white exhaust smoke

mancunian · Post by **mancunian** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:09 pm

Is there any rational explantion for white smoke, coming from the exhaust at tickover?
1997 Diesel Bongo
Mancunian

Peg leg Pete · Post by **Peg leg Pete** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:15 pm

Do you get white smoke when revs are higher?

nfn · Post by **nfn** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:19 pm

Does it only produce white smoke on tick-over when the engine is cold? This is normal, but if it happens with the engine already warmed up you should check the coolant level -- hopefully it's not coolant coming out of the exhaust.

dreamwarrioruk · Post by **dreamwarrioruk** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:23 pm

we had the same with ours which turned out to be a blown turbo. check if your losing coolant at all.

Veg_Ian · Post by **Veg_Ian** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:01 am

White smoke? - usually attributable to fuel starvation but also faulty glowplugs which could explain why you only get it at startup with the engine cold.

mancunian · Post by **mancunian** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:31 pm

After a 7 mile run and with the engine off for 15 minutes, the white smoke appeared when we started the engine again. Then on the way home it smoked some what when pulling away from a corner. When back home, 7 miles later it smoked again when reversing.
I haven't yet checked the coolant level,, but we have only just got the P reg Bongo (44,000 km) and the mileage after a FULL service is 210 miles.

Any thoughts.

Peg leg Pete · Post by **Peg leg Pete** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:38 pm

I would be checking the coolant A.S.A.P. If you have only just got the Bongo you should return to Dealer( if you got from Dealer) and get it checked over, have you any warrenty? do not run if coolant level is low.

neil/di · Post by **neil/di** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:30 pm

I cant agree with pete enough, you MUST CHECK YOUR COOLING LEVELS/SYSTEM,damaged caused by blown head gaskets and cylinder heads through overheating is, so check asap,and good luck
Neil

just do it · Post by **just do it** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:58 pm

dreamwarrioruk wrote:we had the same with ours which turned out to be a blown turbo. check if your losing coolant at all.

Did you find that you lost coolant through the broken turbo?
I have been progressively loosing coolant for over a year and can't find any holes in the pipes. I just keep topping it up and the temperatur stays perfectly where it is.
Don't think it is a blown gasket as I don't think I could have driven with it for 20000km. I also had it pressure checked in it is fine. No residue in the coolant either.
Maybe I have a turbo on its way out too.
How did your Bongo drive with the broken turbo and wher did you get a new one from?

nfn · Post by **nfn** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:39 pm

I'd also be interested in hearing the turbo failure story. The turbo on my bongo makes a little noise when it kicks in, which goes away when it's working hard. It's an air whooshing/scraping sound. Not especially loud, and has not changed in 3000 miles. I think it's the turbo bearings making the noise. There is no sluggishness or oil or coolant loss. A bongo specialist listened to it and agreed with the diagnosis pending further investigation after failing to find air leakage.

I had the turbo go on a Toyota Estima 2.2TD. It showed up as quite a bit of oil loss on motorway trips, and poor acceleration. I couldn't see any white smoke, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't any. It turned out that a seal in the turbo was leaking.

dreamwarrioruk · Post by **dreamwarrioruk** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:16 pm

with ours for quite a while when you accelerated hard there was a plume of white smoke out of the exhaust.
we were having a steady coolant loss with no leaks i could see.
after the holiday to cornwall we pulled into a garage and to our horror we couldnt see for smoke. All the coolant had gone but no overheating.
as i found out the turbo is water cooled with a water jacket. to test out the turbo problem. the pipes were blocked off and we had no coolant leak and no smoke. however the problem of running it without cooling the bearing caused a total failure of the turbo.
A replacement was found from bongobits for 150 plus delivery. I fitted it myself which wasnt too had however with it been stood for two weeks there was a lot of water in the engine which lead me to believe that the head was cracked or blown gasket. A good mechanical friend of mine Lez came round and we completly removed the turbo and exhaust manifold it was taken for a ride down the road so we could see if it was firing ok.
Bongos do not move without the use of the turbo (well you could run faster) they must rely heavily on them for the power.
Anyway the crankcase breather and air inlet pipes were badly crudded up so were stripped down and cleaned.
That was last september and we have used the bongo every day since, no coolant loss and no problems so far.

hope this of some help to you and i do hope that at the worst case its the turbo at fault on yours and not the dreaded head/gasket.

bigdaddycain · Post by **bigdaddycain** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:00 pm

The bongo engine was never designed to run naturally aspirated ( as far as i know ) so that would account for the poor running with it taken off. ( i,m suprised it ran at all! )

Dave dabongo has experienced coolant leaks recently, but that was eventually traced to pinprick holes in one of the coolant hoses. I dont think he had any smoke though... I've never had a turbo" let go" but from what i've heard its accompanied with plumes of thick smoke,vast loss of power, and engine bay covered in oil...

I have the whooshing sound when the turbo is on boost, but no scraping noises, that doesn't sound too good!

dreamwarrioruk · Post by **dreamwarrioruk** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:25 pm

it runs but not very fast.
we had the big plume of smoke but no oil as it was only the water cooled part that went, we didnt have any power loss either but i think we just caught it it time before a formula one style blowup.
never noticed any abnormal noises with the turbo either the old one or the replacement one.

bigdaddycain · Post by **bigdaddycain** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:33 pm

I see... hope its nothing TOO major, keep us all posted on the final outcome dreamwarrior?

andyfb78 · Post by **andyfb78** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:25 am

I had a similar thing, it turned out to be a blocked fuel filter on the inlet pipe bango on the injector pump.

Check in this order:
-oil for signs of emulsifiying (going white and frothy) this is a sign that you are getting water in the oil and therefore a head gasket or worse.
-coolant level and for signs of white scum (the reverse of above - oil in the water, again headgasket or worse).
IF IT IS EITHER OF THESE DO NOT DRIVE GET IT FIXED ASAP.
-Main fuel filter (under driver's seat) check it is not blocked, old, or full of water.
-leaks in the fuel line, or blockages in the fuel line, both of which will restrict fuel flow.
-Tiny filter under the banjo on the injection pump (remove the bango on the pump and about 1.5" down the hole is a tiny gauze filter) clean and replace.
-glow plug function, you'll need a multimeter to check for current at each one.

I'm fairly sure you'lll solve it by one of these, the bango filter is common, as are faulty glow plugs, but make sure you are not in the early stages of needign a headgasket!

Good luck

Andy