Black Smoke

Hi, first time posting here so bear with me please. I recently purchased a 2007 xs TD4 Freelander 2 manual from a local car sales place. Straight away on the first drive I noticed black smoke when accelerating. Took it right back, they had a look and after they have supposedly fixed it. I got it back with the instruction. Take it easy, don't want to blow off a hose. It's 80% fixed but rest should clear up. Obviously I knew this was bull. But have to go through the motions. I was told they did full oil change and all the filters changed.
now smoke is still there so have ran through a couple of things myself.
1. MAF checked and cleaned, but no fault showing anyway.
2. EGR stripped down. Valve was ok but cleaned this and the sensor as both very dirty.
2. I've checked the intercooler hoses. They are still on but I can't see or hear any air escaping. But I have a question about this. When underneath the engine, and I put my hand next to the metal intercooler pipe. Right next to the large attachment on it. I can feel air around that area. Not sure if this is normal and coming from another part on the engine. But just in case it's burst there before I remove it. Also radiator fans not running at this point so I know its not from there.
is there anything else I can check as I don't trust this dealer to do anything to it.

Is airfilter clean, and does it need a new fuel filter?

Air filter is brand new, not tried fuel filter.

Give turbo pipes a gentle squeeze

What you're looking/feeling for is soft spots I.e. delamination

Could be silted up intercooler if so a clean up will help but would point to the turbo being on its way out

Actually my FL1 definitely stayed smoky for several mile after I had changed the turbo hose.

I gave it an Italian tune up and that eventually fixed it.

Not had the turbo pipes off yet, that's my next job. But they all feel OK so far. But will definitely check them all out. Does the intercooler need to be removed to be cleaned out. As I said, just trying to eliminate certain things before I get to turbo, that way I can take it back within warranty and say to dealer fix it.

Is it smoky all the time or just when you accelerate?

I can control the smoke to a degree of I keep the rpm about 1500 - 2000. If I try to go above that or push it hard. That's when smoke appears. I'm trying a fuel cleaner just now too see if that helps. This should help if injectors need a clean hopefully. Also there is slight smoke when ticking over.

Managed to get it out on the motorway last night. I can get it up to speed, with black smoke only really appearing when i ask for a bit more power or gear changes if i put the foot down. I have a couple of questions though regarding the engine as this is my first Freelander.
1. When driving the car, I can hear what sounds like air being forced through something. From the cab it sounds as though its coming from the bottom right hand side. Not sure if this is relevant or just normal.
2. If i put the foot down, I was expecting it to be a bit faster on take off. not sure if this is because of my current smoke problem or could this be something else, or is it all connected.
3. On my trip counter, I only seem to manage about 25 - 26MPG. Also my average speed never goes above 25mph. even though I'm daily on the motorway. if i reset it though, my MPG goes up to about 42MPG but then drops way back down over time.

Not sure if any of this is relevant to the black smoke, but thought the more info i can supply the better.

Black smoke is a result of a bad fuel/air mixture, which of course is going to affect mpg.
Having said that, 25-26 around town and 42 motorway is normal.
The source of your bad mixture is the question.
How many miles is on the clock.
Whooshing noise will be turbo.
Generally, black smoke when under load points to turbo related probs.

Stephboyle127 said:

When driving the car, I can hear what sounds like air being forced through something. From the cab it sounds as though its coming from the bottom right hand side. Not sure if this is relevant or just normal.

Click to expand...

First off, I only know the old diesel - the FL1 engine - but ANY sound of air hiss on THAT was a split in a hose and meant that power was down and black smoke would appear.


Basically if the engine map expects more air, and it doesn't get it due to turbo leakage, you get smoke.

I strongly suspect you may have a leak in the high pressure post turbo pipework.

That would cause both a hiss and the smoke and loss of power.

It wont affect fuel economy too much since the turbo hasn't totally failed and the leakage wont be enough to upset the mild boost at cruise throttle settings.

Black smoke on sticking your boot into it is over fueling most common cause is turbo pipes loose or split. Problems with turbo smoke tends to be grey white depending on how bad turbo seals are and how much oil is being dumped into system .
Think turbo begins to boost at about 1250 rpm just when your truck starts to smoke so would look again at pipes

Thanks for all the info. i think my best bet would be to replace the hoses just to be on the safe side and see where i go from here. Will order a set asap and update here accordingly. But so i know I'm getting the right things. are we talking about the two hoses going to the intercooler that have the plastic piece in the middle. or do you mean something completely different. oh and millage is 91000

That's them

Diffo check all the hoses an feel all the undersides of them to see if there's any leaks, i had a slice on the under side of one of the hoses that you couldn't really see an i had similar problems

Silicone set ordered today, so fingers crossed this is my problem. Cheers guys

Fitted new silicone set of hoses the other day. Old ones actually looked ok when I got them off. Black smoke still pouring out the back when I accelerate hard. Any other ideas guys.

Has it had a bad remap, does it make any difference if you put it in sand mode in terrain response, has the wastegate stuck in open position causing the noise and lack of ummph

Read your post again, you suggest you've found an air leak, needs investigating methinks!!

What were old pipes like inside, oil wise ?
With turbo "related" probs, once you've gone through the cheaper/easier things then you are always left with the turbo itself.
I used a dealer many years ago, but never again since. Many, not all, buy cars no one wants, for good reasons, and then re sell them after a valet