Volkswagen Golf IV (1998 - 2004) - (98-04) 150 GT TDi - white smoke on startup

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Sun 10 Feb 2008 17:49
(98-04) 150 GT TDi - white smoke on startup - ehuplad
Hello all

I have a Mk 4 150 GT TDI with a problem.

When I bought the car about 7 months ago the camshaft was replaced by the garage I bought it from they also renewed a couple of valves. The problem I have now is white smoke on start up and a smell of unburnt diesel all the time, I have checked out the heater plugs and they are fine.
I have not had the the engine checked out would the diagnostics be able to tell if the timing was out.
The engine does not seem to be low on power and it seems to be getting worse for the smell and white smoke which is worse when cold.
What is the most likely cause of this white smoke and unburnt diesel.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 10/02/2008 at 17:56

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Sun 10 Feb 2008 18:12
(98-04) 150 GT TDi - white smoke on startup - engineman
Blue smoke oil burning bypassing rings or guides or stem seals
white smoke water burning head gasket blown or cracked head
black smoke overfueling or insufficient breathing
get a Carbon monoxide chemical test done & compression test
white smoke on cold suggests water see above
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Sun 10 Feb 2008 18:22
(98-04) 150 GT TDi - white smoke on startup - ehuplad
It does not use any oil or water i have done around 8000 miles and not had to top up either.
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Sun 10 Feb 2008 18:38
(98-04) 150 GT TDi - white smoke on startup - Screwloose

On a PD like this one, it could be an injector fault; hosing is known to give white smoke and examination of the live-data might show one using aberrant quantities.

Always worth checking for cam wear too; they do give their cams a hard time - and was that a genuine cam? Exactly what oil and change period is it on?
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Sun 10 Feb 2008 18:46
(98-04) 150 GT TDi - white smoke on startup - 659FBE
For some reason, the 150 PS engines seem to knock out camshafts far more easily than the 130 PS units. Assuming that the lubrication has been to VAG's (largely incomprehensible) specification and in view of the work recently done, I would check the ball pin clearances on the unit injector plungers before delving too deeply.

In the absence of a dedicated needle lift transducer on these engines, live data is not a fully reliable guide of actual fuelling and certainly not of atomisation. How is the economy?

659.
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Sun 10 Feb 2008 19:45
(98-04) 150 GT TDi - white smoke on startup - ehuplad
How do i check the ball pin clearance ?

Economy not too bad i am getting around 47 over the tank full with a fair bit of town driving stopping and starting.

I have ruled out the camshaft (rightly or wrongly) as that was only changed around 8000 miles ago and the white smoke only seemed to start after that, which got me to thinking they may not have set it back up correctly.
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Sun 10 Feb 2008 19:47
(98-04) 150 GT TDi - white smoke on startup - ehuplad
forgot to say in the last message i am using the PD engine oil and it has just been changed again so about 8000 mile change interval, it had full srvice history before i bought it but the cam still needed to be changed.
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