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Blue Smoke On Startup. 2006 Tdci 1.8 Focus


GEOFFG
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Hi all,

I've had the Focus since June this year and now the weather is a lot colder, it is bellowing BLUE smoke out on cold start up. it starts instantly and runs very lumpy. I have replaced glow plugs last week (one was not working) and that made it slightly worse??)

It was serviced 5 months ago with new fuel and air filters.

I left it overnight at diesel specialist for diagnostics and he said EGR valve wants replacing (about £650)

I put a blanking plate in this morning instead, this made no difference to the blue smoke.

I noticed blue smoke coming from the back of the engine but could not tell from where.

It runs very well when warm with lots of power and great MPG.

No warning lights displayed.

New battery fitted a couple of months ago.

Car has done 86,500 miles.

Thanks,

Geoff.

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Hi Geoff,

Blue smoking is suggestion of oil being burned, have you got any error codes or any other issues?

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J, the oil level has not dropped since the service, If it was burning oil at the rate it's coming out of the exhaust pipe it would be well down on the dipstick.

As mentioned, there are no faults showing.

When it's warm it runs great with no smoke!

Geoff

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Hard to say without seeing the car and smoke but yes blue smoke indicates burnt oil. A drop in the cylinder being burnt can produce a fair bit of smoke so it could just be taking a small amount at a time and burning it off. Only ways this could happen is either valve stem seals, turbo seals, head gasket or piston rings really. Sometimes egr can produce smoke too but uve removed that so it illiminates that... Hard to say from here...

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Hi all,

Just joined... This is the first thread I've seen with exactly the same symptoms on my car, albeit mine is a 2.0 ltr 136 version (No DPF). So thanks for starting this one Geoff.

I'll be really interested to see if anyone can shed light on this!

Car bought in March, test driven when warm (oh oh!) anyway was difficult to start and a bit rough until warm. When warm goes like a dream.

A new starter cured the difficult to start bit. Was still a bit rough when running cold (first thing in the morning cold) but as usual, excellent when warm. (interestingly - the starter motor seems to be overlooked a lot and needs to be cranking well for these engines)

Had the fuel filter, oil filter, air filter (now a K+N one) and battery replaced - no change.

Cleaned out the EGR and inlet manifold - no change.

Had the injectors serviced and re-calibrated (wasn't much wrong with them as it turned out) - no change.

I have blanked off the EGR, and had a Stage 1 remap and the EGR deleted in August. On the rolling road, the engine showed 145 bhp before we did anything and now shows 175 bhp! It feels very strong too and is returning 50mpg.

I have just changed all the glow plugs and there is the right amount of electricity reaching them for the right amount of time. I have also renewed the engine coolant temperature sensor.

No change. I am confident given the performance when warm (and not even fully warm) that compression is ok. Starting system is all good. No DPF, no EGR. No warning lights and no codes.. except that when at one of my trips to the local garage they said that the code reader thing was saying that the engine coolant sensor was reading high. Made sense as I guess this would fool the PCM into thinking the engine was already warm. However, changing the sensor made no difference.

What's left!? :wacko: Happy new year to everyone! :D

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Just fired her up again from cold and just let it idle without touching the throttle. Blue smoke and lumpy/rough initially, after about 30 seconds blue smoke disappeared. As it got warmer it got smoother. After five minutes I gave it a quick rev... bit more blue smoke

I had to switch off and do something else, so it never got fully warm and wasn't driven. I'll take her for a spin tomorrow down the by-pass and then have another look at what's coming out of the back.

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ive always had smoke on acceleration, mainly hard ie 2.5k and over, but it aced its emissions fast pass limit is 1.5(k).

my average was 0.49 with a oil temp of 64 degree's

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Hi there and welcome to the club. Hope you can solve your issure with your motor soon, I've put videos of my mondeo, Its pretty much the same fault that I have.

Cleaned EGR doesn't smoke as much now, but the primary fault still remains.

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Any of your cars loosing coolant? That could be a sign of head gasket leak. You can do a simple pressure test it isn't the most scientific of test but it leads can be made. With the engine running take off the oil filler cap.

First up after releasing the cap it should not blow out of your hand nor should it get jerky or start splattering oil everywhere. Place the cap on the filler hole unscrewed. The filler cap should stay on.

If the filler cap blows off you have a compression leak. Most likely the piston ring seal have worn. It could also be turbo seals or head gasket leak. All of these can cause a run away diesel.

If none of the above is experience. Have several checks of the oil it may have too much oil. Let the engine cool down on flat ground and check. Check when warm aswell.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Ford OC mobile app

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Any of your cars loosing coolant? That could be a sign of head gasket leak. You can do a simple pressure test it isn't the most scientific of test but it leads can be made. With the engine running take off the oil filler cap.

First up after releasing the cap it should not blow out of your hand nor should it get jerky or start splattering oil everywhere. Place the cap on the filler hole unscrewed. The filler cap should stay on.

If the filler cap blows off you have a compression leak. Most likely the piston ring seal have worn. It could also be turbo seals or head gasket leak. All of these can cause a run away diesel.

