Diesel engine blowing white smoke

What could make a diesel engine produce white smoke? What does it mean when a diesel engine is blowing white smoke? What causes excessive smoke from diesel engine? Why does diesel emit more smoke than gasoline engine? Condensation that accumulates inside the exhaust pipes, converter and mufflers can produce a puff of white smoke upon diesel engine start-up.

In very cold temperatures, the heated exhaust can freeze into minute fuel droplets when exiting the exhaust and produce a more prolonged emission of white smoke for a very short period of driving time. When the timing is not what it’s supposed to be, your engine will essentially be running rich which will cause fuel to not completely burn and instead exit out of the exhaust as white or gray smoke. White smoke occurs in a diesel engine when the diesel fuel goes through the engine and reaches the exhaust without having been burned. This typically occurs due to the engine being too cool to burn the fuel, often resulting from low compression in one cylinder, problems with the fuel injection timing or a defective fuel injector.

Blowing white smoke is a red flag for your diesel engine , yet we see this happen all the time to our customers. In many cases, white smoke emanating from the tailpipe (often at idle once the engine reached operating temperature) typically means a worn out injector. White smoke in a diesel is caused by one of two things: engine burning coolant, or poor burning of fuel.

An engine burning coolant can be easily determined. First question, do you have to regularly add coolant? A brand new diesel engine running at full load will experience a little bit of blow -by upon startup. Blow -by is a condition where diesel fuel, air and vapor are pushed past the rings into the crankcase of the engine.

But mostly, it is the incorrect injector timing in the cylinders. White smoke from exhaust diesel and petrol engine may be the signal of different car problems. Diesel Smoke tells YOU a Story. It should be taken as an indication that there is a problem existing (or developing), that will potentially shorten the engine life, or result in unnecessary costs. A marine diesel that shows a bit of smoke on start-up is probably nothing to worry about, but if it keeps on smoking after a few seconds of run-time, or starts smoking after it warms up, or when you throttle up, that engine is screaming to you to get something fixed.

But what’s causing the smoke. To be more specific, the white smoke you see is your diesel fuel, unburne or only partially burned. The commonest reasons for this lie in the fuel system. They range from faulty fuel injectors to retarded fuel injectio n timing, or even low compression.

Sometimes diesel engines emit a white smoke while starting. The white smoke is due to unburnt fuel caused by improper heating. It can be especially difficult to start a diesel engine during cold weather. A worn high-kilometre engine , weak compression rings, a blown head gasket or even the incorrect head gasket being used during a rebuild – they’ve all been known to cause a diesel to chug white smoke.

Along with white smoke from the exhaust, the engine is likely to be down on power and difficult to start. If it has trouble starting in the morning and it is coming out when you are trying to start it then it is most likely vaporised diesel. One of two conditions is responsible for white smoke blowing out of your exhaust.

First is normal condition (so you don’t have to panic) and the second is a not so normal condition which should be fixed as soon as possible. L Cummins engine , and I am having some problems. For big diesel engines this is big because it is not uncommon for these vehicles to be used for more than a half-million miles before retirement. Last week, just as I was thinking I had seen it all, a Ford F2was checked in that had a problem of Heavy White Smoke constantly emanating from the tailpipe at idle and worse as you increased RPM.

Basically, smoke from a diesel engine indicates that something is not right.