[Argus]

I believe the smoke on start up is perfectly normal and in fact, indicates a well lubricated engine. If you've ever seen a piston aircraft engine of the 40's on start up, it's pretty full on. You could be forgiven for thinking that the engine is clapped, but what is actually happening is the residual oil from the valve stems and some upper cylinder oil simply burning off. This oil collects after shutdown and I am quite happy for it to be there. Diesel fuel is an oil after all. Naturally, if it continued after start up or was excessive, then I'd be concerned.

My car does not smoke on every first start if used frequenly, however if left over long weekend or longer on the first start it can blow blue smoke for more that a few seconds, I have seen great clounds of smoke on one occasion after left it for few days. If dealer looks as the car it will not smoke as they are unlikely to leave the car  unstarted for more than one day. I checked the Glow Plug fuse but cant get it out to check if okay, have never seen glow plug warning light.

Possible causes are oil leaking past the inlet valve stems, injectors leaking when the engine is left for a time, blow fuse for glow plugs. The engine does not use oil, so I suspect it not related to pistons and rings.

How do check the 80 amp fuse?
How does it come out?

When the glowes are damaged this indicator does not light. The light goes out normally after a few seconds, despite a damaged one or more glowes. In my car it was, I had burned two glowes. In the morning it looked so (see picture on page4).
The fuse you can check by multimeter (after removal of course) or by battery and bulb.

[constipated]

My car does not smoke on every first start if used frequenly, however if left over long weekend or longer on the first start it can blow blue smoke for more that a few seconds, I have seen great clounds of smoke on one occasion after left it for few days. If dealer looks as the car it will not smoke as they are unlikely to leave the car  unstarted for more than one day. I checked the Glow Plug fuse but cant get it out to check if okay, have never seen glow plug warning light.

I don't feel this is normal as I have never seen it with my CRDi. If you have a phone or camera film a video to show the dealer what it's like at its worse.

[bryanj86]

I will have to agree with 847563 on this one.  Mine only smokes on start up after leaving it overnight or long periods; not just a few hours after coming back from shopping etc. lol.

ALSO...i am curious as to why our diesel engines done smell the same as the truck ones on the highway???   The truck ones have the typical diesel smell about them when behind them but mine seems ot have a sweeter note to it haha!

[Phil №❶]

bryanj86

We all use the same fuel at the servo, so my guess is that because our engines are so much smaller in capacity, the ratio of exhaust gas to air coming from our cars, is quite low and this may trick the nose into detecting a "sweeter" smell. 

[sootytorques]

Update, since all glow plugs where changed, the car has remained smoke free.

[Dazzler]

Update, since all glow plugs where changed, the car has remained smoke free.

 

[2i30s]

Update, since all glow plugs where changed, the car has remained smoke free.

[Argus]

Update, since all glow plugs where changed, the car has remained smoke free.

Problem solved! Most cases of strong blue smoke at startup reported on the Polish forum is caused by defective glowes. My engine also firmly shook for several seconds. Apparently was I30 series with poor glowes.

[bryanj86]

I still think it is normal though to have some smoke on start up... you look at all the other diesels on the road when they start up and they have some smoke come out.... But that is so great they replaced the glow plugs.....

[sootytorques]

No modern common rail diesel should smoke at startup.

No modern common rail diesel should smoke at startup.

Mine doesn't.

Actually, I was following this thread with interest and was surprised at the final result. It was my belief that blue smoke was from burnt lubricating oil - the sort you see from cars with worn motors taking off from the lights after idling.

Whitish smoke I thought was from unburnt diesel fuel and not smoke at all really. This is what I would have expected to be fixed with glow plugs not blue smoke.

[Phil №❶]

I have stated before that smoke on start up is not necessarily a bad thing. I do agree however that today's modern engines when new shouldn't smoke. This is because the oil control ring(s) are doing their job and no oil at all leaks past the valve guides when new. I would expect some evidence of smoke after 30-40K's (18-25K miles). Even then it should only be a puff at most.

Some car makers make exceptionally good motors with good oil control, others, well.

It would be handy for those commenting to state their vehicle engine distance so adequate comparisons can be made. Our cars, 21K, no smoke, 55k a minor puff after overnight rest.

[bryanj86]

Mine is a 2011 model with just shy of 15K on the clock.  It has a small puff of whiteish smoke on overnight start up....

[skalra63]

I had a similar issue with my 11 plate i30.

It would randomly puff out a lot of smoke. By "a lot" I mean that you could see the smoke in the wing mirror and then it would look like a cloud coming towards the front of the car. I always allow the glow plug light to go off before starting. It was even happening when it was 30 degrees outside, the car was hot and only left for 2 hours.

Dealer couldn't find the cause of the problem.

The problem is that it does not always happen.

[Dazzler]

skalra63

Doesn't sound quite right (but it is odd that it is intermittent.) A few that have had glowplug issues causing smoking (including Opa_1) have found the glowplugs were earthing on the block, but fairly sure the smoke on startup was regular until glowplugs replaced 

[sootytorques]

@ skalra63  its your glow plugs that need replacing, get the dealer to re check them, when I had theis problem it took nearly 2 months to sort, it would have been quicker if the dealer knew how to check glow plugs, also take a video of the problem & show dealer.

[skalra63]

I have already spoken to them 3 or 4 times. They have only been able to reproduce the problem once but couldn't find the cause.

They said they checked the glow plugs and injector but couldn't see anything wrong.

[bryanj86]

I had mine serviced last weekend and they used a new oil in it. One that glows under UV light to detect leaks (if leaks were ever to occur). Since i had it serviced i have not seen smoke at all. It still smells a little on start up as most cars tend too but nothing untoward!

[Phil №❶]

And the oil was ?

[bryanj86]

Castrol fully synthetic someting arother lol

[Lakes]

I had mine serviced last weekend and they used a new oil in it. One that glows under UV light to detect leaks (if leaks were ever to occur). Since i had it serviced i have not seen smoke at all. It still smells a little on start up as most cars tend too but nothing untoward!

They probably used injection cleaner or added it to your tank, does it list this on service ? don't know about the oil your useing, i'm useing Mobile 1  0w 40w, but i think the ELF oil i used in my first i30 CRDi was a better oil

[bryanj86]

Yeah they put in the cleaner into the tank They used 5W/40 oil for mine...

[noels_hobby]

white, blue or black smoke -  possible causes in high pressure diesel injection systems
diesel contaminated with petrol
diesel contaminated with water 
sticky injector jammed open
no engine coolant temperature sensor signal   
no rail pressure sensor signal
erg valve blocked open
fuel pressure regulator valve stuck
oil level too high or low
clogged air filter
faulty glow plug system
low compression

extracted from a trouble shooting guide for high pressure diesel injector-ed engines
cheers noel