When I left work to come home today, I started the SD, and there was a constant exhaling of opaque smoke at idle.
rev the engine and horrendous cloud of smoke, kinda white, kinda blue.
stinky.

took off on the highway and left a trail of smoke for about a kilometer,
then as engine temps went up the smoke went away and that was it.

Need oil change? dirty fuel somehow? I'm at the bottom of a tank.....

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RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

____________________________
FACEBOOK: PANZER450

Bad vacuum diaphragm? I believe you have the earlier vacuum pump with the hose that goes to the air filter.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

nope, sorry...peirburg single line....


NEXT!

__________________
RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

____________________________
FACEBOOK: PANZER450

How many miles do you have on your injector nozzles?

This problem sounds like bad nozzles combined with low cold compression - which may explain why the smoke went away as it reached normal operating temperature.

However, maybe your IP is sucking the crud from the bottom of your fuel tank and for whatever reason the fuel filter isn't catching it. Just speculation here.

Does your car burn oil? Perhaps your valve guides are nearing the end of their useful lives, and oil collects in the combustion chamber while the car is parked?

Panzer what's the temps up ther in Canada this time of year? Betcha the diesel same as human beings sees its own breath in the cold.

Yep! the vacuum pump ,pumping oil into the intake manifold , I had the same episode with mine.

Please see post #3.....

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

When the vehicle is fully warm and the speeds are down...........does the smoke return...........have you checked outside the vehicle?

Well, I know this.

I need to change my oil, my pre-filter is quite dark looking, and the yellow paint marks on the injector line nuts on the IP are no longer intact.
I will also assume that my injectors are original....how do I tell if they've been worked on?

so, I will change my oil and pre-filters tomorrow and see what happens....This was the first time I have seen this type of smoke from my car.
we have a used oil furnace at work, and my exhaust smelled like the exhaust from that furnace....

__________________
RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

____________________________
FACEBOOK: PANZER450

The issue has nothing to do with your oil or fuel filters.

Well, I started the car this morning, at -1*c and not much more than the usual overnight cold diesel smoke that I've seen for three years.
Drove to work. left work at lunch...no new smoke. then for some reason at 5:00 today (after 4 hours sitting at 8*c, POOF, a good puff of whitish/bluish/brownish smoke came out, dense enough to cast a shadow.

__________________
RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

____________________________
FACEBOOK: PANZER450

If the black smoke cloud appears after the car has sat for several hours, the odds are that the valve guides are allowing oil to leak into the combustion chamber, creating all that smoke when you start it. You mention that your engine has 443,000 KM on it - its going to burn some oil.

I'd keep driving it until it has trouble with cold starts, at which point a rebuild is probably due.