Hi there, 

Not sure if this is the right forum or not, but looking for some help/advice if possible please as I am at my wits end! 

I have a 64 plate 1.6tdci Titanium Navigator and I have a problem with the engine having a severe judder when idling (sat at traffic lights/at a standstill etc). It's pretty bad without exaggerating. When I turn the engine off it feels like it's going to rattle out of the engine bay sometimes it's so rough. It does seem to be worse when it has been sat parked up for a period of time (e.g. all day whilst I am in work) and seems to have been worse in the hot summer weather, but that may be a coincidence. It has had this problem since I bought it last August and when I had it serviced in January it did seem to stop for a couple of weeks but very quickly went back to "normal".

In addition to this (again since I bought it) it blows white smoke on start up (and quite a lot of it), it does pass after a few minutes (probably when the engine has warmed). There is also a "dirty exhaust fumes smell" when it does it, a bit like a dirty old lawnmower! Don't know how else to describe it really. 

I don't know much about cars but I know a little, enough to be pretty certain it's not right. I took it back under warranty several times to be told there's nothing wrong/I am imagining it and got fed up eventually and left it. 

One other thing it does... which may or may not be connected, is the clutch "whines". It has always done it, again since I bought it. Sometimes it does it when doing something "non strenuous" like turning around in a car park, and it nearly always does it if you hold it on the clutch for a couple of seconds. The more you do it, (i.e. crawling up a hill) the worse it gets. I had a garage look at this and they diagnosed it as "clutch squawk" and it was nothing to worry about. To be fair I drive various company cars (VW's) and there are a couple of those seem to do it too?! 

I now want to get rid, but the problem is anyone who test drives it will notice it straight away. 

I have done a bit of googling/reading through forums and it seems it could be cylinder head gasket, fuel pump, flywheel (dmf), EGR, MAF, turbo, turbo seals, injectors.... so no wiser really! Although I did initially think it might be the injectors myself.

Any ideas? I want to take it to the garage for sorting but want a fair idea of what it might be before I do, so I can try avoid getting ripped off. 

Thanks in advance! :) 

 

 

 

 

 

The clutch whoop is very common on mk3s, it's not actually a problem, just annoying.  Some were replaced under warranty when the cars first came out.

The white smoke etc aren't normal though.  It sounds like you've got knackered injectors tbh.  Have the fault codes been checked?  

Also do you do long runs or just short ones?  White smoke and an awful fuelly smell is often a sign of DPF regenerating, but it shouldn't be doing it immediately after start up.  Which is why I'm thinking the injectors are leaking over night and maybe overfuelling at startup, and probably at idle hence the lumpy running, though none of these seem to idle as smoothly as the older 1.6 diesels.

 

As Tom says i would be getting the inijectors checked out, out of interest is your oil level going up, this would suggestba fairly serious injector problem, i had this once on an old golf.

Hi, 

Sorry for the delayed response! I didn't realise I had any replies as didn't get a notification email. 

OK the clutch thing makes me feel a bit better at least.... 

I took it back under warranty (Car People and Ford both took it in as it was under warranty with both at the time) and apparently no fault codes were showing (although I only have their word for it), I took it back 5 or 6 times and just got sick of it in the end to be honest, which is what I am guessing they were counting on! 

I generally travel to and from work daily (30 mile round trip) and don't always go far on a weekend, but it does get a "good run" fairly frequently on the motorway, with much longer distances. The car has about 35K on it, I bought it with 25K on so I've done around 10K in 11 months of having it.

The white smoke and exhaust smell is just on start up (from cold), it doesn't seem to do it any other time. But then again unless I got someone to follow me I can't be certain! 

I have no idea about the oil but I will check it this evening. 

Presumably I can have the injectors "checked" at a garage? Or is it a case of just having them replaced and seeing if it fixes it? I had suspicions of injectors going on my previous car (an 07 Focus 1.6 tdci) and was told it could be a cheap-ish job or really expensive, depending on "how easy they were to get out" and if they all needed replacing or not? Is it also worth getting the DPF checked? Or is this again a replace it and see if it works thing?

Sorry if this sounds stupid but I do have limited knowledge!

Thanks for your help , much appreciated :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The injectors can be tested in the engine with a leak off test.  If one or more show signs of failing then they can be removed and fully tested on a test rig at a diesel specialist, that will determine how many need replacing.  It won't be cheap if it is them at fault though.

Unlikely to be a DPF issue with that sort of driving and the fact the smoke only happens at start up.  The DPF soot loading can be checked with diagnostics  equipment to make sure that's reasonably clear. 

It couud be a glow plug issue as it's only happening at start up.  You won't notice any starting issues without them on a modern diesel but it should be throwing the engine light as well as fault codes if they've failed.  

Very difficult to diagnose without any fault codes unfortunately.

Thanks Tom, really helpful! Gives me a bit more of an idea what might be wrong. I will take it to a garage and have them run a diagnostic test, see if any codes do come up for either glow plugs or DPF.... or otherwise! The engine management light doesn't necessarily always come up when there is something wrong does it (so past experience tells me anyway) so it might just show something up after all. If nothing shows, I guess it will probably be down to the injectors :/ lovely stuff!