Loss of power , lots of smoke D40

Nissan Navara Forum

Help Support Nissan Navara Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

trajan

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2013
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Pakistan
Dear all
I have a Navara D40 07 imported from the UK. It has done 72k.
I am facing the following issue:

Navara runs fine in low revs. At higher revs or when depressing the accelerator for quick acceleration with turbo on, the engine revs, the turbo sounds like it is kicking in, but there is no power boost and TONS of black smoke emitted from the exhaust .

To give a little background to this issue , two weeks ago i went for a long drive (500 km ) , road conditions were excellent but involved a good amount of uphill climbing and speeds on flat surfaces averaging 120kph with highest speed hitting 160kph.

On the way, while doing a steady 120 kph all of a sudden i heard a LOUD whistling sound (like a pipe or something blowing), the noise stayed constant for about 10 seconds and then the noise died. I thought it was an AC pipe or something. No loss of performance detected on the engine.

Later, i heard a distinct whistling sound when accelerating even gently and engine check light went on.

I thought it was a hose or pipe leading to the turbo leaking and had them replaced. The noise did not go down. It seemed to be coming from the turbo housing itself. Vehicle accelerated normally and turbo boost kicked in with good acceleration normally.

Yesterday, the boost went away completely and the above explained issue of heavy black smoke when i press the accelerator came on.

We do not have a scanner here so i do not know what error codes are being shown.

My Navara has a performance chip + i have blanked out the EGR pipe for a long time also.


Another issue noticed was that after the last engine oil replacement, i found that oil was more than the capacity. instead of 6.5 litres (with replacement of oil filter) there were 7.5 litres ! The oil used was Mobil 1 Synthetic 10w40. I have always used Mobil 1 5w40 ( 5w30 is not available here) also the ambient temperatures in summers easily reach 35 to 38 Celsius. The dip stick shows normal level of oil now.

This excess oil issue was fixed with the recent oil change (which was done after my long trip stated above). I do have access to a X431 scanner but do not have the software for Nissan.


I am looking for suggestions on how to isolate the problem given the issue at hand. Do i need a new turbo? a replacement of the turbo solenoid or anything else?

Also, for a long time, there is oil in the exhaust pipe of the vehicle. A few drops of oil are always on the floor the morning after the vehicle is parked overnight.
 
Last edited:
I reckon tony the admin gent will be able to help you he is normaly here a bit later i am sure he will read of your problem and may have an idea good luck
 
The smoke is jet black.
I understand it is turbo related, but not sure if it is the turbo itself, any pipings or the turbo solenoid.

Thank you .
 
Hey mate welcome. sounds like your not too happy. I usualy get that when a intercooler hose pops off or is leaking.. Check all your hoses and clamps also your intercooler for any leaks. Check the turbo compressor wheel for damage any chips or missing fins. The black smoke is defiantly turbo related when under heavy acceleration when it's not getting enough air to compensate for fuel injected "air to fuel ratio" if all these steps fail the next step is getting a scan tool to read any codes that might be logged into the ecu. You also have a point about the solenoid if that fails it also can blow black smoke and cut out.. I can only suggest if your keen enough is also unbolt the dump pipe and look for any oil deposits at the back if the turbo, you may even have a seal that's giving way under pressure but you can find out if you need to do that to begin with when checking the compressor wheel for damage also any shaft play that seems excessive. Good luck
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forum.

What the others have said +1. You could take a look at the turbocharger actuator and check its operation - have a friend try to increase the rpm from idle (750rpm) to about 2000rpm while you watch the little arm underneath the actuator. It should move up and down fairly freely. If it's not, either the actuator is damaged or the vacuum lines are damaged.

Shut the engine down and take the vacuum hose off the actuator. Put a fresh piece of hose on and suck on the other end - you should be able to make the actuator move. If you can, one of the vacuum hoses is damaged or loose. Don't bother trying to fix them, just replace them. If the actuator doesn't move, it could be damaged or jammed (let's hope not).

The other thing it could be is a dirty or faulty MAFS. This is a little sensor that sits in the back of the air tube just outside the air filter. Be very gentle, it's quite sensitive. Use electrical contact cleaner to clean it - if you don't have that, try methylated spirits, methanol, pure ethanol - don't use vodka, if you have vodka around just pour yourself a glass and look for something else - you COULD use petrol (not diesel) but you'd have to leave it out to dry for about 10 minutes.

The "extra oil" issue could become dangerous, and it's very important that you determine whether or not you have a problem with the injectors. There have been reports of diesel fuel finding its way into the sump oil. If this happens and your engine gets nice and hot, there is a chance that the diesel will vaporise, enter the air intake via the PCV and cause "diesel overrun" where the engine will continue to run even if you turn the ignition off - the only way to stop it is to block the air intake or run like hell and wait for it to detonate. I recommend you test your engine oil for the presence of diesel - a good diesel mechanic should be able to tell you where this can be done in Pakistan.
 
Haha, i think i am more embarrassed than upset. Especially since this is my only vehicle which is used for my daily commute to and from office. It is not a pretty sight when this beauty starts spewing out black smoke onto vehicles in rush hour traffic :/

As per your advice, I am going to take out all connections/ pipes/ hoses and see if i can isolate the problem. Each part is quite pricey and i would have to import them from Dubai which means that i better be right on the 'replacement' :)

Many thanks for your pointers.

