Black Smoke Revisited
 

Since I retired, I don't do a lot of mileage in my Voyager, mainly short trips around town with the occasional 100 mile motorway journey.
Going back to last winter, each time I started my 2.8 CRD I could see a bit of black smoke from the exhaust. This would disappear when the engine warmed up a bit. I've not experienced the smoking during the warm weather.
However, last week I returned home from a 4 week trip to Spain and France during which time I travelled 3k of mainly motorway miles. No problems with the car during the trip but since arriving home I see thick clouds of black smoke whenever I accelerate hard.
I have ordered a new fuel filter and a can of BG244 which I'm hoping will at least improve the problem. I've seen a few posts which recommend pouring the BG244 directly into the filter but do I fill the filter with it or just a few drops and put the rest in the tank?

Pro. mechanics usually put an injector cleaner in the fuel filter. Whether this works or not depends on what is contaminating the injector(s) or disturbing them. If the injector is "coked" with carbon, there is nothing known to man that will dissolve it. Sometimes it can be burned off with a high-rev run.
It's well possible your injectors may need reconditioning. They replace the pintle which is most likely to be worn, then test in air to see if the output looks like misty smoke with no dribbles of neat diesel. Some injectors are calibrated to a partic. cylinder, so it's best to see the recon. injectors go back in their own cylinders.
If you have been abroad, it's possible your tank has some less than cetane #51* diesel in it, although if only in Europe, this should not be so.
Drivers who keep a hawkeye on diesel fuel consumption can tell immediate if an injector is "off" as the fuel consumption rises noticeably usually without black smoke.

Leedsman.
* The cetane number refers to the burning speed of diesel. The higher the number the faster. It is the opposite of octane number for petrol, where the higher the number the slower the burn. In Europe/UK there is no point in using diesel with a higher cetane number than 51 as all euro engines are designed and controlled for this number.

@ Leedsman, what better BG244 or Forte?

The pro. mechanics use Forte' here in Leeds.

Leedsman.

Thats good enough for me and considering BG244 is almost twice the price of Forte, easy enough choie

BG244 is far better than forte stuff! Look at the amount of PAO in the both of them to see thay BG244 has alot more! I will try and find discount codes for folks who wanna use the stuff! The reason why mechanics usually pour it into the filter is to try and blast it through for an MOT test! Best way is to stick it in the fuel tank! Thats the reason why the manufacturer of the stuff doesn't tell you to stick it in the fuel filter! There is a reason...

SEP20 for 20% off powerenhancer web site...

I paid £22.95 including delivery from PowerEnhancer on eBay. I'll report back on my results after I've fitted the new fuel filter and done a few miles with the BG244.

Could well be the case that no injector cleaner has any effect on the poster's black smoke. We are of course assuming clogged injectors are responsible for it. We don't really know yet.

Leedsman.

Put the BG244 in a tank on Shell V-Power derv! If I remember correctly once you get to half a tank you need to fill up again! I might be wrong as I did mine about 8k ago...

What other possibilities could there be, bearing in mind that it's running well, no loss of power and averaged 39 mpg over the 3,000 miles with a roof box and luggage for eight.

A [full] tank of bog standard Shell fuel is about £80, and is about Cetane 35-45. Regardless of brand or price how many extra Cetane[s] need to be added [via fuel enhancer] to that £80 tank to get a higher BHP increase at [variously different] engine RPM. Depending on the base crude source some diesels will need a lot of improving while others need less. For myself the improver's are beneficial in terms of [BHP] Cetanes only, and need to be used every single tankful changing my tankful from £80 to £100 quid a tank - adding a huge amount of cost to annual travel. Other so called improvements are more to do with Paul Daniels or putting quantities of eye of newt or toe of frog in the mixture.

I would have thought AlanC's 3 thousand motorway miles would have delivered enough 'thrutch' to burn out anything that was possible to have been burned out, and at the same time re-educated the engine software and gearbox out of 'sleepy urban mode'

Thanks for your input QinteQ. Just to add a bit more information; I last filled up in Calais, drove onto the train and from Folkstone to home only managed an average of less than 50 mph due to congestion and roadworks (the M1 and M6 were both closed so had to do a bit of a detour). Therefore the engine wasn't stretched on the journey home and the smoke has only appeared since arriving home and only when I accelerate hard. Also I am still driving about with French diesel in the tank so I am hoping that this is part of the problem.

