white smoke under heavy load

[Connaught]

ok all,

just got back from a trip up the beach near wedge island WA, and it was soft as, (keep in mind we as a group did lotsa k's on the beach)

i was running for extended periods in 4th gear in low range, and with lotsa rpm, until i finally hit the really soft stuff, the engine didn't stop, just blew a good sized puff of white smoke, a point, of note my mates Range Rover sport did the same thing

also when running those couple stretches on the beach she was burning the clutch, is this a good indicator that the clutch is on the way out?

so the question is, what was the smoke, truck was fine after that, no codes, cept when i left the key in accessory position over night and battery went dead, and then got a jump start with the 4wd selected, - had to clear the powertrain fault code, but that's a different story

now i need to go give it a bath, i think there's more sand in it than out

 

[doc]

White smoke in a turbo diesel is usually oil smoke - leaking seak at the turbo allowing engine oil to get to the hot (exhaust) side.

 

[Connaught]

thanks doc, i am going to put this in the category of not a problem considering i have 195000 on it, and thats the first time that its happened

the clutch on the other hand, i think i am going to be up for one soon

 

[4 naving]

sounds like you had fun though. how bad was the clutch burn..

 

[Old.Tony]

Clutch - if you can smell it, it's probably cooked and ready to be served.

White smoke means (literally) unburnt fuel. It's not "partially burned" (black), it's "not even attempted".

There's a few reasons for it, none of which you need to worry about:

1) Massive overfuelling with the turbo unspooled. Happens on really rare occasions. Usually a result of low RPM with sudden full throttle.

2) Moderate RPM, turbo spooled and CAT dump happening during exhaust stroke while rail pressure is up. Our cars dump fuel into the exhaust to feed the CAT. If the rail pressure is really high it's not supposed to do it, but if you've just come off the throttle, the car decides to do it and queues the event and just before it happens you slam the throttle through to the front cross member, the rail pressure will respond dutifully and unfortunately the queued exhaust stroke injection will get a dose of "God help me that's a lot of fuel to throw away". Read on Wikipedia about catalytic converters if you want to know more about the process.

Yours is a manual, so there's no DPF to worry about. Drive on and enjoy - except for that clutch. That might need a visit to Doctor Exedy.

 

[Connaught]

hehe, no wasn't really worried about it, but ya was a good time, and at one stage i had it slammed in reverse, revved er up dumped the clutch, then nothin nothin...... then grab and stall, ya the clutch is going, but i got some time, its ok in 4hi and running around town, - just time to start shopping for parts etc etc

hey i bought her second hand, has 195k on the clock - you gotta expect to spend some money on stuff like this at some point, i just have to break it gently to the wife