Black smoke!

Phantom

Phantom

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I am quite happy with my Sprinter 316CDI 2.7D returning a quite steady 24 mpg though have not been anywhere for a while in it. A friend recently mentioned about how much black smoke it kicked out the last time they followed me, and they are not the only one to say that. It has a side exhaust but I don't notice any smoke in my mirrors though I do believe them as I observed a mass of black smoke when I did a three or so point turn on a hill, well it is 7.3m and about 3800kgs loaded. It has only done about 45k and runs very sweet, it has the Sprint shift box though I normally use manual and drive it quite lazy at lower revs which I know could be the cause of the smoke but happy to thrash it if that is the solution? I am not too bothered about the black smoke which I don't normally see except when say booting it off a roundabout for fun! But now I have been reminded about it I'm just wondering if there is anything else adding to the cause other than my not thrashing it enough? Like maybe the fuel filter due for a change? Or perhaps the fuel pump could be over-fuelling? I have a fairly good OBD2 diagnostic tool though not sure if I need to get a round plug adapter to fit mine yet? But thought it might be interesting if it showed any fuel related fault codes? Not sure if live data will reveal anything? Just thinking aloud for now as I have not checked anything yet, maybe it is just quite normal and to be expected? I think I will drive it in auto next time out as the revs go higher between gear changes so it should run hotter and maybe burn off some of the likely crap build up in the exhaust? Any thoughts?
 
Black smoke is unburnt fuel and your engine is running too rich. I reckon it would be worth having it tuned correctly. You would probably get far higher mpg and at today's prices would soon pay for the tune up.
K ;)
 
Yours isn’t even run in yet lol, think mine is just over 107k now but no black smoke. I do put a shot of Redex in the tank every five or six fill ups though .
 
Phantom said:
I am quite happy with my Sprinter 316CDI 2.7D returning a quite steady 24 mpg though have not been anywhere for a while in it. A friend recently mentioned about how much black smoke it kicked out the last time they followed me, and they are not the only one to say that. It has a side exhaust but I don't notice any smoke in my mirrors though I do believe them as I observed a mass of black smoke when I did a three or so point turn on a hill, well it is 7.3m and about 3800kgs loaded. It has only done about 45k and runs very sweet, it has the Sprint shift box though I normally use manual and drive it quite lazy at lower revs which I know could be the cause of the smoke but happy to thrash it if that is the solution? I am not too bothered about the black smoke which I don't normally see except when say booting it off a roundabout for fun! But now I have been reminded about it I'm just wondering if there is anything else adding to the cause other than my not thrashing it enough? Like maybe the fuel filter due for a change? Or perhaps the fuel pump could be over-fuelling? I have a fairly good OBD2 diagnostic tool though not sure if I need to get a round plug adapter to fit mine yet? But thought it might be interesting if it showed any fuel related fault codes? Not sure if live data will reveal anything? Just thinking aloud for now as I have not checked anything yet, maybe it is just quite normal and to be expected? I think I will drive it in auto next time out as the revs go higher between gear changes so it should run hotter and maybe burn off some of the likely crap build up in the exhaust? Any thoughts?
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yes i run my engin about 30 mins as i fill or clean my m/home.i have put in fuel tank half a small bottle of deisel redex .when is full of fuel.
going well at moment. stay safe ok pj.
 
If it’s running well (which I think it is) and it was mine I would give it a filter and oil service, shot or Redex or whatever your preferred tipple is then take it for a run. If you have a motorway nearby do a little overtaking to clear things through and see if it made any difference.
I rarely give mine much stick although at some point on each journey I guess I will get three thousand revs up. May not sound high but as you know with the sprintshift that can be moving 👍
 
Just to add, only times I have noticed smoke it’s been white smoke and has been caused when I have had to run the engine for longish periods when stationary to charge battery’s. That was before I got the generator and I always kept the revs up near 2000rpm as I was advised against doing this with my engine by a mechanic.

