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Thread: 06' vectra-c 1.9 ctdi smoking blackish white, mostly on start up and accelleration.

  1. #1
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    Vehicle : Vectra C 1.9 CDTI

    Trim : Dunno

    Engine : Diesel 1.9

    Year : 2006

    Default 06' vectra-c 1.9 ctdi smoking blackish white, mostly on start up and accelleration.

    I'll just start by saying this isn't actually my vectra but a friends who otherwise has no idea how cars work and relies on garages (and me) to get things fixed. However I'm no mechanic, plus I only work on petrols mostly. I could do with some pointers to look for because this car smokes and my friend is worried it'll fail the mot (again) because of it.

    It's a 1.9 ctdi, reg. in 2006. Automatic. Couldn't tell you much beyond that.


    It failed the mot last year because it was blowing proper big clouds of black smoke out. The garage advised he put some tec 2000 fuel cleaner in it, so we did. I also gave the boost sensor and egr valve a clean as best I could but they were both really (REALLY) sooted up. I later noticed EML was on and checked dtc codes and though I can't remember the actual code, it was something like egr flow malfunction. I figured the valve was dead, probably due to all the soot (and cleaning it hadn't fix it). Anyway it got through the mot by the skin of it's teeth the second time which I attribute to the tec 2000, but it was still smoking quite badly.


    It starts OK, and runs ok to a degree, it just smokes. I blanked off the egr for him as I suspected it was that that was at least partially to blame. The smoking has subsided a bit but not a lot. Now it farts out a puff of black on startup and on acceleration it chuffs out a smallish cloud of blackish white smoke, certainly not as bad as before but not great (it didn't use to smoke at all up until maybe a couple of years ago incidentally). Generally when driving at consistent speeds you don't notice any smoke at all.


    I did convince him to take it in to get oil and oil filter changed because the oil looked like it was just... obsidian levels of black. I know diesels soot up their oil quickly anyway but I figured it wouldn't hurt to get an oil change since I don't think he'd had it done for a long while. However after this was supposedly done, I checked the oil myself just to see if it had made any difference at all, and it hadn't - it was still as black as the ace of spades and the filter doesn't look like it's been done either. But then what do I know, it may have had a full change and it was just so sooted up it immediately blackened the oil within hours. Either that or the garage he goes to are a bunch of cowboys and charged him for work they didn't do.


    Talking of the garage he goes to, with it smoking I also suspected DPF being at the root of the problem and suggested he take it in for them to look at and maybe force a regeneration. They claimed there wasn't anything wrong with it and it didn't need to be regenerated. Anyway beyond the smoking, the car seems to run fine. It starts pretty much first time after a few chugs even on cold mornings. Runs OK, and blanking egr off apparently has made it a tiny bit better on acceleration.


    Can a ******ed boost sensor cause it to smoke (assuming by ******ed it's kaput in such a way that a DTC hasn't been thrown up for it for some reason)? If oil was indeed changed along with filter is it actually feasible that it would go completely black again shortly afterwards? I'm also wondering if I should just take the entire inlet manifold off and clean that because it looked like it was full of soot when I did the egr and boost sensors (and that was a year ago).


    I have been searching for a few days now on possible reasons for the smoking and have a lot of things I could be looking at, beyond the fact it's "just an old diesel and they tend to smoke" - but on the off chance I've mentioned something interesting does any one have any ideas what most likely I should be looking at?

    Cheers for any help and pointers.

  2. #2
    Regular Member northpole's Avatar
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    Vehicle : Vectra C Saloon( sadly died at age 20 due to a hart attack)

    Trim : SXI limited edition

    Engine : 2.0 16v DTI

    Year : 2003

    Mileage : 140000

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    - Take off intake, clean it
    - clean map sensor
    - clean maf sensor
    - Check the variable inlet flaps are clean and operating or deleted(welded/ glued shut)
    - run an injector purge (liquimoly)
    - after injector purge, replace fuel filter
    - run an engine flush for a extra long period (by the sounds of it an hour will do)
    - fill up with new oil and filter
    - add an injector cleaner with a cetane booster to the fuel or have him tank premium diesel for at least one full tank
    - take out glowplugs, clean the tips
    - add a dpf cleaner to the tank

    That would be it to hopefully get it running right also he should really get the car scanned for errors before you do anything. But the above should help remove most of the soot in the intake. And have the car running at it's best...

    He could have a terraclean done at 120 pounds and that would take care of most of the cleaning. But in general by the sounds of it he uses the car for short trips and that is probably the reason why it is that sooted up for... he should drive it harder or take the motorway at least once a week and drive it quite hard (meaning he needs to give it an Italian tune up, and with it being an auto it won't like it one bit)
    Last edited by northpole; 27th October 2021 at 15:01.

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    Midlands - Vxr Owning Dick Dog_Book's Avatar
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    Also have a look at the injector deviations that you would have seen screen shots of to get an idea of how they are performing. Clean the BCS or replace that as they like to fail as well.
    Vectra VXR estate 2007 Sapphire Black
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    Regular Member northpole's Avatar
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    Vehicle : Vectra C Saloon( sadly died at age 20 due to a hart attack)

    Trim : SXI limited edition

    Engine : 2.0 16v DTI

    Year : 2003

    Mileage : 140000

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    BCS = Boost Control Valve

    and i forgot to say check the vacuum lines/ pipes aren't leaking as they can touch the engine and melt and it is best to replace the lot with silicone vacuum pipes (internal diameter 3mm) 5 meters will do the whole car twice.

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    Then when all that is done a good run up the motorway to clear it all.

  7. #6
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    Vehicle : Vectra C 1.9 CDTI

    Trim : Dunno

    Engine : Diesel 1.9

    Year : 2006

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    Cheers everyone! I'll get on that asap.

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