Could he have a leak in his brake booster. For some reason I thought I remember brake fluid leaking through the vacuum line and causing the smoke like described.

No connection between the vacuum line and the combustion chambers, unlike a gasser.

__________________
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

I figured if the turbo leakage is on the exhaust side. The turbo and exhaust system would have to warm up a little before it would make clouds. Just cold oil for the first minute perhaps?

Fundamentally, and prior to heading down any path, it is vital to determine if this smoke is fuel related or oil related. You have already ruled out coolant related smoke because the coolant level doesn't drop.

So, let the vehicle sit and idle for five minutes................have someone else sit in the driver's seat............you go back by the tailpipe.

Rev it to 2500 rpm and determine, via smell, whether the white smoke is oil (most probable) or fuel (least probable).

Fuel smells exactly like diesel.

Oil smells nasty and foul.

You must make this determination prior to any hope of a diagnosis and the determination must be accurate or you'll have an "epic fail" on your hands.

Okay, my apologies for this having taken so long. Also, I notice my coolant WAS low the other day. I'm filling it up in the morning and I'll post back about whether I see a drop or not.

I tried to upload the video to PeachParts, but it didn't want to take it. So, I put it on YouTube.

You can see it here: Smokey diesel, what's wrong? - YouTube

Again. Thanks for all the thoughts.

So, it's been pretty off an on with the smoke lately. Drove it about 20 miles to work today, and besides a smokey start, it ran well and pretty smoke free. However, on my drive home, I was blowing a steady steam at every red light and leaving a close each time I accelerated out of a red light.

You've got almost my exact same problem, and the same engine noise. My clack clack (which has been diagnosed as nailing), goes away off idle.

I get that same cloud with a cold start and a take off for up to about 5 minutes of driving, then it's happy and almost no smoke at all.

Let it sit an hour or so and the cloud is back.

I've done diesel purge, IP timing, new nozzles and pop'd, air filter, both fuel filters. Car has a ton of power, just did about 140 miles today at over 70 and it gets up there quick.

I've put enough miles on now (about 600) to finally have seen a little oil use, 1/2 quart, so I'm expecting it's valve guides on mine. As soon as the 240D is on the road (likely late next week). I'm pulling the head on this 300CD.

__________________
Eric, CPO, Submarines, retired.
Here's a sig line...
Mine: '68 Corvette LS1/4L65E, 83 240D, 2000 GMC 4x4, 08 FLSTC Anniv
Hers: '72 Corvette 454/4spd, '99 MB SLK, '93 Metro vert, 78 240D, '92 Silverado, '65 Fjord Rustang, '59 Fjord Fairlane, '17 Slingshot.

What does the smoke smell like?

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Thank you.

Smoke smell ...

I honestly don't know how to answer that. It appears my choices are: Diesel, Sweet or Stinky.

To me, it just smells like exhaust smoke. There's a diesel smell, I guess it's on the sweet side and it definitely stinks a little.

I'm sure that offers absolutely no help to you.

Here's some new information. I turned by ELR down from 4 to 1 and for a weekend it, seemed to get rid of any smoke. There was very little on start, and I didn't notice it much on the road. It's started to come back again now, on again off again. It seems to change with each start of the engine.

However, I would say that, while definitely still smoking a bunch on start, it is less now. I'm having less instances of it seriously smoking at idle.

Any reason why this would be related?

The only thing I can think of is it was getting over fueled and burning too much.

Also, I can hear a chuggy noise that sounds like suction coming from the engine area. Would this be my IP, or would it more likely be a problem with the IP valve that attaches to the IP and the hoses?

Would this be an indication of something? I only notice it after starting.

It's starting to get cold here in Chicago now, so I'm no longer sure how much smoke is "too much"

When it was 70 or 80 degrees out, it was much more obvious that it was a problem, not just cold smoking.

Well, just for information, remember smoke from a diesel tailpipe is not cold weather related. If the engine is running correctly, it will make very, very little tailpipe vapor of any kind right down to Zero degrees F. So in cold weather, any vapor out of the tailpipe is problematic. That is the nature of diesel engine exhaust.

__________________
Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

If the smoke burns your eyes to the point that you have to get away from it, it's related to unburned fuel. Failing that, it could be oil or coolant related.

__________________
'83 300D, 126K miles.

It looks like unburned fuel to me in the video. I'd do a compression test. I'm thinking that you may have a low cylinder or two that aren't firing at idle but start firing at higher rpm's.

__________________
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

Did anyone look at the you tube video? Starting at 0:48 thru 1:07, there seems to be a huge exhaust leak ---- wouldn't this impact the spinning of the turbo, so the engine isn't getting enough air for the fuel?

Try not to crucify me if the exhaust leak has no impact; I don't quite remember the exhaust path thru the turbo.

__________________
daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

It has no impact at idle; for normal driving at light load, you could take both manifolds off the engine and it would work just fine.

__________________
'83 300D, 126K miles.