Hi I'm new to the forum and a potential new owner.

 

Bought a diesel 2016 Mondeo 125000 diesel. Decent service history. Recent timing belt and gearbox service. Car drives nicely.

 

I didn't test it on a long run bought it from a private seller. Was driving fine on the motorway. But went services just to stop and noticed lots of white smoke coming out. Owner goes it might be regen.

 

When I drove the home It was 210 miles in. More smoke but only when stopped. When your driving it's not noticeable or isn't going crazy or anything.

 

Bit more noticeable today on a few local runs.

Went garage and saw the code was P2463:00 EC Particulate filter restriction soot accumulation bank 1.

Garage guy said run some powertek additive cleaner in the tank go for a drive. 

Other mechanic said white smoke isn't good. Could indicate turbo issue. But car drives fine don't hear noises pulls fine. Checked oil level all within the range. No engine smells or smoke in the bay. Drives very well.

 

Mainly when you stop after it being driven from a while you can see the smoke coming out.

 

Can anyone give any ideas on this.

 

Here's a YouTube video I recorded:

 

Sounds like it's repeatedly trying to regen and failing due to being overfull.  If the radiator fan is running at full speed at the same time then that's a good way to tell a regen is in progress.  

That small whisp of smoke in the video isn't a turbo issue.   In fact, if it was a cold night I wouldn't have thought it was anything other than condensation in the exhaust.  

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Sounds like it's repeatedly trying to regen and failing due to being overfull.  If the radiator fan is running at full speed at the same time then that's a good way to tell a regen is in progress.  

That small whisp of smoke in the video isn't a turbo issue.   In fact, if it was a cold night I wouldn't have thought it was anything other than condensation in the exhaust.  

Hi Tom thanks for the reply. I'm not sure if it was cold. Quite normal. Dull kind of warmish day on the 14th some light rain. I mean it's repeating itself daily with a long drive. I need to detect what the radiator sounds like...like a hoover kind of noise you mean?

As I said the car actually drives very well.

I might try the dpf powatek stuff. Give it a run and clear the codes.

You seen both the videos? One video a little lighter on smoke than the other.

Thanks for the reply.

1 hour ago, ozzay said:

Hi Tom thanks for the reply. I'm not sure if it was cold. Quite normal. Dull kind of warmish day on the 14th some light rain. I mean it's repeating itself daily with a long drive. I need to detect what the radiator sounds like...like a hoover kind of noise you mean?

As I said the car actually drives very well.

I might try the dpf powatek stuff. Give it a run and clear the codes.

You seen both the videos? One video a little lighter on smoke than the other.

Thanks for the reply.

The condensation comes from damp, so a bit of rain or humidity in the air makes it worse.  Though it does need to be coldish outside to see it.  White smoke from unburnt diesel smells awful, so I'm pretty sure you'd notice the difference.

Yes the rad fan sounds like a hoover.  If the air conditioning works, switching that on will also bring the rad fan on, which you can use as confirmation of the noise.  After that test, I would leave the AC switched off, so the only reason for the fan to come on at full speed during a drive would be a DPF regen.  (Very rare for a diesel engine to get warm enough to need the fan running to cool it in the UK)

There's only one video linked above.  Though in all honesty, I don't think seeing a little more smoke will help much with the diagnosis.

Tank additive DPF cleaners don't generally work in my experience.  The ones that get sprayed directly into the DPF can help if the blockage is just soot.  But at 125k miles it could be ash, and there's no way to clear that out without removing the DPF first.

If you get Forscan to use with a phone or laptop, you will be able to do some more DIY diagnosis with that.

So I have opted not to go for the additive cleaner due to what you have said plus I bumped into another mechanic who I saw yesterday who said its an engine leak potentially like piston rings...he swears by the Lucas oil stabiliser stuff. Now I might give this a go because once the car gets warm after a while it starts smoking white again defo not condensation.  Did not notice the car with the sound of the radiator today sounded quite normal.

I am quite sure DPF may need some attention and as you said if turns out to be ash then yeah it would have to come out.

I will let you know how I get on thanks for the help.

Does this smoke look kind of blue to you. It did to me. Didn't smell sweet just Smokey.

 

1 hour ago, ozzay said:

Does this smoke look kind of blue to you.

No, but it's hard to tell from a video, especially because the Software in most phone camaras show the colours overprocessed and what the software thinks it should be rather than the actual colours.

Burning Oil blue smoke looks blue, it cannot be mistaken for white.

OK fair enough. Cos I went and showed another mechanic who analysed the smoke said its not blue. It looks whitish and even said a bit black. He said clear the code and go for a drive. I have the ODB tool and tried to clear the code but it doesn't clear for some reason. In other cars this device has worked. Not sure why?

Your right the phone won't do a good job of this. 

9 minutes ago, ozzay said:

I have the ODB tool and tried to clear the code but it doesn't clear

It doesn't clear because the DPF is still clogged, it needs either professionally cleaned if it can be or replaced and an investigation done as to whether the Regeneration process is working ok.

On 7/13/2024 at 5:18 PM, Tizer said:

It doesn't clear because the DPF is still clogged, it needs either professionally cleaned if it can be or replaced and an investigation done as to whether the Regeneration process is working ok.

Tried the additive cleaner and the lucas stuff. Same white smoke. Some scammers seemed to pass by and suggest my coolant was black because the bottle looked blackish but I checked that it was fine, they said head gasket failure. But then that would be more apparent in oil and coolant. 

Someone said it might be injectors. Because I do feel diesel is burning more.

2 hours ago, ozzay said:

Tried the additive cleaner and the lucas stuff.

I have no faith that these or any other Additives work for clearing a clogged DPF.

