Smokey on startup
 

A bit of a cheeky first post given I'm starting by asking for some help but would love to hear from anyone who can help with my 'problem'.

My car is a 2005 3.0D with around 50,000 miles. The problem I have is a puff of smoke that lasts for a few seconds when starting from cold. The smoke hangs around in the air for a bit I guess due to being so heavy. It has been suggested this may be due to unburnt diesel though not 100% sure about this. The smell of the emissions on tick-over are also overly acrid. In my 1 year of ownership the following have been carried out:

- 6 No. Bosch injectors replaced
- new cam sensor
- new breather unit
- 1 No. glow plug replaced
- service (think inspection I)
- ECU re-mapped

As you can guess, the above has cost quite a bit :yikes: and, whilst I love the car, the smoke thing is driving me crazy + I find it quite embarrassing. Most of the above have been undertaken by a highly respected diesel specialist. In addition to the above they have checked the turbo (this was OK) and run with the exhaust + cats off. I am in the UK and the smoking is apparent regardless of temperature i.e. anywhere between -4 and +15 degrees celsius.

The garage have suggested changing the MAF may help solve this although have admitted this may not resolve and are a bit stuck as to what else to suggest.

Cheers in advance :thumbup:

hi and:xoutpost: , diesels do tend to smoke like that and even whilst driving , i do not know if your car has any problem but if all seems well to you then its probable that you don`t drive car very hard and that causes soot in exhaust system . you can buy a fuel system cleaning product from bmw dealer which you add to fuel tank . this cleans fuel injectors etc . you may be using cheapo diesel which does not help in such a performance engine .

Thanks for the welcome + the response. The smoking has been confirmed as excessive and hence more than normal. Based on the advice of the diesel specialist (and the fact it has had all new injectors) I don't really want to putting additives etc. in the fuel.

maybe take it to a race track and drive very hard to blow deposits from exhaust because that`s what any good tech i know would do . fuel system cleaner used every 5000 miles works a treat.

Sounds normal for a diesel they all smoke on start up and when you floor the pedal when driving or guning it off the lights.

if it smokes most of the time you are driving then cleaning MAF is good idea , also most likely leak in intake pipes somewhere , possibly intercooler pipe , i`m no expert but that`s what i know .

I only wish it was normal :( . I've owned a few diesels so know these exhibit different charactersitics to pertrol cars and, as I mentioned, the smoking has been confirmed as excessive.

Cheers - I'll investigate the fuel cleaner option. I think the 'thrash it' option is used to remove a build of muck in the cats. The car has been tested with these removed so think that rules these out.

The car is booked in for Friday to have the MAF changed. The garage have kindly argeed to 'put the part on the shelf' i.e. not charge me for it, if it doesn't resolve things. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed :rolleyes: .

Good Luck! - my diesel doesn't smoke much at all