Power loss and blue smoke

[bloke48]

Ok.... its the day after ANZAC day and the 2010 D40 ST has been sitting in bloody cold weather for two days. Start it early the next morning (still cold) and, admittedly, didn't warm it before heading off very slowly to pick up my young bloke for work (running a bit late!).

Truck is missing and low on power. It is periodically blowing BLUE smoke out the tailpipe. If it was a 4 pot petrol burner I would have sworn it was a stuck valve. I drive about 600 metres before shutting it down and waiting 20 or 30 seconds before re-starting.

All good and hasn't done anything since.

Any suggestions on what the problem was? What the implications are? Still got a whack of warranty left so I want to be reasonably certain about what I say when it goes in to the dealer.

Thanks for any suggestions......

 

[Goata]

Sounds like glow plugs. I had similar problem with a old a patrol that I had. If problem keeps happening with first cold start of the day I would try replacing them and see if that helps

 

[Old.Tony]

It could be the glows, they're supposed to stay on until the coolant reaches 85C or something like that, so it's fair to say that if the engine is REALLY cold it's not going to have an easy time of it.

However that blue smoke might be a concern. The diesel still has valves - air has to get in, and exhaust has to get out - so it's still possible that it's a valve guide, but given that it stopped I'd suggest that it's not the guides, but more likely something over in the PCV region.

If that's the case, you can be less worried - but it's still a concern that so much oil got into the system that it caused the exhaust to emit blue smoke. Is it possible that it was black smoke (incompletely burnt diesel) with the sun catching it the wrong way making it look blue?

Have a look inside the air intake just before the turbo for oil. If there's a lot there, it was probably the PCV and it would be a good idea to clean everything up - air hoses and intercooler mostly. The intercooler loses a small amount of performance from having oil in it.

I would recommend getting a catch can - regardless of whether or not the problem is caused by the PCV.

 

[bloke48]

Thanks for the input, guys. Checked the entire engine bay for oil and there is none anywhere. The smoke was definitely blue. The only other bit of information is that this engine usually starts first hit once the glow plug light goes out - you can almost bank on it. This time the engine kicked then stopped at first attempt. After that, it started at the second attempt and then ran "lumpy". The blue smoke was not continuous - just seemed to blow four or five times over the 600 metres before I shut it down.

All help appreciated.

 

[ozsnow]

It could have been that the your diesel was gelling in the low temps (or just at the point of gelling)

At this time of the year people down this way get caught out because the servos are just starting to change over to a winter mix.

Try some additive to lower the gel point and see what happens.