Diesel smoke

[albion]

Has anyone else noticed a fairly large increase in thick black smoke being emitted from some cars, sometimes for extended periods of time.

Is it usage of used vegetable oils and/or a failed catalytic converter?

 

[Drago]

Or poor maintenance and people hanging on to cars for longer as household budgets are squeezed. MoT failure rates are up a little too, which may be connected to that.

Most modern common rail, PD or high pressure diesel engines wouldn't last 30 seconds on veg, even if pre heated, and your nose would instantly give the game away.

 

[fossyant]

Poor maintenance, or potentially 'tuned'.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Yes I've noticed a few in the last couple of weeks, they were mostly older (or much older) vehicles so I assumed they must be burning a lot of oil. One was a not so old (2014) Kia something or other, but by the look of the paint and body work, it was probably not very well maintained. Looked like somehting out of a banger race.

Used prices for Diesels are still very high, so maybe people are running more cars into the ground instead of buying a newer vehicle? Or maye they just can't afford the rebuild/repairs anymore

 

[tyred]

Many diesels, especially the VAG ones, get re-mapped to put out crazy power and huge clouds of black smoke in the process.

So many of the trendies driving around the town here in the evenings have done it.

This town is full of Golfs, etc, that are covered in bodykots and black soot all around the back. It's considered trendy by the boy and girl racers.

 

[tyred]

Blue smoke would be normal for something burning oil. Black smoke on a diesel usually indicates over-fueling.

 

[Jody]

No smoke.... no poke

That's the mantra of most people tuning diesels, especially if young.

 

[cyberknight]

And some like to cover you in the smoke as they pass just for fun

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I used to work with someone who had a brand new Volvo diesel in the 1990s

It had a turbo engine and when she pulled away from the toll booths on the Mersey Tunnel it looked like the Kaiser's Grand Fleet retreating under a smoke screen after Jutland
I mentioned it to her and she said the garage told her that it was normal for a turbo diesel

Note
a) this is the 1990s so not a modern engine
b) this was a woman talking to a garage to there is a possibility of sexism in the explanation from the mechanic

 

[tyred]

I used to work with someone who had a brand new Volvo diesel in the 1990s

It had a turbo engine and when she pulled away from the toll booths on the Mersey Tunnel it looked like the Kaiser's Grand Fleet retreating under a smoke screen after Jutland
I mentioned it to her and she said the garage told her that it was normal for a turbo diesel

Note
a) this is the 1990s so not a modern engine
b) this was a woman talking to a garage to there is a possibility of sexism in the explanation from the mechanic

It wouldn't have been unusual for diesels of that era to smoke a bit under hard acceleration. A lot depends on the quality of the fuel too.

 

[figbat]

Plenty of people are deleting DPFs in order to generate performance or mitigate their failure. All sounds good for the driver, but not the people who have to breathe the particulates.

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

Not only deleting DPFs, but disabling other emission control systems.

FaceAche is full of posts offering EGR/DPF/AdBlue deletes and re-mapping. And folk extolling the virtues of it. You point out some of the illnesses that have been directly linked to these emissions, you get the usual car brain responses.

 

[albion]

The Guardian seems to confirm from my observation of more weekend wood and fossil fuel fires that deaths from this sort of pollution spike over weekends.

The Low Fell weekend cough smog return is imminent.

 

[Drago]

They've already been lighting their burners here in town.

 

[mustang1]

Not only deleting DPFs, but disabling other emission control systems.

FaceAche is full of posts offering EGR/DPF/AdBlue deletes and re-mapping. And folk extolling the virtues of it. You point out some of the illnesses that have been directly linked to these emissions, you get the usual car brain responses.

That's a good response to a noncey driver, as s/he swearing at you, just call them "car brain!"