (equivalent of MOT) her emissions were only .08 g/kg - extremely low, in fact, o co-worker in my office has a 2005 skoda superb, his emissions were 10 times more - .8g/kg.

So with this in mind, I wouldn't be too worried about the smoke. My neighbour has a 2007 Focus TDCI and when this yoke starts up it belches out blue smoke and clears and runs clean after it has taken off.

cheers darren, im pretty sure this is the case here.

checked the levels at the weekend and they were at max (actually on the nuckle above the word "max" so im assuming its a little high.

going to look at some form of oil catch tank..

 

[DarrenJ]

I noticed mine wasn't and isn't using oil at all, but there's blue smoke until it gets warm, and even then when I get out of the car at work I can smell oil burning so I'm assuming it's in the exhaust.

I have taken off the short rubber pipe going into the throttle butterly and intake and there's oil to be seen both times. This oil was fighting gravity to get up there so I think its was definitely to do with having too much oill

I got a de-cat done 3 weeks ago too and because of that things would be flowing a bit more so I'm thinking that oil was picked up and blown out the exhaust.

Mine even sounds like it's misfiring early in the morning.

I have put in redex to clean it out too.

I plan to take off the lower intercooler pipe and see if oil is visible.

I think that in the morning, if it's cool out, that condensation in the oily intake get sucked in and that it burns this. In my case it might be a while before I burn off this excess oil, that's if the turbo seals etc aren't weeping!

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Joec1]

ah right... well i know my lower intercooler pipes have a little oil in, as theres a lot of gunk arouns the pipe joints. can i just remove and clean these?

 

[Dabbalz]

All I can think of is Valve stem oil seals by the blue start up smoke. Diesel dose not burn blue like engine oil does.

 

[DarrenJ]

Yep you sure can.

It's best to have the car up on a lift to or up on ramps to get at the lower ones because you'd have to jack it up a lot to get enough room to get under it and work at it.

I too can see oil and gunk around the joints - which also means a boost leak, even if only slight.

After cleaning them make sure that the clamps are tightened up well.

I have a guid in the turbo forum which explains how to sort boost leak probs. No harm to look at this too.

It's also the fact that the EGR valve recirculates fumes back into the intake, and in these fumes are emissions and this really should be pushed out the exhaust, thus the reason why lots of people on here have removed or blocked the EGR valve.

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

mine seemed to have started since putting in reddex

wats the best method of cleaning out all the boost pipes , i think one day i will spend a few hours and take off all the pipes and clean them ,

and maybe the breather system , before getting an oil catch can fitted ,

think i will just buy a new one with the correct size hoses than pi$$ about looking for the hoeses for my Greddy one

 

[DarrenJ]

That's funny because I can say the same thing - Redex caused her to horse out smoke!

Maybe it's simply doin its job - jeez my yoke actually sounds like it's stuttering in the morning if I start it and leave it ticking over. I'm fairly sure that this will burn off and clear out. For the time being I'm taking it as Redex working.

Maybe it's worth starting a new thread on diesel additives and their results?

 

[Joec1]

Reddex / Millers / STP all the fuel treatments casue smoke for the first few consecutive applications, as they burn off excess carbon from the valves and injectors etc.

its normal.

but its not normal for it to carry on for tanks and tanks after applying it. or at unusual times (like on gear changes only, or on start up only)