Euro standard EN590 for diesel fuel specifies "lower limit cetane #51".

Leedsman.

I run all my cars on V-Power derv or V-Power Nitro unleaded (For my GT4) not for the cetene or octane improvers! But for the the fact that there is 25% more additives in these GTL fuels and lubes over normal dino fuels. This will help keep the whole fuel/combustion and injection system clean and lubricated. I overkill my oil burners by using 2T low ash in my fuels! But for what it cost me (£2 for 600ml) next to nothing! I feel its worth it for piece of mind as in the past I've have fuel pumps fail due to the low sulpher diesels...

HiYa AlanC, with a 2.8 lump on automatic its difficult anyway to 'stretch' the engine other than the heat created on a long cruise. I wrote recently that locking it in a low gear and giving it 20-30 minutes 'thrutch' @ 4k RPM on a quiet trading estate was the best we could do other than a long drive as you have just done. Maybe you have had a bad batch of EUROdiesel, try a dollop of premium now that you are home and see what happens, although I'm not even convinced that premium is worth the extra ...................

In the UK we began to see HP CRD's in the early 80's I think, when this delivery system became the norm with its very fine tolerances attention suddenly needed to be paid to detergents / stabilisers / lubricity etc, for myself I'm not convinced that anyone from refiners, premixers or anyone else does pay attention - I think it - diesel, is just sold and bugger the consequences. We all think we have badly engineered cars where in fact we have half decently well engineered cars running on an inferior fuel form for the engine design tolerances. Government and industry has no interest in correcting this and shortly we will have to cope with the much heavier shale. tar and other types of mixing. Our fuel is becoming the 'Fanny Mae' of diluted minced up who knows what's in it product we have no choice but to buy. Indeed they continue to water it down with recycled plant and animal fats and cooking oil against our [the motorist] will after pressure from the sandal wearing hair shirt and windy-mill brigade.

Hope you get sorted M8 !

Over the next few days I plan to use the last of the EUROdiesel that remains in the tank, mainly by giving it a blast in low gear for 20 minutes, then fit the new fuel filter, empty a can of BG244 into the tank and fill up with Shell V-Power at the same time.

I shall report back with the results.

Edit: Forgot to mention that the car has done less than 78,000 miles.

How about Cataclean is it any good?


Cataclean Fuel Additive For Petrol & Diesel 475ml

From the description it sounds like it cleans the exhaust tract, not the injectors.

Edit: It's got some good reviews on Amazon.

You would be better going for something specifically designed for diesel engined motors! I have found in the past that the ones used for both can be a bit watered down! If you know what I'm getting at! The only one I've used that isn't is Archoil 6200

Hello AlanC, I have just fixed a number of probs on my 2.5 CRD 2002. But I still have exactly the same black smoke problems you describe having. In the 2003 Service manual there is a simple procedure for testing your injectors (section 14-17). Unfortunately, I cannot post the attachment here... filesize limit is way too low. PM me your e-mail and I'll email it to you. Rgds, kkc.

Have you tried the procedure to test your injectors and if so what results did you get?

Just tested it. on number 4 i got a few drops... 7ml maybe. On numbers 1-3 I got about 12-15ml each. Number 1 is closest to timing belt. I did not do the combined test for 100ml or more as the return tube and tee are a bit tight to get to.

So according to the Chrysler serviuce manual, this means that the injectors are ok, although the spray pattern may be sub-optimal. I have also heard that if the variation between any two injectors is >10% there is a problem with one injector either releasing too much fuel into the piston (low leak off) or too little (high leak off).

In summary I have great acceleration, great consumption and a ton of black smoke when hard accelerating...and the exhaust is irritating to the eyes.. i.e. fuel/air mix is rich. As far as I can tell all airways are clear.. changed air filter and fuel filter (which was very dirty - note to self, change fuel filter every year on any diesel...!).

Previously I installed new EGR valve and solenoid, cleaned the EGR out pipe which was badly blocked.

If anyone has any other ideas - I am all ears...!