White smoke for 5 seconds on start up is a healthy Landy. If it's black you've got problems!
Nooo!
It depends on what engine you have. A cloud of white smoke from a 2.5 N/A or 2.5 TD is quite normal and perfectly acceptable on it's first start of the day because it relies on an indirect injection system which massively overfuels on startup. The ancient / inefficient nature of the injection system on these two engines which works on the principal of pre-combustion (snail shell like cavities in the head which fill with fuel and then dribble the fuel into the cylinder) means that only part of the fuel that is injected in the startup sequence is burned and the rest escapes partially burned, or warmed up (white smoke). As the engine starts to warm up properly, this type of injection system becomes more effective and the smoke starts to clear.
A later engine with direct injection such as the 200 or 300 tdi should always start with a 'slug' or a puff of black smoke and then be smokeless after around no more than seven or eight seconds, even in very cold temperatures. The fuel system in these engines also over-fuels on startup, but because the injection system is much more refined and much more efficient, all of the excess fuel is burned in the initial startup sequence (black smoke).
Remember, white smoke is either partially burned diesel or water and it is possible that you might have some condensation forming in your exhaust pipe or a leak that is allowing water from your coolant system, into a cylinder. Blue smoke is oil and if your engine is drawing in and burning a mixture of oil and diesel together you will get a nice thick gray / brown smoke that stinks. Black smoke is over fuelling but your engine has the capacity to burn it off as opposed to leaving it only partially burned (white smoke). It is quite common for an engine to start with a little blue smoke (burning oil) which is not ideal and it can be caused by quite a few things. In the case of your 200tdi it will be getting into the engine via:
1) The breather pipe between your rocker cover and your air intake
2) Oil seal in the turbo compressor housing
3) Valve stem / guide seals
4) Seeping past piston rings in a worn engine
5) Blowing past the head gasket between an oil passage and a cylinder
I have just been having a problem with burning oil on the initial, cold start up of the day with my 200tdi. Mine is more than likely due to the fact that I over filled it with oil, which has found its way back into the air intake. I'd suggest that you remove your top intercooler pipe and have a look to see whether or not it is oiled up. If it's relatively clean then the problem is internal to the engine, such as worn bores, worn rings, a cracked piston(s), a blown head gasket or worn valve oil seals.
If your intercooler top hose is full of oil, or if it looks mucky, remove the cyclone breather unit from the side of your rocker cover and follow Busters cleaning steps here:
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f41/cyclone-breather-76543.html. You will also need to remove the breather pipe and clean it through with a rag and length of wire to pull the rag from one side through to the other. You should then also remove the intercooler and flush it through with petrol until it runs clear, to make sure that you have removed any excess oil from there. Check and clean your boost pipes and make sure that your air filter is not soaked in oil. Start and run your engine up to operating temperature and give it some work up a steep hill to burn off any excess oil in the air intake manifold and then leave it to cool back down.
If that doesn't fix your problem, you've got internal issues!
Talk about spoon feeding
-Pos
