TD5 Smoke

2003 Disco TD5 - manual, no EGR or cat, bigger intercooler, reprofiled standard turbo. Mapped for torque. It has done 112k.

It was mapped when i got it six years ago and had sufficient torque to make a new standard clutch slip. - fixed with a heavy duty cover plate.
It has loads of power from low revs with no flat spots and is great to drive. The price is grey smoke - very visible in the mirror when pulling away.

My MOT guy told me that I am fortunate not to have an emissions sign on the bonnet-shut saying "1.84" as without it, 3.0 is the default and for mine even that is a struggle.

It has always smoked, but seems to be getting worse. Any ideas on cleaning it up please?
It has a newish Siemens MAF (which made no difference at the time) Could the MAP sensor be faulty?

Any suggestions gratefuly received!

Are you using any oil, I think if you cant feel and lost any power and the engine is a first time starter I be looking at the turbo for oil leaks

Thanks for the suggestions.
The turbo has done 1500 miles only. It is a CHRA polished & lightened standard size to help it spool up earlier. The bearings failed on the old one.
I hoped that more air low down might give less smoke, but the smoke remains the same.
It is an immediate starter and uses an unmeasurable amount of synthetic oil.

Tim C said:

2003 Disco TD5 - manual, no EGR or cat, bigger intercooler, reprofiled standard turbo. Mapped for torque. It has done 112k.

It was mapped when i got it six years ago and had sufficient torque to make a new standard clutch slip. - fixed with a heavy duty cover plate.
It has loads of power from low revs with no flat spots and is great to drive. The price is grey smoke - very visible in the mirror when pulling away.

My MOT guy told me that I am fortunate not to have an emissions sign on the bonnet-shut saying "1.84" as without it, 3.0 is the default and for mine even that is a struggle.

It has always smoked, but seems to be getting worse. Any ideas on cleaning it up please?
It has a newish Siemens MAF (which made no difference at the time) Could the MAP sensor be faulty?

Any suggestions gratefuly received!

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When my MAP/IAT went fubar, it would start but take ages to rev up and pull away.
I put my Foxwell onto read while I was running the engine, revving it up etc, and the readings proved it.
New one and it runs very well now, although still a tiny bit reluctant to spin up from standstill but that is more cos it's auto.

You have cleaned it with proper Sensor cleaner I take it?

Map sensor could be dodgy. Try cleaning with brake cleaner first. If not replace with a bosch one.

Check your intake etc.. is all clear and free of debris.

Could even trying winding up the boost a bit

Thanks for that.
Have just blasted the MAP with brake cleaner and squirted contact cleaner into the plug and the smoke looks reduced already. I will get a better idea tomorrow with a longer run in hopefully brighter weather. If the improvement is confirmed, I will order a Bosch MAP as suggested.
13 years with a Series 3, a year with a 90 & 14 years with a Disco 300 tdi mean that a td5 is extremely high tech to me!

Hi, unfortunately this kind of fault needs a diagnostic tool if you dont want to replace sensors based on guesses, it's important to see live readings...let's say the new MAP sensor will not cure it then the next suspect is the AAP(airbox sensor) which is not cheap at all but it can be low boost as well for some reason or a mechanical thing in case all the readings are within limits...

Tim C said:

Mapped for torque

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if it's been smoky since then it's possible that the mapping is not the best, simple as that

Tim C said:

It has always smoked, but seems to be getting worse.

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you should know that smoke in most cases comes with high EGT so on a long run it can affect the valve seals in the head so it's not something to live with for years, it must be fixed

better find somebody with nanocom to get a live inputs log from a drive if you want the best for it... untill then replace the dcv(LLN100140L) if you know it's old cos this one can't be ruled out with diagnostics just by putting a new one instead... and check the ECU red plug to not be oil in it

well I guess that just leaves your injectors, are they ok

Thanks frostythor. I think and hope that the injectors are fine as it has only done 112,000 miles and runs smoothly.
Also thanks sierrafery. I totally get what you are saying. Cleaning the MAP sensor has cleaned it up quite a bit, so will go ahead and get a new Bosch as a first step.
Even my 40.000 mile Golf mk5 140 TDI (pre particulate filter) could leave a good smokey vortex when gunned, so I'm not expecting miracles. As they say - "no poke without smoke".
I have a Hawkeye Total so will try & get some live data, but will have to wait until I can get someone to read it for me on the road.

Tim C said:

... I'm not expecting miracles. As they say - "no poke without smoke".

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Since then it was discovered that it's possible to remap the Td5 based on AFR not the old school injection duration maps which are smokey and come with high EGT and that can kill the engine on a long run. I made some remap experiments myself some time ago without knowing well what i'm doing and i ended up buying a new head and 5 new injectors . A well made AFR remap on a Td5 would give more power without excessive smoke... you should fit an EGT gauge to be on the safe side

The AAPs are expensive if searching for LR ones. Dirt cheap if you get the Rover one! Or often cheaper to buy a second hand airbox.

Mapping certainly has come on leaps and bounds in the last 10 years for sure.