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Blue / white smoke on start up

GAZB

GAZB

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NORTH WEST
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HONDA ACCORD CTDI
I recently bought a new 2006 Accord CTDI to put on Taxi , when I went to buy the car everything was good but probably because the previous owner had driven the car before I arrived and the engine was warm.

I noticed that in a morning when the engine was cold from being left overnight on first start up it gave off blueish white smoke then cleared after a few minutes as the car warmed up , a local mechanic tested the glow plugs and 2 are not working , will this be the cause of the smoke on start up , checked the engine oil and its not used any.

Ive ordered some new glow plugs just waiting for them to get delivered over the next few days
 
Hopefully it's not using any water? White smoke can be unburnt diesel vapour, maybe you have a leaky injector? But hopefully the new glow plugs will put it right.
 
Unburnt fuel due to knackered glow plugs mate.
 
How does it start without glowplugs?? what must it sound like?? bag of spanners comes to mind. Could it be just the cold damp weather causing this.
 
Fitted the 2 glow plugs today but it still smokes on cold start up , race the engine a little bit and it clears off , Im going to nip to the local mechanic tomorrow and get them checked , could it be the glow plug relay faulty not making these 2 work ?
 
No, if the relay was faulty then none would work (and you'd get a P1384 ECU error code).

Were the old glowplugs actually open circuit?
 
GAZB said:
Sorry mate not sure what you mean open circuit
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Burnt out, like a blown light bulb. That's how they fail (often due to the body suffering a hairline crack).

I thought maybe you might have been able to check them using a multimeter (or even used jump leads to make up a circuit with a headlamp bulb and seeing if the bulb lit up)?
 
I didnt notice because the engine was warm when they where changed over , drove the car back from the garage thinking it would be sorted , started the car up a few hours later and the smoke on start up was still there , ive got the 2 old glow plugs in the car , cant see any cracks , just the ends are whitish in colour , think ill call back the garage again tomorrow and get the mechanic to test the new plugs he's replaced
 
If you take your car to him, then get him to check that ALL glowplugs are getting full battery voltage on them as well... that'll prove the wiring to them is OK.
 
Are you sure it's not just moister in the exhaust being burnt off.
 
Good find cliff this explains things perfect.
 
Thanks Ill get all 4 glow plugs checked tomorrow for full voltage , checked coolant and level is the same not lost any.
 
If you're still worried (and the glowplugs check out OK) then post a video of the car when its cold and smoking. Maybe some of us can then compare it to what our i-CTDi cars do... mine certainly smokes a bit when first started, but it's black and only for a few seconds.
 
The relay in these cars isn't a simple on/off - it actually has a round trip response timing for activation. I can test this with my HDS. If the round trip is too long, the relay is taking too long to activate the plugs.

How were your 2 plugs diagnosed as faulty anyway?
 
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