White smoke

Ayze

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Apr 6, 2015
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I bought a 2002 SEAT Toledo 1.9 TDi yesterday, drove it, all seemed fine! Engine made a little noise under acceleration, tappets? but other than that it was good.

Got it home last night no issue, 25 mile drive.

Today, start the car up and a LOT of white smoke was coming out of the exhaust (so much that I could see it wafting by the drivers door), car was juddery and a squeaking noise every half second from the engine bay. There also seemed to be more white smoke coming from the right hand side of the engine.

A little looking around and notice coolant level was very low, so have topped that off but that is more than likely a separate issue.


Any ideas of what it could be?
 

cheshire cat

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Dec 28, 2002
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if it doesn't use any coolant I would think it may be a duff glowplug I would be inclined to start with a good servicing unless you KNOW it's been done then a vag-com check if you can find someone local and take it from there
 

Ayze

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Apr 6, 2015
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Would a fault code come up if the glow plugs were an issue?

The smoke and noise kinda puts me off starting the car, based on the information is it relatively safe? and if it's the glow plugs, would the smoke subside after a while after heating up?
 

cheshire cat

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I think only if it were a glow control problem but not 1 or 2 plugs these can easily be checked in place by disconnecting the cable(s) and checking for a resistance from plug connector to engine block for each one it shouldn't hurt to warm it up with the smoke which is unburned diesel the squeaking (budggy?) by the way is probably a belt idler needing a spot of lube til it warms up
 

Ayze

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Apr 6, 2015
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Started it up earlier, noticed that the battery light remains on. Would this be related?
 

cheshire cat

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do you still have an alternator belt ?? if so I would put a volt meter across the battery at fast tickover and check for approx. 14volts if it's the old pre PD engine there is unlikely to be any cam wear
 

Ayze

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Apr 6, 2015
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Squeak seemed less today, just as smokey. Had it running a little while and as it warmed up the squeak stopped and smoke died down a lot. Will get the glow plugs looked at over the weekend hopefully.

Battery light went out instantly when I put a little acceleration, seemed to only be on at idle on startup.

Thanks for the help.
 

Ayze

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Apr 6, 2015
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2 weeks later and finally took it to the garage to get it looked into (insurance payment went into holding account rather than to them, so had to wait on that and not been driving, argh!)

They didn't do much testing on the glowplugs (they were taking the approach of removing them and manually inspecting the glow, but said it felt like it would snap if they tried further and didn't want to risk it - but said they should be okay). Due to the vast amount of smoke that was coming out (filled the garage, and there being some smoke in the engine bay they think it would be an injector fault? and that 3 out of 4 cylinders were working.
Although this seems to only be when the car is starting from cold. 15 mins and everything is A-OK.

As a result they said they would have to check the injectors / do a compression test if I recall correctly, and would be looking at a couple hundred quid. That's even if that is the cause which it may not be. I've got the car back and am now sat thinking:
Should I have them look into this as they said and spend a lot,
Drive as normal, just very smokey for 10 mins each time I start which is a bit embarrassing,
Scrap it and look for a new one,
or
Hopefully you guys have a better idea!
 

cheshire cat

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I would try another garage with some VW type experience or a diesel specialist. Where are you located. Not. Happy with someone who feels the need to remove the plugs first. Think they,re looking for work:lol:
 

Ayze

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Apr 6, 2015
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Well they said testing with just a multimeter was a bit unreliable... they were hinting more at getting rid of the car more than having them repair it.

BUT... came home after work today, thought I would have a look at sorting the squeak. WD40 to the rescue. Started the car up, no squeaking and very little smoke! What was there was gone within about 5 seconds anyway. I will test again in the morning and fingers crossed it will start good going forward.


I was going to post a pic up of how bad the smoke was before, seems I need more posts before I can do that sadly.
 

Ayze

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Apr 6, 2015
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I've actually barely driven and just ruling out cheaper things currently. Tomorrow I'll have the glow plugs changed to see if that effects it.