Longer time members will know who I mean but can’t think what his form name was. I mean Paul who now has the canal boat with a sister Chris. I have only typed this bit as I can’t think what name he used and it bugging me lol
 
EGR valve sooted up due to driving steady all the time, modern diesels don’t like it, get the EGR valve cleaned or changed.
Or you could try giving it a good long motorway run in a lower gear so that the revels are high, to see if it will clear it.
I see it all the time on motorhome groups where people are driving slowly trying to get another mile or two per gallon
Then spending a fortune on having the EGR valve or the DPF changed.
Luckily the 5 cylinder Merc didn’t have a DPF
 
As Vanterrier said black smoke is overfueling and easily sorted by a diesel garage with the right equipment. It is usually a simple fuel governor issue. As well as wasting a pile of your money you are causing anybody who is following you to breathe in the smoke which is unpleasant and unhealthy for them.
 
Phantom said:
I am quite happy with my Sprinter 316CDI 2.7D returning a quite steady 24 mpg though have not been anywhere for a while in it. A friend recently mentioned about how much black smoke it kicked out the last time they followed me, and they are not the only one to say that. It has a side exhaust but I don't notice any smoke in my mirrors though I do believe them as I observed a mass of black smoke when I did a three or so point turn on a hill, well it is 7.3m and about 3800kgs loaded. It has only done about 45k and runs very sweet, it has the Sprint shift box though I normally use manual and drive it quite lazy at lower revs which I know could be the cause of the smoke but happy to thrash it if that is the solution? I am not too bothered about the black smoke which I don't normally see except when say booting it off a roundabout for fun! But now I have been reminded about it I'm just wondering if there is anything else adding to the cause other than my not thrashing it enough? Like maybe the fuel filter due for a change? Or perhaps the fuel pump could be over-fuelling? I have a fairly good OBD2 diagnostic tool though not sure if I need to get a round plug adapter to fit mine yet? But thought it might be interesting if it showed any fuel related fault codes? Not sure if live data will reveal anything? Just thinking aloud for now as I have not checked anything yet, maybe it is just quite normal and to be expected? I think I will drive it in auto next time out as the revs go higher between gear changes so it should run hotter and maybe burn off some of the likely crap build up in the exhaust? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
My first comment is about the gearbox. My local garage warned me against doing what you describe. They reckon that they see a lot of (very expensive) premature mercedes auto gearbox failures: all of them in people who use the manual mode. Their unequivocal advice was to put it in D and let it change itself.

As far as the black smoke is concerned, I think it might be worth putting some injector cleaner into the tank when it's a bit low on fuel to clean the injectors.

My sprinter-based motorhome is significantly older, bigger and heavier than yours and also does about 24mpg. I would expect yours to do a fair bit better.

However, if it passes the MOT smoke test it can't be so far off. It's possible that the black smoke is down to your driving style.

If you press the pedal quickly, the injector pump boosts the fuel input before the turbo has had time to spin up.

If you generally take two to four seconds to go from pedal up to pedal down, you'll accelerate almost as fast without spewing out that unburned diesel as black smoke.
 
Geek said:
My first comment is about the gearbox. My local garage warned me against doing what you describe. They reckon that they see a lot of (very expensive) premature mercedes auto gearbox failures: all of them in people who use the manual mode. Their unequivocal advice was to put it in D and let it change itself.

As far as the black smoke is concerned, I think it might be worth putting some injector cleaner into the tank when it's a bit low on fuel to clean the injectors.

My sprinter-based motorhome is significantly older, bigger and heavier than yours and also does about 24mpg. I would expect yours to do a fair bit better.

However, if it passes the MOT smoke test it can't be so far off. It's possible that the black smoke is down to your driving style.

If you press the pedal quickly, the injector pump boosts the fuel input before the turbo has had time to spin up.

If you generally take two to four seconds to go from pedal up to pedal down, you'll accelerate almost as fast without spewing out that unburned diesel as black smoke.
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The gearbox on Phantoms van is not an automatic box in the conventional sense. On my build card here is how it is listed: SPRINTSHIFT (automated manual transmission)
Still has only two pedals in the cab but it’s a manual box. Not knocking any of your information in any way just pointing out on this model it could be different to what you think 👍
 
I know exactly the type of gearbox a sprintshift is, and that's specifically the sort that the garage was talking about.
 
Geek said:
I know exactly the type of gearbox a sprintshift is, and that's specifically the sort that the garage was talking about.
Click to expand...
Nice to know the. I usually only use the manual option when parking, either R or 1 depending on the slope. It’s the only ‘auto’ I have had that you can do this. Mine have been almost exclusively torque converters with a P option to hold the vehicle where my Sprinter only has D, N, R. Had it years before I found out I could use the gearbox for parking 😁😁
 
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