Freelander 1 Td4 Slight smoke on hard acceleration

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Charlot

Active Member
Posts
200
Location
Malta
Need some help from you guys on a possible issue since I'm not sure if its actually broken.

Freelander 1 Prefacelift TD4. 185k miles. So I recently noticed that on hard acceleration it produces some smoke. Nothing big but when driving at night I can see it in the beams of the car behind me from my side mirrors. Only does it on hard acceleration or when down shifting and accelerating on an inclined road as far as I know. Never noticed it on other occasions. Smoke is not dark.

Have also noticed a slight loss of coolant which may or may not be related to the issue. Not a big loss just from max to min in maybe 5 to 6 months. Always starts without any issues hot and cold. Never overheated. No loss of power and always had a steady idle. Oil breather filter upgraded to the bmw one. Can't notice any loss of engine oil nor any other leaks. Last work done was replacing the oil cooler by the oil filter and clutch. But can't comment how it was before that.

Not sure if its normal or something wrong since its been working fine and that's always suspicious to me.
 
Another thing I failed to mention is that i had a damaged o ring on the MAP Sensor which I replaced with another one I had and also have a missing washer on the inlet manifold. Its one of the washers that sits at the bottom holding the metal sleeve where the bolt goes trough the manifold. Have been looking for one but can't find any anywhere. Unless I buy a complete manifold which , even if used they are expensive locally (Malta) And expensive to ship from overseas. But may have to bite the bullet and get one to replace the missing bit. Although there's no leak from what I can see trough the manifold seals.
 
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Smoke under hard acceleration isn't a major problem.

It's normally caused by a combination of the things. First off, burning diesel fuel isn't a particularly clean thing to do. The exhaust gasses contain soot particles, a portion of which stick inside the exhaust system. When you nail the throttle, the increased gas flow causes these built up particles to be ejected, making the exhaust look like fog. Additionally, when a diesel engine is running at full power, then it will produce more soot than normal. This combination of events can make it look like there's a problem, even if there isn't.

More soot than normal can be produced, if the inlet tract is full of goop from the EGR system. If this is the case, then definitely clean the inlet manifold and ports in the head.
 
Thx for the reply. I have replaced the EGR with a blanking kit and clraned the manifold. Didn't clean the ports since I feared I could have junk fall in the cylinders so left those alone. Also whren driving today I tried to notice the smoke and couldn't see any even after flooring it on 2nd gear. So currently thinking it could be as you said since another factor that might support this reasoning is a lot of city driving. Here its a small island and don't have any highways so we never do enough driving to clean the system so that makes sense too.

Regarding the coolant loss is that reasonable for a car that age?
 
Also whren driving today I tried to notice the smoke and couldn't see any even after flooring it on 2nd gear. So currently thinking it could be as you said since another factor that might support this reasoning is a lot of city driving. Here its a small island and don't have any highways so we never do enough driving to clean the system so that makes sense too.
I expect it's just blowing out the built up soot, after lots of slow driving.
Regarding the coolant loss is that reasonable for a car that age?

Some coolant loss is to be expected, although not much. Check to see if there's any cracking around the top of the coolant reservoir filler. This is very common, and the most likely cause of your coolant loss.
 
That's a positive news. Its probbably because I'm not used to it running without probs so tend to notice things and all the small noises. Will check the tank again have replaced it not long ago. And will try with the uv dye check for any leaks.
Thank you for your help.
 
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