Cloud of smoke upon ignition

[wabybaby]

Hi

As the title says really, when I start her up quite a big cloud of smoke bellows out. It's not black smoke, but it doesn't seem blue either as if too much oil is in. On that note it does it when the oil service light has been on before.

Only thing that I have done differently in the last month is topped up 1l of oil every 2 weeks, same grade but sometimes different brand. Would that cause it?

Oh 1.9 dci 2003 is my car

Cheers

[AlexB]

These engines are not supposed to drink oil at such a rate. The smoke is oil, I am afraid.

Furthermore, as I remember, you mentioned earlier malfunction lights and flat spots. Together with the number plate 03 it does not look good. It is hard to say more without knowing details including OBD readings. BTW, what was the cause of the previous problems?

[wabybaby]

Oh dear

So when it's saying top up oil level, should I ignore it? I'll check the dipstick in a bit.
Yeah u remember rightly. No idea what the cause was, still does it. Flat spot in 1st is terrible..

[AlexB]

Of course you were right topping it up. I am just saying that it is not supposed to consume litres of oil between services. I would say up to half a litre per 9000 miles is healthy.

wabybaby, it would be helpful to know more details of the problem and of the car itself -- you will need such a summary in the near future anyway. Anything related to the engine can provide a hint on what is going on.

[AlexB]

continued...

Another good idea is to hook the car to the laptop via a diagnostic interface (ELM327, £30 on ebay) and read the fault codes. Flat spots can be diagnosed by logging the engine parameters while driving.

[Andy_CC]

Id say it could be your turbo. oils seals are passing oil into the turbo.

I used to have a subaru, when i started it up and big cloud of smoke would come out the exhaust. stripped the turbo out and found the seals were shot and there was play in the impella shaft. The car also had flat spots in the rev range, id gess that was down to the play in the shaft!

I managed to get a second hand turbo off ebay for £50, fitted it and hay presto, no more clouds of smoke and all the flat spots had gone. if felt completely different to drive and more powerful.

[wabybaby]

Yeah I thought it was a bit excessive on the oil consumption but then I heard these did use more than others so didn't think really..

Which details do you want for the engine? It's on 59k last service receipt was for 30somethingk and then the garage I bought it off "serviced it".

I may get one of those readers off eBay then, don't know if it's be related to the turbo but I get an intermittant check injection fault. Glow plugs are fine and it clears just annoying it coming up now n again.

I suppose my best bet would be to book it in at a garage and get them to check my turbo etc?

[AlexB]

What I want to know? It is difficult to say -- I am looking for clues. So far I know the registration 03, which according to the sticky thread above puts your car into the risk group w.r.t. turbocharger failures. The next was the pattern MIL -- flat spot/hesitation -- smoke -- oil usage. This is again characteristic of the turbocharger failure. In the last post you mentioned that oil was changed more than 9k ago... What oil was used, BTW (see our Links section)? What sort of driving do you do? What is the average speed and fuel consumption on the computer?

Well, it is all about the probability of the turbocharger failure, but it is possible that there is something else. For example, the smoke on startup may be caused by leaking valve stem seals, damaged piston rings, valves or an injector...

[wabybaby]

Well hopefully the oil was only changed about 1000 miles ago. When I bought it the dealer said it would be serviced for me, the service indicator was reset but doesnt mean to say it all done. Obviously I cant say what oil was used as I wasnt there, but when I've been topping it up I've been using the fully sinthetic stuff, 0w40 or whatever it is. Definetly the right stuff I wrote it down after reading on here!

On the computer at the minute I'm getting 37 mpg (used 14.5G), trip is 550m, av speed 30mph. During the week car mostly does fairly short town driving, then roughly ever other weekend I do a 100 mile round trip at the weekend, mostly A roads.

[AlexB]

Good, nothing wrong here...

Another guess. You wrote:
"As the title says really, when I start her up quite a big cloud of smoke bellows out. It's not black smoke, but it doesn't seem blue either as if too much oil is in. On that note it does it when the oil service light has been on before."

How often does the light come up and how often does the smoke appear? Once in two weeks (as you top up 1L every 2 weeks)? Were there incidents of abnormally high oil consumption over a short period of time? Is there any correlation between the oil light and flat spots? What was the level on the dipstick when you topped up?

It would be really helpful to read the fault codes and to log the engine parameters while driving... Check also the crankshaft ventilation pipe as excessive pressure may cause oil leaks in the turbo. It is the 20mm black rubber pipe going across the engine on the very top. It has a positive pressure valve in it. Check the linkage controlling the turbo. It should be movable by hand. When the engine is started it should move within a couple of seconds (you will need an assistant). The ultimate check is to get to the turbo and check the axial play. I'll let you know if I think of anything else...

[wabybaby]

Thanks for the replies I appreciate this..

Oil light has come on probably twice in the last month to 6 weeks. No corrolation between oil light and flat spots I dont think, saying that though I've been prompt on topping it up so not really driven with the light on much.

Smoke appears just about everytime you start the car, the first in the morning seems to produce a big one and then if the car is in frequent use the smoke is reduced or none at all.

I would say there are cases of high oil consumption in a short period, as I took the car to Renault in early dec for one of those winter check ups and he said oil was low so he topped it up. Then boxing day the oil light came on and I put in another litre. Then this last weekend the oil light is back on.

Its my missus car so ill get an exact dipstick check and I'll do those oother bits too you mentioned when shes bacl tonight.

Thanks again

[pw981]

I suggest you stop using the car as soon as conveniently possible and get the car to a good independent garage for a proper diagnosis!

Your car is 2003 registered, so falls out of the extended turbo & engine warranty of up to 5 years or 90k miles that Renault have in place. That scheme is also known as the Yellow OTS scheme. I would therefore see no benefit from going to your local Renault dealer about this issue, as they will be much more expensive!

[wabybaby]

Its booked in at my local Bosch diesel specialist for sat morning for a diagnosis, shes got to use it for the rest of the week for work...
Been looking over that parkers forum a bit more and saw they were recommended garages, also a lot closer to home than the Renault garage.

Shall let you all know what they say...

[AlexB]

wabybaby,

Meanwhile instruct your wife to be prepared to stall the engine in a high gear if it starts revving. The clutch will survive doing it once. An option is to press Stop 5 times quickly, but it is untested. Removing the card or pressing Stop once will not work! There will be a lot of noise and lot of smoke -- scary, but generally safe.

[pw981]

wabybaby,

sorry if my post above sounded a bit sharp, it wasn't suppose to be - only realised once i read it myself!

Glad to see you've been reading up on the parkers forum, I hope the diagnosis on saturday goes accordingly.