Blue Smoke

[TonyP]

Did you establish where the oil was coming from to cause the smoke, by disconnecting the inlet ducting as suggested, between turbo and engine?

No not really. Obviously disconnected all of the ducting and pipework, and there was some oil in the pipe that goes into the inter cooler, but nothing that I would say is huge. To be fair I have no clue what is too much oil, or if any was too much...

I will ask the turbo place for their thoughts, but suspect they will just want to sell me one, so will say anything.

 

[chapel gate]

it will feel like there is a lot of play by finger wiggle. The play Is taken out once the oil around the bearing is pressurised.
If the blades don't touch the housing you are probably ok, but worth checking out for piece of mind, now it's out as tp says.
Blades touching it definitely needs rebuilding.

 

[StarCruiser]

The thing is, without proving a component faulty, or at least narrowing down the fault, you stand the chance of throwing good money at the wrong part. At this stage it would be prudent to refit the turbo without the intake pipework and run the engine to see what you get out the back. If the blue smoke stops, it’s turbo related and you’ve proved it. If it continues then you’ve proved it’s not from the turbo and you then need to look at the engine. If the turbo looks as good on the turbine side as it does on the compressor side in the pic, I’d say there’s no blades touching. There’s certainly no sign on the intake side in the picture though I am puzzled by the creamy coloured deposit on the outer edges of the blades.

 

[flint]

This is a video that Julian posted of the amount of play in a knackered 120 turbo, quite a bit more than 0.5mm:

 

[StarCruiser]

That’s amazing that was still functioning to get that bad. The blades had clearly been in contact with the housing.

 

[TonyP]

Thanks for all the feedback, really do appreciate it.

If I understand this correctly, oil coming from the turbo into the engine, will come from the oil that is passed around the turbo for lubrication and cooling, which means the seal must be damaged for it to come through?

The play is nowhere near as bad as in the vid posted, but if I push it hard enough to the side, it will touch the sides, not that this is conclusive...

I'll drop it round to the turbo place tmr and ask them to test it. If it's knackered I'll change it, but the reality is we need the second car and it's costs me more in reputation damage having to leave work early to fetch the mrs, so I may just bite the bullet and put in a new one.

 

[StarCruiser]

I wish you the very best of luck that it’s the turbo and you get a good deal on a good refurb or replacement and that you can move on, reputation intact.

 

[TonyP]

Hope so too...

 

[TonyP]

Well took the turbo to the turbo remanufacture place and they tested it, and as far as they could tell there is nothing wrong with it. Tested the play on one of they good ones and it's very similar to mine, so paid them for the test, and fitted it back in.

So back to square one, but at least now i am confident it's not the turbo.....

 

[stumog]

So.my next move would be a compression test.

 

[TonyP]

So after doing a bit more research I think it may be the injector seals......

https://www.pradopoint.com.au/forum...120-series/16537-d4d-blowing-smoke-on-startup


Originally posted by Corigator View Post

My car has smoke on startup when its parked for a few days. I think its when its pointing downhill.

That is the classic result of failed injector seals (sheets) where the contaminated oil from the rocker area has then dropped down into the sump and blocked the oil pickup. This has then restricted oil flow to the top of the engine wearing rings etc. Have you looked up through the sump hole and inspected the screen on the pickup?


https://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/warning-prado-06-09-120-diesel-injector-fault.5561/


https://www.pradopoint.com.au/forum...CKUP-in-19-000klms-this-may-save-your-engine=

 

[stumog]

It's also a sign of valve stem seals.

 

[TonyP]

Yes I did think of that. I will drop the oil and check the strainer. If it looks clogged up then that's a pointer

 

[flint]

From memory, the readings that you posted in another thread looked good regarding the condition of the injectors. A bit fiddly, but if you do thinks it's the seals it's not a huge job to take the injectors out and replace the seals plus the clamp washers and seals for the return pipes and if you number them and put them back in the same place, no need to enter any codes. When I did mine, I used cling film to wrap the pipe ends and ports and gave the pipes a good blow through with compressed air before refitting.
Valve stem seal problems are usually noticable with smoke on overrun, going downhill or slowing from speed.

 

[TonyP]

On startup when facing downhill it smoked (both black and white) like a old stream train, was impressive .

This morning was facing uphill and barely any smoke.

OK, not definitive, but all indicators or where the problem could lay.

 

[chapel gate]

On startup when facing downhill it smoked (both black and white) like a old stream train, was impressive .

This morning was facing uphill and barely any smoke.

OK, not definitive, but all indicators or where the problem could lay.

Sounds like fuel rather than oil.

 

[TonyP]

@flint yeah I checked the injector tollarences again they are ok'ish one is a bit borderline, but still OK.

Waiting for oil to drain, and then I can check the strainer ...

 

[TonyP]

So dropped the oil and took the best pic I could whilst oil dripping on phone and my head...

and this is from Nov 2017:

Really hard to tell from the pic, so I think I will have to remove the little sump to inspect the strainer.

 

[silvercruiser]

It does look a bit clogged from the picture. its easy enough to remove the small sump. to have a good inspect.
Hopefully its a simple fix of the sealing washers.

 

[flint]

It does look a bit claggy in there. This is worth a look:
https://www.pradopoint.com.au/forum...locked-oil-pickup-screen-1kd-ftv-3-0lt-diesel