Regards
 
Dear all
I am grateful to all the wonderful advice given here I am pleased to report that the issue has been solved.

The vehicle was parked in my garage for over a week as:
a- I did not want to make matters worse for the vehicle ; and
b- I wanted to escape any further embarrassment due to the heavy spewing of smoke.

Over this weekend, i took apart all the pipes/ hoses leading to the turbo and lo and behold the rubber pipe leading from the intercooler to the turbo was split at the bottom.

I had it replaced and the turbo boost came back on like a charm and no more clouds of black smoke! :)

The engine check light was reset by taking out the battery wires, however, it still comes on sometimes on its own and goes away on its own.

I have ordered a OBD2 Bluetooth connector from UK and should have it by next week to see what codes are actually coming up.

The whistle is still there but i am going to look into it over this coming weekend by inspecting the vehicle in greater detail.

As for the excess oil issue, the oil level is not increasing and there is no trace of diesel in it. However, the rear exhaust pipe still has deposits of oil in it.


Thank you all for your advice and most importantly your time. I stand grateful! :)
 
Here's something to try that costs nothing: after cleaning the hoses, with very clean hands remove the turbocharger inlet hose (from between the air filter and the turbocharger). Reach in and spin the turbo fan and try to wobble the shaft. It should NOT feel like there's sand in the bearings, and the shaft should not wobble much at all. If it does, you may have damage to one of the turbo bearings and this might be where the oil in the exhaust is coming from.

I am wondering about the turbo boost sensor (low on the intercooler on the cool side closest to the intake manifold). It would be interesting to see what boost pressures you're getting (when your BT OBD adapter arrives). Expect a peak of between 18-20 psi under hard acceleration.

The CEL is a worry - it shouldn't come on. Love to see the codes for that one. I guess we're all waiting for your BT adapter to show up!
 
Dear Old.Tony

Thank you for your time. The OBDII connector came in early this morning around 6 am through a friend who was flying back from the U.K. Got the Navara out at 530 am to get to the airport, and pushed it hard (around 120 kph to 140 kph) (roads were all empty (there was no CEL on). Got to the airport, parked the vehicle , got my friend and the OBDII reader and when i started the vehicle , Lo and Behold the CEL light is back on. The vehicle ran fine, nothing out of the ordinary noticed. Drive back was at a steady 50 kph.
I was giddy with excitement and plugged it into the Navara. Downloaded Torque for my Samsung S3 android and came up with only ONE logged code P0472. I have searched online and it comes across as a 'Exhaust Pressure Sensor Low ' error. Same error was in the 'current error codes' as well as in the 'logged error codes' No other codes were present.

What in the world does this mean? I have already mentioned that the EGR has been blanked out. Could this be the culprit?

I also remembered that the particulate filter in the exhaust system has also been taken out. The box is still there, but the carbon filter inside has been taken out. We have terrible diesel here in Pakistan with sulphuric content and it was a pain having to have the vehicle go into the limp mode every 6 months :/


EDIT:
Just came back from a 4 km trip. Pushed the vehicle as hard as it would go. Boost peaked out at 19.5 psi and only once reaching 20 psi. I let the vehicle warm up for 10 minutes keeping it on idle. Then went around on a deserted area accelerating as hard as the vehicle would go up to 80kph and then slowing down to 5 kph and then accelerating again.
 
Last edited:
That was quick!

The 2007 D40 doesn't have a sensor in the EGR valve to determine whether or not there's any flow, so blocking the EGR won't produce a code. Unplugging the EGR valve will, so checking that would be valuable. It will bring on the CEL but may not put the vehicle into limp mode. Just to be sure, unplug it, clean it, plug it back in.

Your boost sensor seems to be reading typical pressures - for an unchipped engine, it sounds like it's all doing fine except that error code.

If your DPF has been removed, I wonder if one of the DPF's own sensors has gotten a little gummed up with all the unburnt fuel that's recently gone through it? There are pressure sensors before and after the filter unit and when the filter is removed, they have to either be placed back in the DPF as they were, or mounted facing each other in a pipe. Obviously placing them back in the pipe means there is a chance that soot and/or unburnt fuel can cause trouble.

That's the only thing I can think of at the moment. They might just need a clean?

I'd check the plug on the EGR valve first, maybe look over the harness for any damage to the wires and if that doesn't resolve it, THEN look at the sensors in the exhaust.

It sounds like the turbo boost sensor is ok!

Oh, did you check how clean the MAFS is? Don't forget it - it's an important component (and an expensive one, so do it carefully). I sprayed electrical contact cleaner into mine and the fluid came out black for several seconds.
 
Black smoke low power

Dear Trajan,
I got similar problem with my Navara d40 2009, currently car in islamabad, but no bodys seem to fix, infact i havnt yet shown it to proper mechanic yet. The car is diesal 2500 and it gives low milage, with smoke and was driving to murre where it clearly showed as to be under powered it going up the hill. I dont know what codes are there on obd11. I am currently in UK and would like to know which OBD11 wifi you bought, since I already bought two none of them worked, apperantly they were for peaugot, citreon , bmw sort of cars not covering nissan.
Any ways picture or number nd model nd manufacture of your OBD11 tool will certainly do. Since i would liketo check it myself what is actually wrong with.
My email is [email protected].
I hope to hear from you soon.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top