Zafira billowing out smoke from exhaust

dkflameboy

I don't know if anyone can help but My Vauxhall Zafira 1.9 cdti is billowing out white smoke after being driven a couple of miles and then does this constantly. It's a hefty amount too, almost like a fog has descended around the car.

It is more noticeable when slowing down etc and really chugs out like a steam train.

I've taken it to the garage and they wanted to fill it up with diesel as they think it could be contaminated with petrol. I did foolishly forget my car was a diesel and put around 10 litres of petrol in, this was promptly syphoned out by my local smaller garage (these guys don't have the diagnostic equipment that the garage in question has).

The garage told me that there were no fault codes showing on the car and I wasn't prepapred for them to fill the car up as it was empty anyway and would have cost me over £150 in the end.

Anybody have any idea what this could be?

Iceweasel

I think you should have filled it to the brim with diesel after the petrol was drained out.

If the high pressure pump gets petrol in it it'll cost a whole lot more than £150.

tykesi

This might help?

http://www.costeffective.com.au/News/9/diesel-smoke-tells-you-a-story

dkflameboy

I forgot to mention that it was doing this long before the petrol incident but I understand your point on the diesel.

Netwizard

10 litres of petrol shouldn't hurt so long as you kept topping the tank up with new diesel as you used it!

Hell, in cold countries, people put a bit of petrol in the diesel to stop it freezing!

Iceweasel

dkflameboy wrote: »

I forgot to mention that it was doing this long before the petrol incident but I understand your point on the diesel.

So the mis-fuelling was a 'red-herring' job.

In that case then my money is one a duff injector then.

motorguy

Iceweasel wrote: »

So the mis-fuelling was a 'red-herring' job.

In that case then my money is one a duff injector then.

Or a clogged DPF with the car is continually trying to clear with a regen.

Shaolin_Monkey

Would the DPF be white smoke though? I thought burnt particulate matter would create a dark smoke. And would it get worse on overrun? Just thinking out loud really, I'm not an expert. White suggests unburnt diesel to me?

motorguy

Shaolin_Monkey wrote: »

Would the DPF be white smoke though? I thought burnt particulate matter would create a dark smoke. And would it get worse on overrun? Just thinking out loud really, I'm not an expert. White suggests unburnt diesel to me?

From memory the last one i had that had a DPF problem it was white smoke it was blowing out - almost like the car was trying to "wash" the DPF with diesel?

If you had the misfortune of driving behind it it smelt very much of diesel fumes and i'm 99% certain it was white.

Its a known issue on the 1.9CDTI Zaf as theres a 6 speed box meaning the car - even at motorway speeds - ever gets up to the necessary revs / DPF temperature for a long enough time for the DPF to regen.

Slowly_does_it..

I think I would try the following:-
Italian tune up,
Compression test,
New set of injectors.

iolanthe07

Hell, in cold countries, people put a bit of petrol in the diesel to stop it freezing!

They used to, but you can't get away with that with modern DPF diesels. In cold countries you have to use diesel with a special anti-waxing agent.