Fuel in oil, white smoke. Injectors???

[Jazz]

2007 D40 Auto - 3" exhaust, new turbo, egr blocked. 170,000km

I have had a few instances of large amounts of white smoke occuring lately.
Mechaninc had the vehicle for a bout a week and is sure there is fuel getting into the oil. The oil is then thinned out and leaches through seals in the turbo and is then creates the white smoke. He changed the oil and it stopped doing it. He believes the thinned out oil was the likely cause for the turbo shaft overheating and wearing out. it was a lovely burnt blue colour when he pulled out the old turbo.

He said it needs new injectors, or the other option is to regularly change the oil. It has been 1000 km since the oil change and now it has started smoking again. The oil level on the dipstick says over full, indicating the volume of oil has increased due to the fuel in it.

Do the injectors seem the likely culprit? or is there any other way for fuel to enter the oil. Just dont want to blow $3000 to $4000 on injectors if its not the problem????

 

[tweak'e]

won't be the injectors. more than likely its the injector spill line that leaking. either split or more commonly the washers are not sealing.

 

[Jazz]

Any way to test the spill line theory?

 

[tweak'e]

i think the factory test is to put a vac pump on the line and see what it holds.

 

[nathand22]

There is a company that is now doing reconditioned "Blue print injectors" that have a two yr warranty instead of 1yr like when brand new, they are also set to tighter tolerances then new ones and the best part of all is that they are $250 each as apposed to $800 each.

no Brainer really, double the warranty and a one third of the price of new ones.

here is a link to the Baileys Diesel Group web site.

http://www.baileysdiesel.com/

they did start out only doing these for the Toyota D4D motor but from what i am lead to believe they are now doing them for the YD2.5


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[Jazz]

For $250 each I would probably give it a go!

Unless the fault is the spill line as "tweak" has suggested.

From what i've heard the injectors would need replacing by 170,000 km anyway?

 

[180degrees]

it will be your injector seals or similar, was a massive problem on the D4D hilux's way back in about 07 with the diesel eventually causing the oil pickup screen to clog and the motor to inevitably die.

replacing injectors is a costly business, try the seals first and see if it helps.

 

[tweak'e]

the d4's where combustion gas leaking past the injector seal and frying the oil causing gunge, not leaking diesel into the oil.

more than likely spill line. otherwise cracked injector rail or injector.

 

[180degrees]

I was sure it was diesel, maybe your right.... Toyota Australia never formally did a recall for it though and I believe over NZ its mandatory to change the seals every 40k

 

[Old.Tony]

The increasing oil level points directly to the fuel system, it's happened before. Diesel in the oil when heated will vaporise and pass straight through the PCV into the turbo and into the intake manifold. You should clean your intercooler once it's fixed.

Watch out for diesel overrun. If it happens, you'll turn off the engine and it'll keep running until you block the air intake or the engine explodes. If you don't have a sealed snorkel, wear running shoes!

 

[Jazz]

No tony, i dont have a snorkel.

hmm now you have me worried !!

From what I can see, baileys diesel dont do injectors for this engine, yet. Cheap option though.

 

[Jazz]

Just got another opinion from a reputable diesel mechanic.

He reckons its most likely the return/spill line.

Said he can run the vacum test at minimal cost and the replacement part if required is a couple a hundresd $. Or it could be another seal somewhere else (cant remember) which will be a few thousand $.

Find out thursday!!

 

[Old.Tony]

Good luck with it. Please let us know what it was!

Usually we get white smoke in the D40 autos from those that have removed the DPF and for some reason (inbalance in the pressure sensors that were in the exhaust usually) the ECM decides to conduct a regen cycle. Because the DPF isn't there, the ECM just keeps pumping fuel. You can stop it by resetting the ECU (steps below) or letting the engine think it's done a regen (steps below) but that will only work if your sensors are reading similar (one member here had to replace those sensors).

You don't mention that the DPF has been removed, so I didn't think to mention this before!

ECU Reset - not so scary a job.
1) Write down your tripmeter values if you use them for fuel economy calcs, and have your radio PIN handy.
2) Disconnect the battery NEGATIVE lead.
3) Press your foot on the brake pedal and count to 5.
4) Reconnect the battery lead - job done.

