Dad's disco is smoking badly but intermittant ?

[cardiff_gareth]

Dad reported to me today that his Disco is playing up, it smokes really badly, especially when cold but only for about 5 minutes then it settles down and stops as if it never happened ?
He says its blue smoke, like the head is gone but the temp gauge is fine and its not overheating. Its so bad that you can't see behind for the smoke  :shock:

So what could cause them symptoms, I though blue = oil and if not overheating then poss Turbo but thats a stab in the dark.

If it helps its a 300tdi

Cheers in advance guys  ;)

[team_wingnut]

mine does it when cold, its got 142000 on it, its either turbo, stem seals or its drawing air in the fuel somewhere, mine will misfire a little bit when its cold too!

[Shabba277]

My Td5 Disco is the same, was told it was the air flow sensor, changed it and it made no diff at all  :doh: not sure if the 300 had one of those though?
Ady

[JIMBOBLY]

it sounds to me mate,that the turbo could be knackerd,what happens is,the seal in the turbo lets oil into the exhaust,it heats it up,and burns,hense why it is smoking bad,it only stops after a while,because it has burnt off what was in the exhaust,just a thought :-k

[M0EAF]

might be the valve guide seals, mine was like that before i feplaced the head gasket etc :( :( :( :(

[discorich]

These things happened to my disco 200tdi a while back, when i pulled up at the lights it started to smoke really bad, i had the car behind beeping the horn at me, as soon as i pulled off it would stop smoking again, but i am missing the back box off my exhaust so smoke can be quite well hidden. upon further inspection the head gasket was found to be on its way out, this was also backed up by the header tank doing funny things.

Not saying that this is what has happened to your dads disco but it is a possible.

hope this helped.

[cardiff_gareth]

Cheers for all the replies guys, I have told him all the possibilities so this weekend he's gonna be under the bonnet busy with oily hands and cold feet  :lol:

I'll let you all know the outcome of his finds  ;)

[paulnb57]

Boys and girls,
I doubt its the turbo, but if it is (remove the air hoses and check for oil (there often a little)and also check for sideways play on the turbo shaft).
About a month ago I drove home from work and at a set of red lights the oil light came on, strange thinks I - had an oil change 2 weeks ago, drove to a garage and bought a gallon drove home and let it settle, then checked the oil, none on the dipstick! Chucked the whole gallon in, which took it to the minimum on the stick. Next morning drove to the independent who services it for a chat about oil use. When I got there the oil was not showing on the dipstick again. Used a Gallon in 6 miles!! No leaks - no smoke!!...........He was late so I decided to go get a pack of fags, chucked another gallon of oil in and 300 yrds down the road the trubo seal let go and the engine ran on its own oil. Luckily I had read about it somewhere and knew to stall it. Turning the key off doesnt work and if its an auto, stand back and watch it self destruct. I was lucky - I saved the engine by stalling it quickly. ONLY(!!!) cost a new turbo - oh and yet more oil!
Trust me and check!
Paul

[Range Rover Blues]

That's a good point, sometimes the turbo oil seal goes and the engine oil will run the engine, with or without the ignition being on.  Your only hope it you can't stall it is to cut the intercooler hose with a knife and let the pressure out.  I heard about an earthmover that "ran away" like this and the driver tried to choke it with a donkey jacket, which it hoovered up.

[squaddie_fox]

i wouldnt be getting close enough to the engine to cut the intercooler hose if it ran on its own oil! [!Expletive Deleted!] that! had a VM rangie do it to me. luckily stalled it.

[wizard]

Hi Gareth
Sounds like it might be the valve stem seals. They have a habit of hardening up and weepling oil into the cylinders.

Regards
wizard  :twisted: