Hi
My Citroen ZX has been smoking like hell at start up, especially after not being started for a few hours. I can turn the key in the morning and literally a plume of white smoke will rise up and float over the house. Bit embarrassing in car parks too as it's the smokiest car I've ever seen TBH. I have accidentally engulfed people in smoke before who were standing 10 meters away. :(
During this start up and smoke, the engine runs a little lumpy, but after about 10 seconds it's perfect, and once it's running/warmed up, it's perfectly fine, no smoke, it just runs nice.
People have recommended new glow plugs etc, so I may well have a go at this soon, any other possibilities though for the cause of this smoke?
Slight edit to subject line PU
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Hi My Citroen ZX has been smoking like hell at start up especially after not being started for a few hours. I can turn the key in the morning and literally a plume of white smoke will rise up and float over the house.
Don't worry, pendulum ~ all diesels do that! ;-)
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L\'escargot.
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This can be unburnt diesel or water I think.
I once pulled the decompressor on an old air-cooled Petters engined dumper and that chucked white smoke out.
So just thinking it through I think it could either be a cylinder with low compression, duff injector, or the head gasket?
Does the smoke sting your eyes?
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It doesn't sting my eyes as I am in the car, but it may have stung the eyes of nearby pedestrians, they never look happy anyway :(
I've changed the oil and coolant on this car myself and nothing unusual came about, nothing to make me suspect the headgasket, also the car does drive fine once warmed up, no loss of power and no white smoke *after* warm up.
A duff injector seems like it could be a suspect, after changing the glow plugs, I may have a go at the injectors (depending on how hard it is to do/how expensive).
I know diesels do smoke but my one smokes more than normal, it's been on the back of my mind, that I must do something about it 'cos it's a bit antisocial to the general public at the moment. Parking it in a bay next to a pavement and then starting it an hour later can send an embarrassing amount of smoke across the pavement :( People notice, look at it, avoid the smoke... recently I got a couple of funny looks :o(
I'm not bothered about my image as such but the smoke output is ridiculous and something needs to be done about it
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One cause of white smoke is partially combusted fuel. Before delving too deeply into this engine, check the glowplugs. A faulty plug will also cause rough running for a while after starting due to lack of post heat. Checking can be done in situ if you disconnect the wiring (and busbar) and connect the terminal of each plug in turn to battery positive with an old car ammeter in circuit. Insulate the end of the lead from the controller to avoid shorts.
A good plug will draw about 15 - 20A on connection, quickly dropping to about 5 - 7A as it warms. Precise values vary with glowplug specification but will be of this order.
Replace any plug which does not draw current or which behaves differently from the others. Use only Beru replacements.
I'm far too mean to replace glowplugs in sets - they have no function when post-heat is finished. The TUD5 engine I look after still has one original Beru plug in it at 130k miles.
659.
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are you sure the fueling hasn't been altered at all? my 306 smokes heavily for the first 10 seconds or so but i know ive got the fueling turned up quite high so it's just excess fuel that settles overnight, i live with it as i feel the performance increase is worth it.
also a dirty air filter can cause some smoke but probably not as much as you indicate
chris
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You could always put on a pound or 300 and tou the country as an Uncle Buck impressionist.
Just a though.
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Hehe :)
The air filter is clean - changed that along with the fuel filter about 3k miles ago, and the old air filter wasn't that dirty either.
How would I check the fuelling? I bought the car with 100k on the clock so anything could've happened in its history.
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If you are needing to crank it more than normal as well this may be air being drawn into the furl supply by a leaking filter, hose clip or priming bulb. Try priming the fuel system for 30 seconds then start it up. Regards Peter
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as peter says try priming the fuel & see if it at least run better from cold,if so it would indicate its drawing air!, sounds like compression is a little low & fuel is having trouble combusting, tight valve clearanes can cause this as well as its something that gets overlooked.
Check glow plugs, fuel for air leak & valve clearences. may be worth while removing injectors if problem persists & have them tested incase there hosing. Compresion testas well if you can find someone with the right kit! do not attempt to adapt a petrol one as this may explode in your face
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The air suggestion interests me because when I drained the coolant I had to remove the air filter housing to get access to the drain plug, and to my amazement it just basically pulled apart with my hands, the jubillee clips were either missing or not done up! Will try priming it now.
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Just used the handpump to prime it and then started the car, car hasn't been started since last night, it still ran a bit lumpy and there was still a fair bit of white smoke though. The smoke didn't sting my eyes.
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Usually I do have to make it crank more in order for it to start.
The engine isn't burning oil or using coolant.
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No I am talking the diesel fuel filter not the air filter. So are you saying priming made NO difference. ?? Regards Peter
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I primed it using the priming bulb, after a bit of squeezing it went hard. It did seem slightly better (I cannot be sure) but the problem remains, there was a lot of white smoke still, and for the first couple of seconds it was really hesitant, and then between about 2 and 10 seconds it was running lumpy (less so over time), but after 10 seconds, the smoke stopped completely, and it was running perfectly.
Benny Hillesque comment rubbed out - PU
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1.First thing is to wait 5 secs after the glow plug light has gone out and do not touch the accelerator during start up.
2. Check wire to the cold start aid on the pump is taught when the engine is cold.
3.Make sure all the glow plugs are working
4. If those are ok most likely the injectors need setting up. Probably got too low blow off pressure or theyre jetting which is why the fuel is getting up the exhaust unburned. If the engine is very noisy when cold and feels harsh it's another clue. A good TD should emit at most a small plume of grey smoke at start up that lasts about 5 seconds.
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I would change the glowplugs first off - you could take them out and test them, but it can be a bit of a job on these engines (depends on if it turbo or not, and whether it's got a Bosch or Lucas pump), so by the time you've got them out you might as well stick a new set in - a set of Beru plugs from GSF is only about £25.
If this fails to cure it, then checking the valve clearances is next - the exhausts close up on the these engines at high miles leading a loss of compression when the engine is cold. Resetting the clearances involves taking the cam out though, so you might decide it's not worth it....
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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"Resetting the clearances involves taking the cam out though"
What a daft design.
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My Citroen ZX has been smoking like hell at start up especially after not being started for a few hours. I can turn the key in the morning and literally a plume of white smoke will rise up and float over the house. >> During this start up and smoke the engine runs a little lumpy but after about 10 seconds it's perfect and once it's running/warmed up it's perfectly fine no smoke it just runs nice. People have recommended new glow plugs etc so I may well have a go at this soon any other possibilities though for the cause of this smoke?
I would certainly test the Glow plugs as I've suggested many times on this forum and I would almost certainly say you've a duff plug or two.
If my ZX does the same with smoke and lumpy for a few seconds and its always been a plug more so in the winter with the cold weather. But otherwise at 184k it starts with no smoke or lumpyness.
As far as air leaks in the fuel system, if you've a Lucas system then its unlikely an air leak will cause you any problems, but if its a Bosch system which is rare in a ZX, then you will suffer with air leaks causing you bad starting. Again I've covered this many times in the past.
Best do a search for these links and I would start with the plugs first.
Good Luck
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