Passed the smoke test - relief!

[rovertone]

Total relief today when my MOT tester said you have passed the MOT including a normal smoke test. Usually I only get a pass with a very 'gentle' test to get a low enough reading.

Some of you may have read my various posts trying to resolve this issue over a long time .Having noticed a very slight oil mist near one of the inlet ports I decided to change all the seals. This must have been the culprit, I still have smoke but it is more a 'dirty' haze rather than rich black so I am assuming that this is the crud blowing from the exhaust from my pootling about town.

Way back I noticed a similar oil mist when I removed the manifold for cleaning but didn't really give it a thought just cleaned the seals and put 'em back, so there's a lesson learnt!
Hope this may help anyone else who is struggling with a similar problem having tried all the usual points.

[bl52krz]

Before I take my cdt for its mot, I give it an ‘Italian Tuneup’. I take it onto the country road 200 yards from where I live, and with no one about, second gear and take it up to 4000-4500 rpm for about 600 yards, or metres if you like. I then go round the block, and coming back the other way, do the same again. On the second run, you only get the smallest amount of sh** come out the exhaust for a few seconds. It then flies through the mot. I also put Redex Injector Cleaner in the tank. What was your smoke test result? [/COLOR][/B]

[rovertone]

I do exactly the same with redex and did about 5 miles on dual carriageway at 4000rpm.
Didn't get the reading, my garage know the history of me trying to sort the problem and the owners first retort was 'your smoke test was no problem, what have you done?', I was so pleased never give the actual result a thought!

If this hadn't worked my next plan was to renew the exhaust, well at least the cat, I am sure that I read somewhere that if a diesel has done most of its mileage pootling about the cat can soot up so badly that partial blockage causes back pressure that slows the turbo response on hard acceleration hence the over fueling. That may of course be totally unfounded and 'clutching of straws' on my part. Anyway the added good news is the original exhaust system will live on for a bit longer.

[bl52krz]

My opacity reading was 0.01. 1.5 on ‘fast pass’ is the limit.

[Richard1973]

I found cleaning the area around the MAP sensor inside the manifold made a big difference to mine.