If none of the above is experience. Have several checks of the oil it may have too much oil. Let the engine cool down on flat ground and check. Check when warm aswell.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Ford OC mobile app

Hi, thanks for this.. Took her out for a spin today. Usual blue smoke for the first 500 yards then disappeared. By the time I got to a dual carriageway it was warmed up, running smooth and clean. Got to 2,500 rpm then floored it in 4th up a hill. No smoke, just power. Parked up and went round the back - totally clear exhaust even when revved.

Not losing any coolant or oil.. No over-pressure in the cooling system (easily squeeze the top hose), and no blow through from the oil filler or dip stick hole. oil and coolant both clean.

I have wondered if there is too much oil being expelled through the crankcase breather, but why would that get better when the engine warms up - then what would make it do that? Surely the same as would make it blow through the filler cap, which it isn't doing.

PCM upgrade... Hmm, that sounds like a Ford job and losing the Stage 1 remap and EGR delete I paid for. I have no idea of the car's history in this resepct. Is there experience of this curing this sort of problem?

I have now removed the EGR valve and solenoid and the exhaust elbow at the other end of the EGR cooler altogether (made a bracket to replace where the valve holds it onto the engine). I retained the cooler as it was easier (for now) than trying to connect the two hose ends together (obviously it doesn't cool anything now). The exhaust was blocked off using the original EGR blanking plate put on top of the manifold. Future glow-plug replacement and compression testing will be a doddle now!

How are getting on Geoff?

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Well defo don't near ford doubt they even touch ur car with them mods wrong oil grade can cause blue smoke on start up but ur best bet do wet an dry compression test before anything else for blue smoke issue

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Hi there and welcome to the club. Hope you can solve your issure with your motor soon, I've put videos of my mondeo, Its pretty much the same fault that I have.

Cleaned EGR doesn't smoke as much now, but the primary fault still remains.

Watched your videos. My car does start quite happily, just lumpy until warm and only blue smoke for a short while.

Thinking it through, as many have said, blue smoke is oil (lube not diesel). So there's oil getting into the pot/s. The fact that it's only there first start after being left overnight points to leaking valve stem seals (I had this on an Orion 1.6i years ago) and not oil getting in via rings or head gasket (thankfully).

So I'm thinking that it isn't so much that the engine is cold, but that it has been left long enough for a puddle of oil to leak past the seals.

Would this oil in the pot/s make the idle lumpy and only gradually smooth out as the engine warms up? Dunno.. maybe that's another fault.

Anyway, nothing for it but to do a compression test.... off to eBay for a tester and psyche myself up for taking the head off!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Compression test complete and all good - phew!

Had the fuel filter changed again and the nice chap what did it reckoned that before I bought it, the car was probably standing for ages as there's evidence of there having been a little mouse nest under the engine cover. He's recommended I check all my injectors again and look all around the top of the engine for any chewed wires.

Right...

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Hi all,

thanks for the response. Well I had it at Fords for diagnostics and they said it was blowing blue smoke out and misfiring when cold!!! I had to remind the planks that was the reason it was there. It was showing EGR fault because I had blanked EGR off. They wanted to do a compression test which would be an hours labour. Compression was fine. Then said it needs a new EGR valve, total cost £1085.85 with the work they have already done. Would this cure it, I asked? Not sure, they replied. It maybe the injectors.

I took car back then and got charged £145 thank you very much!! (and they broke the engine cover) which they had to order me a new one.

I took it to a recommended diesel specialist who had it for 6 days. Injectors out and tested and were

fine, common rail pressure fine and a few more tests all proved OK. Advised a new fuel pump £600 fitted. Would this cure it? I asked. Not sure. I took the car back without any more work being done. Total

£80.

The car is still the same. Starts instantly and smokes like hell and runs dog rough for a few mins then it's great.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Budding Enthusiast
Pip
4 posts
0 warning points
Name: GEOFFREY
Ford Model: FOCUS 1.8 TDCI ZETEC CLIMATE
Year: 2006
Location: Cheshire


Posted 21 January 2014 - 08:35 PM

Hi all,
thanks for the response. Well I had it at Fords for diagnostics and they said it was blowing blue smoke out and misfiring when cold!!! I had to remind the planks that was the reason it was there. It was showing EGR fault because I had blanked EGR off. They wanted to do a compression test which would be an hours labour. Compression was fine. Then said it needs a new EGR valve, total cost £1085.85 with the work they have already done. Would this cure it, I asked? Not sure, they replied. It maybe the injectors.

I took car back then and got charged £145 thank you very much!! (and they broke the engine cover) which they had to order me a new one.
I took it to a recommended diesel specialist who had it for 6 days. Injectors out and tested and were
fine, common rail pressure fine and a few more tests all proved OK. Advised a new fuel pump £600 fitted. Would this cure it? I asked. Not sure. I took the car back without any more work being done. Total
£80.
The car is still the same. Starts instantly and smokes like hell and runs dog rough for a few mins then it's great.

Geoff.
















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  • 2 months later...

since ive done a oil change, the smoke has almost stopped, theres a tiny bit for about 3-5 sec's. i take it my old oil was breaking down and seeping thro. was only done approx 5k prior....

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