1.9 JTD 115bhp White smoke on acceleration

**PatientSteve** · 10-10-2009

Hi, No matter if my Stilo 1.9JTD 53 Plate 115bhp is hot or cold, or if the atmosphere is cold, a light white smoke comes from the exhaust only when I accelerate hard from low revs.
I have noticed it during the daytime or at night, the engine does not use any oil or coolant to speak of, and has been fiat dealer\specialist garage serviced every 12,000-20,000 miles max using Fiat Selenia oil and parts only.
The car pulls and runs fine, although there is a slight delay of power when hard accelerating where I have to wait for the power to kick in as if the turbo is slow to work?
A lot of people are stating that this is normal for all diesels, there are no engine knocks or noises to mention, it sounds very smooth (you can only tell its a diesel engine when its on tickover.
Can anyone advise me, this is my first diesel owned car. Many thanks, Steve.

**PNL** · 10-11-2009

White smoke is normally a sign of water entering the combustion chambers and can also mean unburned fuel and dodgy injectors..also here is a link from my favourites for other problems..

diesel engine troubleshooting, diesel hard starting, diesel hard to start

**PatientSteve** · 10-12-2009

Hi, Thanks for your response, I was looking to trying some of the diesel treatment solutions in with the fuel as these are supposed to help. Im not tech enough to try and clean\setup timing of diesel injectors so I may have to leave that one to a specialist.
The coolant level has not altered ever, so can I rule out water entering the combustion chambers? Steve.

**ABZSTILO** · 10-16-2009

Millers Diesep Sport 4 (or it's replacement which I can't remember off the top of my head) is worth running through a few tankfuls, but it doesn't sound to me like you've too much to worry about. Sounds normal to me, most diesels do it so worth just watching another on the road.
If it were blue-ish smoke or lots of grey and black smoke (like mine has suddenly developed) then you would have something to worry about.

**Red-Devil** · 10-16-2009

check for leaks in the turbo and intercooler pipes too, though they maybe more assoicated with black smoke, its worth a look, and any wholes on the intake, anything that may be letting moisture in

dont talk about head gaskets and oil coolers

**crosshairs** · 10-16-2009

Check your intercooler pipe mate, Fiat designed a right howler with this.
Basically as you look at the front of your car, in the bottom right corner you should be able to see what looks like a small radiator behind the bumper fins. (Intercooler!)

Now get under the car, or reach right under, and from the intercooler, runs a rubber pipe about 3" wide.
Fiat in thier wisdom will have rooted this towards the engine through a hole in the protective cover.
The hole is usually as sharp as a blade, which causes the pipe to rub and eventually split,

Check the pipe carefully by first giving it a clean (Soapy water ona rag will do), then squeeze and feel the pipe all over for splits/ holes etc.

Basically if the pipe has any defects it will suck in atmospheric air and mess up your air flow readings, cause smoke, and cause your vehicle to feel underpowered.
It will also cause your vehicle to hesitate when accelerated.

If it is defected, dont try and repair because it wont last due to the pressure the piper runs under.

I would however avoid a Fiat Standard part as the foor long pipe is around £50 from them, i would look into buying an aftermarket part to fit (Oh and dont forget if you do need to replace, sort out the hole it does through (Widen / blunt it)

**ABZSTILO** · 10-16-2009

Interesting.... must have mine checked out......hadn't considered the intercooler

**PatientSteve** · 10-16-2009

Many thanks for all your replies, I shall pop out and take a look at the intercooler pipe, and also try and locate, check all of the other pipes for condition like the turbo.

I shall also try and get some Millers additive, as it cannot hurt and may give things a spring clean! The car is so new to me its hard to tell if there is any power loss, except once when I accelerated from rest there seemed to be a fair bit more power, but only on that one occastion (a bit like if there was turbo lag or a one off instance of more power from the turbo!).

Thanks for putting my mind at rest, the oil consumption is non existant, the fuel economy is very good (approx. 740 miles per 58 litre tank, on my longer motorway travelling), there is no noticable coolant consumption and there are no warning messages on the dash lcd.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond, very helpful. Steve.

**crosshairs** · 10-16-2009

Millers isn't best mate, i'd recommend a product called CATACLEAN, use it every 3 months not every fill up like others.

Plus you wont get turbo lag just as you set off mate, cause the turbo wont even be cutting in.

Another suggestion for you, change your fuel filter, and double check that its connected properly, it should be connected to a sensor that indicates if there is any water present in the fuel.

Just a thought, a new filter is really easy to fit and when you fit it, you can part fill it with an engine treatment,
as well.