Td4 bluish smoke on cold start

Hi Freelander td4 seem to have a common problem with smokeing when starting from cold and running lumpy for 5 seconds or so. My father's and mine do exactly the same and I have searched all form and plenty have the issues but the answers all just go over the same things with no one getting to the bottom of it or not telling. They are all the same. Lumpy tickover, blueish smoke then clear and run great till cold again. Has anyone managed to fix this embarrassing problem.

Try changing the glow plugs, & doing a leak back test, clean or by pass the EGR,

Done it all. All previous posts go over the usual suspects with some just throwing money at it on glow plugs, injectors , maf, erg and pcv and still the same issues. There must be someone cured this.

It could be a multitude of things. If it's just a puff of blue on a cold start, which clears after 5 seconds. I'd be inclined to just ignore it and put it down to a trait of the engine.

It could be inlet valve guide oil seals, a leaking injector, a leaking turbo oil seal or just general engine wear.

As long as it doesn't smoke, and runs ok when at running temperature, that's all that's important really.

No smoke when hot. Bit more than a puff more like a cloud. My previous one bid the same. Guy at work has bmw with same engine and nearly 200000 miles and no smoke. Very embarrassing. The wife won't drive it.

Is the smoke definitely blue and not white?

It's not pure white it's more light blue. All previous posts kinda say same. Whitie blue and engine stumbles.

Spitfirejim said:

It's not pure white it's more light blue. All previous posts kinda say same. Whitie blue and engine stumbles.

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Sounds like an injector or two are leaking down after shutdown. This allows fuel to pool in the piston. As the engine starts, the leaking injector/s take a few cycles to start spraying combustible fuel, at which point the fuel in the piston gets burned off.

Yes that does seem the likely culprits but theres guys on the forum who have gone to the expence of changing injectors and no difference. Some posts go back to 2012 and cover everything with still no results. It's been like this for a year.

My own TD4 misses slightly when starting from cold. I've put it down to the one failed glow plug, I can't remove. The missing clears in a few seconds, so I ignore it.

It's very difficult to rectify some issues without extensive investigation.
Missing from cold could be caused by so many issues, simply throwing parts at it can be expensive and often with fruitless results.
To check everything carefully, you'll need access to an endoscope (cheap on EBay) and a lappy to display the images on.
With this you can look into the inlet ports at the valve stems. You'll be looking for oil running down the stems.
If no oil is found on the valve stems, the injectors need pulling out when cold, so you can see any fuel in the piston chambers, again using the endoscope.

The above assumes that the inlet tract has already been removed for thorough cleaning and that all glow plugs are working correctly.

Thanks for that. All new hoses, manifold a bit stickey inside and I haven't cleaned out intercooler cause I thought they would more likely cause smoke under load. Glow plugs must be ok as it still did it in summer.

Spitfirejim said:

Thanks for that. All new hoses, manifold a bit stickey inside and I haven't cleaned out intercooler cause I thought they would more likely cause smoke under load. Glow plugs must be ok as it still did it in summer.

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The intercooler won't cause starting issues as you say. The inlet manifold and inlet ports get carboned up due to the EGR system. This carbon absorbs oil thrown by the turbo while the vehicle is driven. It can then slowly make it's way into the combustion chamber after shutdown, burning off when the engine is started. So it's wise to clean every trace of sooty, carboney goop out of the manifold and inlet ports.
After this, it's a process of elimination by thoroughly checking all possible points of oil ingress. My money is on a leaking injector or two, combined with oil from a build up of carbon.

Thanks. I will give it a good clean at the weekend and see if makes any difference.

Spitfirejim said:

Thanks. I will give it a good clean at the weekend and see if makes any difference.

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Let us know how you get on, mine has a puff of white smoke on initial start up from cold but soon clears.

Well cleaned manafold out but wasn't to bad . Ran a tank of fue lwith diesel magic but still the same if not worse but may just be the colder weather. Starts straight up lumpy and smokey up to 10 seconds. Once warm no smoke, ticks over smooth and runs with no vibration.

Spitfirejim said:

Well cleaned manafold out but wasn't to bad . Ran a tank of fue lwith diesel magic but still the same if not worse but may just be the colder weather. Starts straight up lumpy and smokey up to 10 seconds. Once warm no smoke, ticks over smooth and runs with no vibration.

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Sounds like valve guide oil seals then, maybe in combination with a leaking injector. More investigation is needed, or just drive it as is. What sort of crankcase breather filter is fitted?

If it is blue(ish) smoke then I would suggest more likely to be oil burning rather than fuel. Hence as you are only getting it at startup the most likely cause is valve stem oil seals. Depending on the age/mileage of the engine, most would regard this as "commensurate".

Had a good look at the smoke when the wife started up this morning and it is more whiteish with light tint of blue. It's got erg bypass and bmw filter. If I let it site 5 hours starts a bit lumpy and a little smoke. Overnight lumpy and a big cloud.

Injectors are the prime candidate for white smoke and lumpy running from cold. The injector can leak down when the engine is stopped. This allows the fuel to pool in the piston chamber, where it mixes with oil residues. When the engine is started, the injector has to refill, hence the misfire. The fuel that remains in the piston doesn't burn correctly on starting, hence the smoke.

Spitfirejim said:

Hi Freelander td4 seem to have a common problem with smokeing when starting from cold and running lumpy for 5 seconds or so. My father's and mine do exactly the same and I have searched all form and plenty have the issues but the answers all just go over the same things with no one getting to the bottom of it or not telling. They are all the same. Lumpy tickover, blueish smoke then clear and run great till cold again. Has anyone managed to fix this embarrassing problem.

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Mine is exactly same now mate! Did you ever find a cure? 110k miles td4 only smokes when cold and rough idle for 5 seconds then perfect all day!!