DPF Regen Cycle:
Requires 10 minutes of driving at 1600rpm or higher with light to moderate load and normal engine temps (so you can't be towing or hillclimbing). If you need to, you can do this in low gear or even low range (thanks to Pete22 for discovering this and sharing it with us).

 

[Jazz]

The vehicle has had the DPF removed.

Recent history as follows:

-Vehicle had a "squell" when under load, lacked power and bad fuel usage.
-Mechanic dynoed vehicle and said it had unusualy high exhaust back pressure, recomended a 3" exhaust upgrade. I agreed as I was happy to upgrade and solve the problem at the same time.
-Vehicle was much better to drive for a few weeks. Started smelling odd smell at the lights then noticed alot of white smoke.
-Took it back and was told that oil was leaking through the turbo and causing white smoke (I couldnt understand why it was intermitant though?)
-New turbo was put in, a few weeks later, sitting at the lights, same smell and then the same white smoke.
-I take the vehicle back and leave it at the workshop for a week. Diagnosed as fuel in the oil by increased oil level and some sort of testing of the oil itself. I'm told the injectors are to blame, by this stage I am looking at seriously over spending on repairs
-Oil replaced and no more white smoke for a while (about 900km.)

I thought of the regen cycle when it first started the white smoke. But it occured three times during suburban driving around residential streets, no straight runs of more than 1000m and nothing over 50 -60 kph. I thought the regen would not happen in these conditions???? It would explain the intermitant nature of the smoke though.

I still have some faith in the mechanic, but I just wonder if he jumped to the wrong conclusion before ruling out other options.

 

[Old.Tony]

You can do the regen at 20km/h in 4LO (again, thanks to Pete22 for discovering this). All depends on the gear you're in. If the rpm stays above 1600 it'll do it.

If the ECU is unable to complete the cycle it will start it again as soon as it can. Try an ECU reset to see if it fixes it. If it goes away but comes back, I'd be highly suspicious of the pressure sensors - they sometimes put them in a single pipe facing each other, and sometimes screw them back into the exhaust (in the delete pipe).

 

[Jazz]

You can do the regen at 20km/h in 4LO (again, thanks to Pete22 for discovering this). All depends on the gear you're in. If the rpm stays above 1600 it'll do it.

If the ECU is unable to complete the cycle it will start it again as soon as it can. Try an ECU reset to see if it fixes it. If it goes away but comes back, I'd be highly suspicious of the pressure sensors - they sometimes put them in a single pipe facing each other, and sometimes screw them back into the exhaust (in the delete pipe).

Just checked....The sensors are screwed back into the exhaust.

 

[Rumpig]

Read this post - fuel pump seal leaking oil into the engine.

http://www.navara.asia/showthread.php?t=18998

 

[Jazz]

Thanks RUMPIG , thats the seal the second mechanic was talking about, I couldnt remember it earlier.

My concern is that the smoke is intermitent, either it happens when the oil is diluted too much by the leaking fuel, or it is the regen cycle being triggered.

Or both??

 

[Old.Tony]

It could be both. Trying an ECU reset as the smoke happens and see what the result is. If the smoke goes away = regen happening. If not, you could be having an enormous amount of diesel fuel heading into the sump and we go back to the first worry - overrun. If it's just a regen, one or both of the sensors in the exhaust could be faulty or dirty (both are likely to be covered in soot, but one may have more than the other).

 

[Jazz]

It could be both. Trying an ECU reset as the smoke happens and see what the result is. If the smoke goes away = regen happening. If not, you could be having an enormous amount of diesel fuel heading into the sump and we go back to the first worry - overrun. If it's just a regen, one or both of the sensors in the exhaust could be faulty or dirty (both are likely to be covered in soot, but one may have more than the other).

After about 3 min driving this morning the white smoke appeared. So I tried the ECU reset. Then I restarted the vehicle and the smoke seemed to have stopped. If it was oil/fuel leaching into the engine surely the smoke would not stop so abruptly??

Drive another minute or so and the smoke is back.

The vehicle has fresh oil in it 20km ago.

I'm wondering if there is two issues at play.
The regen cycle being trigered for some reason (damaged/faulty sensor??) & the fuel getting into the oil issue.