How smokey or otherwise is your diesel?
 

How smokey before you are embarrass to drive the car? All old diesel smokes a bit but how bad is bad? What is acceptable and what is not?

For Example: Bad!
 

This is what you'd call a bad example:

Mercedes 200D Start - YouTube

However, it has sat for 12 years prior to this, and is very badly adjusted / a little bit broken.

Also, my neighbours don't care. And if I could get it registered in it's current state, which is nearly impossible in Germany, or anywhere else I would drive it a bit, just for fun.

Just had my daughter's 84 SD emission tested. 8% opacity at 60mph, 10% at 50mph, 6% at 40mph.

My 83 SD only has visible smoke at cold start and when floored. 195K mi. That's probably better than average though (I'm lucky there). I think some smoke on acceleration and startup is pretty normal for these.

What does this mean? Car is moving or stationary on a dyno?

I suspect my car has low compression I think. Little blow by and oil cap does not dance. It is not black smoke but a slight white haze. It is not a smoke machine so to speak. I just want to get some opinions on what is considered normal or acceptable. All my working ( some are not ) diesels smoke, just a matter of how much.:P

On a dyno. It's the standard emissions test in CO. Put the vehicle on a dyno, drive at different speeds and shine a light thru the exhaust.

Car had been sitting for over a year, with 311K miles on it: 190D exhaust - YouTube
Not bad I would assume. Needs all new fluids and filters, might have close to no smoke then

Answer
 

I am never embarrassed by diesel smoke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slkQ7zSWMkI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07a0SbeFmEg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW3C1AYQLnI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhxsN7HGo2Y&NR=1

or tire smoke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDtILVplrSk


This is terribly sad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubWlNpokKTI


.

The smoking is similar, a bit less than this at idle. OK-ish, not embarrassed?

When I first got my euro 300d, I was reported for to much smoke. I got a nice letter from the state of California. When I got it, I remember it smoked so bad you couldn't even see the car when you floored it...Had a cop follow me for blocks attempting to figure out a way to pull me over....I liked the attention :-)

My 83 300D T with 298k has no visible smoke from a cold start unless I shine a light on it. Such a sweet running and sounding engine- I love it! Oh I should mention, its last 80k was on veg too. If I floor it when on the road, I see a little black smoke in the rear view, which is normal.

I have noticed that all mine and my brothers cars smoke a little as well. The use of veg oil will cause a little more smoke than with pump Diesel.

78 smokes a bit at over 200k
82 I had sit for 6 months started and no smoke at all. And somehow magicly had much reduced blow by! Guess a ring freed or something.
81 smoke son start but I know it has marginal injectors COmpression is good. Need to get the injectors rebuilt.

Hi Rich, I do not think Veggie or D#2 make a difference. I think the engine are all tired with many many K miles.

Ok
 

That sounds like low average smoke = you have a good engine.


***
Today; I sent away a young fellow that came by with a 1992 300D 2.5 turbo, worn out engine (smoking like this when warm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP8KCp9PJjU
it had 800,000 (salt) miles (Chicago/Detroit).
The engine uses one quart of oil every 50 miles. :eek:
Cold start (three glows) with NEW glow plugs, cranking is roughly 35 seconds + the white smoke (unburnt fuel) covers two acres before it builds enough heat to fire. :eek:

He thought I could fix it with some miracle oil additive, under $100.00 USD.
The previous owner rebuilt the turbo, injectors, injection pump, new oil pump, good used crankshaft, new rod/main bearings, new cylinder head, new timing chain and tensioner.
I called the shop where the work was done, and they did recommend rings and sleeves, but owner declined "60,000 miles ago". :eek:

Current Compression numbers dry:
#1. 212 psi.
#2. 200 psi.
#3. 200 psi.
#4. 190 psi.
#5. 200 psi.
:(

Current Compression numbers wet:
#1. 222 psi.
#2. 210 psi.
#3. 210 psi.
#4. 200 psi.
#5. 210 psi.
:(

My diagnosis: Rings and sleeves are worn out, and must be replaced.
Doubtful the engine will be repaired due to cost. :(

.

I have noticed a slight color blue smoke when running veg, but no smoke when running D2. That just may be my vehicles because of the blend I run.

Mine smokes until the turbo spools up, leaving a slightly embarrassing black cloud for the car behind me to drive through at stoplights. The problem is I had problems with the ALDA and had to remove it, so there's no off-boost fuel limiting. (I have a replacement but it needs to be shimmed, and I've been too busy fixing other stuff.) The over-fueling on light acceleration also tends to cause carbon to accumulate in the engine, so if I drive it slowly for a while and then floor it to get on the freeway, it smokes like a Peterbilt for a bit. "Rolling coal" as the rednecks like to say.

Practically no smoke at idle, though, even cold. When I accelerate from a stop with the engine cold, though, I do get a bit of misfiring and some blue smoke, which goes away when it starts to warm up. Haven't quite figured out why...I'm thinking maybe it's related to not having an ALDA, since that seems to affect the idle.

I don't like smoke...to me it represents fuel I paid for going to waste.

You think our cars smoke? You haven't seen smoke until you witness a 0 to 100 percent step load on a 2.5 MW genset. It has a 16 cyl engine, not sure of the displacement but the cylinders are like 5 gallon buckets.

We do the test with a resistive load bank, basically a giant fan cooled toaster on a trailer. The resistor is tapped not unlike the blower control on a 123. There are controls that let you apply the load in steps or all at once.

When the gen goes from idle to maximum power instantly it is a sight to behold.

The engine goes from chugga chugga to VRrrrrooooooom and you hear the turbos (yes turbos, there are usually 4) screaming as the engine tries to recover speed. And a beautiful plume of black smoke blasted skyward out the muffler.

The test is designed to prove the response of the genset controls in response to sudden load changes. It must maintain voltage (the alternator regulator) and the frequency (engine governor) within acceptable limits. We put a recording scope on the output to document the test. The voltage and frequency want to drop and as the controls react by adding more fuel and excitation, they have to be careful not to overshoot the mark.

100 to zero not as dramatic but that is the tough one for the controls, it is real easy to overshoot especially on voltage - too much is a Real Bad Thing.

Unfortunately I cannot make a movie the next time I am on site due to customer security rules.

Just another fun day at work...

My 83 300D Turbo smokes like a freight train when I first start it then cleans up considerably.

My 84 300TD Wagon doesn't smoke at all even when I romp on it.

My 240D hasn't smoked in quite some time. :P