My tractor's taken up smoking...
 

My last couple of cars were performance machines, and getting the Rover was a deliberate statement to myself that it was time, in my old age, to calm down – difficult at first, but now very relaxing, I find.

Point being that I drive around pretty slowly, never really give it any welly. But the other night I did, as some guy in an Audi and baseball cap was investigating my rear bumper a bit too closely and, after keeping him at 25mph for about 15 miles, I lost patience and decided to test my 160 re-map.

It had the desired effect, but I think more due to the fact that he disappeared in a massive grey haze than that I was necessarily faster than him!

Is the idea that giving the car some stick after months of cruising around slowly “clears it out” an old wives’ tale, or is my motor trying to tell me something?

I would check and clean your intercooler, turbo and intercooler hoses, intercooler elbow O-rings, egr valve and flexi (if not removed) and clean out the intake manifold and PCV filter....

Then try giving it some welly...

As Peter says, but any diesel will put out some smoke if given the full beans (in a responsible manner, of course ;)).

Soot collects in the exhaust and is some of the cause of the smoke when clearing it's throat.

Italian tune ups are good for diesels, once in a while. They run best at motorway speeds.

Thanks guys – has no EGR, and got a new PCV filter a few months ago, but I’ll give it an Italian Job or two before doing anything else, as I can’t really do things like that myself any more, so would have to take it to the garage :duh:

They do that if you've been pootling around for a bit, once it's cleared it's throat though it won't do it again for a while.

Nothing to worry about if it's been serviced regularly and running well otherwise.

I find this on any car.. my RS6 is the worst, if you pootle around and then give it the beans there's usually a large black trail upon first throttle opening.

Personally a good rev through one or two gears when fully warmed up on a journey that you can do so then do it.

I always give any car a bit of stick when its warmed up, the amout of NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD- that usually comes out is crazy!
Take the ZTT i've just got, took it for a real good blast down some b roads, no smoke or anything like that but since giving it a good "clean out"
it drives so much smoother and feels more responsive.

Next on the list is lpg filters and plugs, already done the engine/gearbox oil/pas fluid

Cheers, will do. All I need is an Audi to sit behind me to assess the smoke output - don't know anybody do you :D

I have one and when you gas me out i'll do a v10 driveby haha!

Interestingly, I’ve been doing more longish-distance driving lately, and driving VERY gently to see what sort of mpg I can get.

Car had its MOT on Tuesday, and failed on emissions. The garage put some sort of cleaner in it, and told me to give it an Italian tune-up – I did, brought it back, and it passed.

What does the cleaner do, exactly, to improve emissions? Or was it irrelevant, and just the good thrash that brought it back within acceptable limits?

most cleaners are just highly refined fuel, sometimes with charged particles in which bond to contaminates and get blown out of the exhaust... they also burn hot and can shake loose carbon etc...

I normally run the tank very low and put 2 bottles of injector cleaner in just before a 3rd gear run to work (10 miles) to clear everything through... works well...