You can buy kits to check if there are Combustion Gases getting into the Coolant but if it is Coolant Vapour that you see and not just the by-products of normal combustion then I would expect the level of Coolant to drop fairly dramatically.

Personally I would not waste money on a Combustion Gas kit unless there was some other evidence.

Someone said EGR cooler might be the problem.

 

The others say weak turbo or head gasket though I doubt the head gasket one because the other mechanics did not say that.

Well it sounds like it's been narrowed down to a fault somewhere between the front and rear bumpers.  

EGR cooler is a good shout actually.  As the guesses are getting more & more broad, I think it is worth ruling out exhaust in the coolant using a sniff test.  I would expect any local garage to be able to do it for you if you don't want to buy a test kit just for a single use.

Once we confirm it's not coolant in the exhaust, that only leaves fuel or oil.  Oil smoke can be white if it's coming from the exhaust seal on the turbo, but when I popped a turbo the smoke filled the carriageway, it was much more severe than on your videos.  Which does suggest that it probably is over-fuelling, or that soot is smoldering in the exhaust instead of being burnt properly during regen.

No garage said coolant and they quite experienced. 

Turbo was a thought but the car is fine drives and pulls fine no noises. Could be weak.

EGR is one suggestion from one mechanic. Defo drinking diesel for sure.

In a dilemma here have it parked up now. Got my Lexus Is250 which is just beautiful and working but would love to have a fuel efficient diesel.

Mechanic said 125,000 miles is nothing for this Ford.

Thanks for the help all.

White smoke from a diesel engine is usually caused by unburnt diesel, not from leaking coolant.

What with the high fuel consumption, I'm thinking an overfuelling injector(s) quite likely, especially if the exhaust smells of fuel...🤔

Doing a leak off test MIGHT indicate which injector, but really they need taking out and having them checked by a fuel injection services company NOT a bog standard garage!.

I had an overfuelling injector and the leak off test only showed a slightly higher leak off; 5ml more than the other 3, but it proved to be the culprit, even though it was still in spec. Testing on a proper test rig like they have at fuel injection services places (not available at normal garages) would have checked other parameters.

 

On 7/16/2024 at 4:20 PM, nicam49 said:

White smoke from a diesel engine is usually caused by unburnt diesel, not from leaking coolant.

What with the high fuel consumption, I'm thinking an overfuelling injector(s) quite likely, especially if the exhaust smells of fuel...🤔

Doing a leak off test MIGHT indicate which injector, but really they need taking out and having them checked by a fuel injection services company NOT a bog standard garage!.

I had an overfuelling injector and the leak off test only showed a slightly higher leak off; 5ml more than the other 3, but it proved to be the culprit, even though it was still in spec. Testing on a proper test rig like they have at fuel injection services places (not available at normal garages) would have checked other parameters.

 

Did this leaking injector cause any smoke like the one I have in the video?

Yes, excess smoke, failed the mot on the smoke test.

Maybe what you can do is one by one disconnect the electrical connectors to each injector in turn and rev the engine each time,observing the exhaust smoke (if any) obviously the engine won't run great on 3 cylinders, but if ONE injector is causing it you'll see a vast reduction in smoke when you disconnect that one. You'll get some error codes when the ECU complains of open-circuit injectors which you'll have to clear afterwards.

 

2 hours ago, nicam49 said:

Yes, excess smoke, failed the mot on the smoke test.

Maybe what you can do is one by one disconnect the electrical connectors to each injector in turn and rev the engine each time,observing the exhaust smoke (if any) obviously the engine won't run great on 3 cylinders, but if ONE injector is causing it you'll see a vast reduction in smoke when you disconnect that one. You'll get some error codes when the ECU complains of open-circuit injectors which you'll have to clear afterwards.

 

Thanks

But was it white like that?

I think I might head to an injector specialist

If you do remove them,  then write down which cylinder numbers each one came from. There will be a unique code on each injector. This is to minimise the recoding hassle as it can be rather confusing!

Dpf clean 99 percent blockage now 5 percent.

 

New oil as well.

 

Drove it. Not as a bad as before but still some smoking happens when going at speed (motorway) then when you stop it has some smoke not heavy but noticeable. But then goes away and doesn't really come back. Quite intermittent. Doesn't happen when short local driving occurs.

 

No issues with the car.

No overheating.

Garage done a regen and never said anything about the smoke or coolant or anything unusual.

 

Well, sounds like you're getting there....just be aware that ANY smoke from a car equipped with dpf means an mot fail. 

4 hours ago, nicam49 said:

Well, sounds like you're getting there....just be aware that ANY smoke from a car equipped with dpf means an mot fail. 

I'm getting frustrated about it. 

It drives decently but won't be keeping it.

Can't sell it with a lie. 

Does anyone have a clue about this.

Yes, suggested to you on Thursday this:

Maybe what you can do is one by one disconnect the electrical connectors to each injector in turn and rev the engine each time,observing the exhaust smoke (if any) obviously the engine won't run great on 3 cylinders, but if ONE injector is causing it you'll see a vast reduction in smoke when you disconnect that one. 

18 hours ago, nicam49 said:

Yes, suggested to you on Thursday this:

Maybe what you can do is one by one disconnect the electrical connectors to each injector in turn and rev the engine each time,observing the exhaust smoke (if any) obviously the engine won't run great on 3 cylinders, but if ONE injector is causing it you'll see a vast reduction in smoke when you disconnect that one. 

How likely do you think this problem can be down to the vaporizer. As I understand this is the fifth injector that helps clean the DPF.

 

Garage told me it most likely is a turbocharger problem. Other people did say this. But this is one of possible reasons more than likely.