puff of smoke whan changing gear or going up hill

[spike72]

hi all

what could be the problem i have a 1.7 deisel that when the van is under load like changing gear or going up hil i see a puff of smoke what could be the problem as i no nothing about cars/vans ect be told it could be
1,diesel pump knackered
2,injectors need re setting
3,dont worry about it the vans 20 years old this year

please help i have not got a clue

[hermie_74]

it's a diesel mate they do it

[Grun]

Spike,
Hope you can get it fixed or you may need to pay £10 a year for a licence to smoke it is rumoured.

Sorry, love to help but never owned a diesel, and know nowt about them.

Mike

[Other-Power]

They do that, small engine under heavy load.

Jon

[VWCamperfan]

Yep, as said. Quite normal for a diesel. In fact some have said to worry a bit if it doesn't do it!

[dave friday]

possibly one of your injectors needs an overhaul, mine did a puff of smoke every 3 or 4 seconds when going up a steep hill, its clear now after a refurbished injector, but it didnt seem to affect the performance!.
good luck,Barry.

[Plasticman]

They do that, small engine under heavy load.

Jon

not just small engines, Boot anything and it will below something. my tdi golf loves it especially as its been chipped
Mike

[Syncro G]

Whilst its normal for an old design diesel to smoke under load (modern ones have clever tricks to reduice it but they never manage to iliminate it) it does depend what colour the smoke is before you can call it normal and fine.

White smoke = bad, poor timeing (too retarded?). White smoke can also be caused low combustion temp so is sometimes produiced breafly after coldstart, whilst its not the end of the world, having the preheat system working properly and useing the coldstart leaver should reduice or iliminate this on all but the coldest mornings.

Blue smoke = bad, burning oil.

grey/Black smoke is normal so long as it only happens under load. It should smoke pritty nicely but not obscure rear vission, though it will be noticable in the mirror at night if some headlaights are following you. If its really thick black smoke then the timeing might need ajusting (too advanced?) or the fueling is wrong (that'd probuly only be an issue if someones been messing with it).

If it smokes all the time and the timeing is fine the injectors could be worn. Also a classic sign if it doesn't seem to smoke evenly from all pistons. If theres no evidence of the injectors being serviced then they are probubly due. Tends to be done by exchangeing them. Don't know the details of VW diesel servaceing but 70's Rover lump in my landy should have the injectors overhauled every 25k miles which is fairly frequent - most people only bother with this after an MOT emissions fail or the engine missfires though, but ofcourse it'll run better if you stick to the guidelines. (in my limited expereance of engines I find theres a world of difference between an engine tuned up properly and one that isn't, the latter is usally driven by an owner who is always telling eveyone how crap that type of engine is because its so unreliable).

[spike72]

grey/Black smoke is normal so long as it only happens under load. It should smoke pritty nicely but not obscure rear vission, though it will be noticable in the mirror at night if some headlaights are following you

thats exactly it could not desribe it anybetter
thanks for all your advice what a helpful bunch you are phew

[BigTam]

I was having smoking issues, have changed injectors and glow plugs, also had timing set and it is much better now, does still smoke under load and at start up but not as bad. My company car is a 57 plate Astra, 5000 miles and it smokes if I drop a gear and boot it,