2007 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI estate, white smoke problem

[Paulo89]

Hi everyone. 

I recently bought an 07 Focus Estate 1.6 TDCI with 83k miles.

The dealership installed a new timing belt, battery and did a full service. 

The other day after doing ~150 miles, miles I was coasting down the motorway and noticed a massive cloud of white smoke coming up the tailgate, it would dissipate when I stepped on the accelerator, but it would come back once I released it. I stopped the car checked the fluids, everything was ok so were the temperatures. I returned to the road and it stopped. 

After that I have had at least 2 or 3 more episodes of billows of white smoke coming from the exhaust. They are random occurrences, even now I just returned from a 80 mile drive and there was no unusual smoke coming from the exhaust. 

The coolant levels haven't dropped, no drop in oil level as well. 

I am very puzzled on what the problem might be and would appreciate any feedback.

Thank you. 

[MONDEO TXS 2.2]

White smoke in diesel exhaust is indicative of unburnt diesel passing through the combustion process & partially burning on contact with a hot exhaust system ( think Red Arrows smoke ) - or it also could be water vapour ( less likely i.m.o. )

[gmonag]

Sounds like a leak in the intercooler/intake piping after the turbo. This causes a rich mixture resulting in the smoke.

Greg

[MONDEO TXS 2.2]

12 minutes ago, gmonag said:

Sounds like a leak in the intercooler/intake piping after the turbo. This causes a rich mixture resulting in the smoke.

Greg

If that is the case the smoke ( soot ) would be black & not white

[JW1982]

If the car has a DPF the white smoke can be caused by the regeneration process of the DPF. During regeneration the PCM injects extra fuel to raise the combustion/exhaust temperature which is needed for the regeneration process.

[simcor]

I get massive clouds of white smoke when doing a DPF Regen on mine whenever I come off the throttle, clears up when back on the power sounds normal to me. At least you know for sure it doing a Regen lol 

[Paulo89]

Sorry I know very little about cars, so this regen cicle on the DPF is a normal thing?

I did a check on Etis and I think my car is fitted with a DPF, this is what it says,  "Emission: Stage IV + DPF Emissions" .

Also been reading that it can be a turbo problem, my engine is the DV6 which appears to have a lot of problems with the turbos due to the build up of residues on the injectors. Could this smoke be a sign of turbo problems?  

"

[DJ_Andy_M]

On 8/28/2016 at 11:42 AM, Paulo89 said:

Sorry I know very little about cars, so this regen cicle on the DPF is a normal thing?

I did a check on Etis and I think my car is fitted with a DPF, this is what it says,  "Emission: Stage IV + DPF Emissions" .

Also been reading that it can be a turbo problem, my engine is the DV6 which appears to have a lot of problems with the turbos due to the build up of residues on the injectors. Could this smoke be a sign of turbo problems?  

"

You have the DPF with an additive fluid. I would get this checked at your next service.

Instead of injecting more fuel, this fluid lowers the burn temperature of the soot.

[Paulo89]

1 hour ago, DJ_Andy_M said:

You have the DPF with an additive fluid. I would get this checked at your next service.

Instead of injecting more fuel, this fluid lowers the burn temperature of the soot.

Ah so that might explain why it smokes so much.

But I think the filter must have a problem, either that or the sensor, yesterday I did 200 miles with some motorway and it did one cycle, today i did a 6 mile return trip, and it did a cycle on both trips, I think it was that, because i stopped the car and I could hear the fan spinning and smoke coming out of the exhaust , after a few minutes the fan stopped revving so much and so did the smoke, took it for a spin and no smoke whatsoever. So i think it's definitely a DPF cycle problem, the reasons for that I don't know. That's what I need to find out. I don't get any dashboard lights or warning, so I assume the filter is not clogged up. 

[simcor]

4 hours ago, DJ_Andy_M said:

You have the DPF with an additive fluid. I would get this checked at your next service.

Instead of injecting more fuel, this fluid lowers the burn temperature of the soot.

The additive does lower the temp that the soot will burn off at. But extra fuel is still Injected (injector duration and volume as far as I can tell) to raise exhaust temp and the EGR valve is also used to help raise the exhaust temp.

The additive is mainly for passive regeneration at lower speeds as far as I can tell but obviously also helps at higher speeds.

[simcor]

2 hours ago, Paulo89 said:

Ah so that might explain why it smokes so much.

But I think the filter must have a problem, either that or the sensor, yesterday I did 200 miles with some motorway and it did one cycle, today i did a 6 mile return trip, and it did a cycle on both trips, I think it was that, because i stopped the car and I could hear the fan spinning and smoke coming out of the exhaust , after a few minutes the fan stopped revving so much and so did the smoke, took it for a spin and no smoke whatsoever. So i think it's definitely a DPF cycle problem, the reasons for that I don't know. That's what I need to find out. I don't get any dashboard lights or warning, so I assume the filter is not clogged up. 

If you stop the engine or conditions are not good enough to complete the Regen then it will fail and will try to Regen again when conditions are met again. After a few failed attempts it should give up for a while until it next completes a full Regen. 

[Paulo89]

Just an update. I took the car back to the dealership, the workshop couldn't find any problems so they brought in a ford specialist, turns out it was an ECU problem, something about the injector timings being out of sync, car running very well now, it was expensive but the dealership payed for the repair, thank you all for the input.