Lots of smoke on cold start

[VWralley]

Many apologies if i missed some info on this, i skimmed through the first few pages and didnt see anything so here goes..

81 1.6 na, car runs pretty darn well once warm, but when it first fires up i get alot of white/blueish (mostly white) smoke. After it warms up to temp, it seems to run damn near perfect, actually has a bit of zip after the fresh headgasket...but there is always a puff right off idle in 1st/2nd gear.

right off the bat i know i need to possible replace a glow plug, maybe two, and i just bought new inj nozzles which ill be putting in very soon.

does that sound like it would clear it up? im smokin out the neighborhood in the morning,and as entertaining as that is, id like to reduce it as much as possible  :lol:

[bigblockchev]

Start with glow plugs they are cheap and easy. Unburnt fuel from cold  cylinders is certainly a possibility. Then move on to more complicated solutions. You need to test the glow plugs individually first though as it is pointless replacing good plugs.  Cheers Dan

[VWralley]

cool, ill go there next. was planning on testing before replacing, i was just assuming one was bad due to how it sounds when first started.

is it fairly common to get a bit of smoke when you get on the gas in first? seems to be a blue/blk mix, and only when i really step on it

[Vincent Waldon]

White smoke on startup is usually unburnt fuel.

A little is expected... the cylinders are cold, the glowplugs can only do so much.

A lot means something's going on.. the usual suspects being (in approximate order of troubleshooting imho):

- glow plugs
- timing
- worn/malfunctioning injectors that crap out when cold
- compression

Compression is the wild card in my experience... twice now I've had diesels that eventually smoked out the neighbourhood during the winter, yet ran perfect when warm... like 1 minute later.  Timing fine, plugs fine, nozzles fine.  Test the compression when warm (as per the published specs)... perfect.  Test the compression when stone cold... terrible.  

In both cases these were very high mileage beasts that were not technically in need of a rebuild if you use warm compression values.  One I sold, one I rebuilt:  eliminated the mosquito fogging effect immediately.

So, I'd suggest trying the easy stuff first... plugs, timing, nozzle test... but if you do end up testing compression it might make sense to do it twice... once with the engine at normal temps, once when stone cold.  The difference might tell the tale !


Vince

[VWralley]

sweet, ill get on testing my glow plugs asap then..i already got new inj nozzles, so instead of testing, ill just replace. as far as compression goes, i just did a headgasket and have maybe 200mi tops on that, so im assuming compression is pretty decent, cause once its warm it really does run quite well. also did a timing belt/tensioner, and had a pro help on the timing, so im pretty sure that is ok, but i will re-check when i do the injector nozzles


pretty much as i expected, so thats good news to me! thanks fellas!