Can anyone help with my diesel fumes problem?

[Rick-sta]

As some of you may know, my diesel ZT has a problem where it's fumes are extremely strong, so bad that if you stand behind the car long enough with the engine running you can almost feel your nose burning a little. It's noticeable straight away pretty much on starting the car up.

The cars been like it the whole time I've owned it. I've put up with it so far as you don't always smell it inside the car. Just every now and again you can smell it when in traffic and only with the windows down, it must depend on wind direction or something blowing it in the direction of the front windows.

Since purchasing the ZT I've had the following replaced:

MAF Sensor
MAP Sensor
EGR Bypass
Intercooler O-rings
Intercooler Hose
Manifold Cleaned
Injectors x4
Brand new exhaust system from the manifold back
Decatted (thought the issue may have been due to a bad cat, but didn't make any difference removing it)
Thermostat (it's running at the correct temperature)
Injector cleaners been put through many times
Turbo cleaners also been used before
PCV filter replaced last year
Air filter, oil filter and fuel filter replaced on service
Get great MPG from the engine, easily manage 500 miles a tank.

My ZT doesn't smoke at all, you only see the tiniest bit of light smoke under hard acceleration, no black or dark smoke at all. Probably one of the least smoking diesels in the club. There's a bit of blue smoke on first start up after being parked up for a couple of hours or so, but this is a recent issue which started up earlier this year. May be turbo seals or the rings in the engine. Once the engines been reved the blue smoke stops.

I have no idea what it could be other than an issue with the engine block itself. It's done 175k miles now. My dad's diesel and the one I'm breaking at the moment both don't give off any smell in their fumes at all.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions what it could be? Would appreciate any ideas. You can smell it straight away on idle, and gets much worse when revving the engine.

thanks,

[ceedy]

it will be the Decat! bin there dunnit etc .. really stinks

[Rick-sta]

Originally Posted by ceedy

it will be the Decat! bin there dunnit etc ..

I've seen other diesels with decats and they don't have the issue that mine has, plus the fumes problem was already there for the year before the decat was done. It's probably made it worse though.

[ceedy]

My Zed's been nice and Cleanish since 2005 , but a few weeks ago I got an advisory on the flexy leaking.

I had a a decat I had prepared earlier , so popped it on since then the rear end stink has been terrible .....

So In my case the cat is going back on at the earliest chance.

The cars Noisier too . and seems to have lost some of it mid range grunt ? and the MPG has dropped off a bit ?
and its gained a low frequency vibration ( 1500 -2000) when pulling hard that's quite uncomfortable..

So all in all not a good mod ..

C.

But none of this is helping you ..

[Heddy]

Are the fumes noticeable in the cabin? The exhaust pipe to the EGR is noted for leaking at the join, not the best of fixing clips. You should see soot around the join if this is the case.

[Rick-sta]

Originally Posted by ceedy

My Zed's been nice and Cleanish since 2005 , but a few weeks ago I got an advisory on the flexy leaking.

I had a a decat I had prepared earlier , so popped it on since then the rear end stink has been terrible .....

So In my case the cat is going back on at the earliest chance.

The cars Noisier too . and seems to have lost some of it mid range grunt ? and the MPG has dropped off a bit ?
and its gained a low frequency vibration ( 1500 -2000) when pulling hard that's quite uncomfortable..

So all in all not a good mod ..

C.

But none of this is helping you ..

Thanks for that little story quite odd that you found a drop in power and MPG from a decat, everyone who's done it usually have found the power to slightly increase and the car being livelier, and a slight increase in MPG. I noticed it on mine

The exhaust being a bit louder is normal though

I also have the low rev vibration when pulling away, but I think my lower engine mount isn't helping that

Are the fumes noticeable in the cabin? The exhaust pipe to the EGR is noted for leaking at the join, not the best of fixing clips. You should see soot around the join if this is the case.

The fumes are noticeable on some days in the cabin and only with a window open and only when sitting in traffic. I'll have a check round the EGR, is it the metal pipe going towards the back of the engine you're referring to?

The fumes are definitely from the exhaust though, if you stand behind the car you can smell it immediately on start up and idling. very strong.

[Heddy]

It's the pipe blanked off by the EGR by-pass, around 30mm diameter.

[Rick-sta]

Originally Posted by Heddy

It's the pipe blanked off by the EGR by-pass, around 30mm diameter.

The tiny little exhaust hose? That ones blanked off on the EGR Bypass.

[Mike24]

If the smell was present both before and after the dacat, could it mean that the cat wasn't working before the decat and that replacing it would have got rid of the smell? Removing it has simply made it worse.

[johnnyb44]

Its strange you should ask this as mine smells quite bad to..The power delivery and mpg are spot on and it produces virtually any smoke but if I leave it tick over for a few minutes the smell from the exhaust is very strong and gets to the back of your throat.
Has your car been remapped like mine. Maybe this could have something to do with it ?