I also plan to check the fuel pump timing and adjust this if necessary. This may sound like a daft question, as I understand all the complicated parts of what to do when doing this, but removing the actual cover on the belt? I see 3 clips on top, but I presume there's something further down which is holding it on.

The other issue I now have is I had the AA look at the car before as I broke down after changing the coolant temperate sensor and it popped out while driving and lost all my coolant and o-ring. While fitting this and topping me up they did various tests including checking for exhaust gasses in the coolant which was all okay, but the bad news was they found there was a big pressure buildup in the coolant system, it seemed stable at idle but revving the engine and it went to worrying levels and wasn't releasing the pressure. The AA guy told me that the pressure probably built up so much when I was driving that it simply popped the sensor out.
After a little drive, and about 4 days later, I opened the expansion cap and seemed like there was still a lot of pressure in there and the water level rose up towards the top and then started gushing out of the side, after this subsided there was very little coolant left in the tank.

So I am wondering if this is either related or completely separate, and why no pressure is being released. I can only assume there is a pressure release valve somewhere which may be damaged/stuck?
 

cheshire cat

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Dec 28, 2002
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I can only assume there is a fault with the pump, radiator or thermostat which is what I'd look at next, while it's out you may as well replace it for what they cost I guess it's lack of circulation which is boiling in a hot spot(head) and then the steam is pushing the water out once the pressure is released keep on you will get there sooner or later
 

Ayze

Active Member
Apr 6, 2015
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changed glow plugs, still the same.
I actually fitted an EGR blanking plate, and set the EGR setting in vagcom to surprisingly there was no smoke at startup, but started to come soon after. Again it seemed normal after a little while, atlhough revving the engine and lots of smoke, a little in the engine bay.

Checked the injection timing... fluctuating around 23!!! Way off what it should be. I still need to figure out how to take the cover off though, or is it just those 3 clips and needs a bit of a yank?

The AA said the pump was fine re: the pressure issue, but I have ordered a new thermostat and I'll fit that later in the week.
 

Ayze

Active Member
Apr 6, 2015
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**Update**

After a few attempts to sort the timing it's now 50 at 100 degrees, so slap bang in the middle of retarded and advanced. Not had white smoke since. As far as I understand though, a more advanced timing would yield better mpg? by how much.

The coolant pressure issue, well, all I can say is that the AA can be idiots at times. Not knowing enough about the cooling system I simply took the guys word for it. I took it too the garage this morning to check it over - turns out there was trapped air in the system so it wasn't circulating properly, the AA did no checks of the sort after filling the coolant back up after the car wet itself. We bled the system. No airlocks, warm air out the vents, water didn't seem to gush out the expansion tank when removing the cap, all was well- that was until I took it out for a spin. Got on the a64 reached 70mph and the car started to overheat!! actually headed up to 120 degrees.

Ended up pulling over several times hazards n all and waiting for the engine to cool down, eventually got it back to the garage! Water expanding and coming out the expansion tank upon taking the cap off, no hot air out the vents either. They're saying that with the water circulating now, it appears the thermostat has decided to stick closed! Thankfully I still had the one I purchased sat in the car so they said they'll fit it for me.

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TL;DR version of my car issues

Engine bay squeak
- WD40 fix
Excessive white smoke from exhaust, a little in engine bay
- Fitted new glow plugs
- Radseal
- Blanked EGR
- Injection timing fixed it
Coolant pressure
- AA said it builds up to dangerous levels after refilling coolant
- Coolant gushes out when removing expansion tank cap
- Garage tested and found an airlock and removed
- With coolant circulating it seems the thermostat has locked shut

And for those interested, here's the link to the image of how much white smoke that was coming out: s10.postimg.org/vm7jqzh49/IMG_20150421_085220.jpg
Just copy and paste it into your browser as I can't actually link images properly until I have 15 posts here.
 
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