More smoky but better fuel economy

[Erebus]

I'm curious about my Deli. I only picked it up on 1 August, so I've only had it a month. It had 24,000 km on the odometer when I got it. I've put on almost 2000 km since then.

It white smokes a lot in the morning for the first few minutes when the engine is stone cold, but I know that's normal.

The weird stuff is once it is warmed up. When I first got it, when I pulled away from the traffic light, I'd get a little puff of black smoke. Now, I get quite a cloud. Then and now, by the time I'm across the intersection, no more smoke. I'm a tad embarrassed about the smoke, especially after smoking out a bicycle the other day.

What puzzles me is that the fuel economy has gotten BETTER with each tank of fuel. The first one, I got 14.2 L/100km, the most recent was 11.9 L/100 km.

Two additional bits of data:
- I changed from the stock exhaust to a 2.5" 2 weeks ago
- The last two fill ups have been at Co-op, all previous tanks were Shell.

I figure the "Italian tune-up" I've given it has helped the fuel economy, but I would have thought it should clean the engine, not make it dirtier.

Anyone have a suggestion to reduce smoke? Clean the EGR?

[EnviroImports.com]

Hi, Yes, clean the egr or blank it off, also you have NO lubricants in the pump fuel or cleaners to clean your injectors and system, put in a lubricant/cleaner with every other fill up. If you blank off your egr. make sure to plug the extra vac line.
Noel

[Erebus]

I have been putting in lubricant, so that part is covered. Maybe it's a case of clearing out the debris, and it will improve. Thanks for the second vote on EGR.

[Green1]

part of the black smoke could be the stuff you've "cleaned out" actually GETTING out... part of it could be that your new exhaust is a side exit so you SEE more of what was already there...
and part of it is probably the EGR or some such... I'm not entirely sure on the idea of blanking it... it solves the problem, but at the expense of other things it appears...

[Erebus]

part of the black smoke could be the stuff you've "cleaned out" actually GETTING out... part of it could be that your new exhaust is a side exit so you SEE more of what was already there...

True the side exhaust makes it more obvious, but it has gotten worse since the new exhaust.

and part of it is probably the EGR or some such... I'm not entirely sure on the idea of blanking it... it solves the problem, but at the expense of other things it appears...

I don't want to spark a big discussion, but I'd clean the EGR, not blank it. Curious aside: why always talk of cleaning, not replacing? With my previous vehicles, replacing it was a normal maintenance item, never a cleaning.

[EnviroImports.com]

why always talk of cleaning, not replacing? With my previous vehicles, replacing it was a normal maintenance item, never a cleaning.

you can just replace it, but not Everything is available at lordco or through the few of us that stock parts.
and really all you need to do is give it a good clean with some solvent like brake clean...
Blanking is not nessisary, but its an option,
OH and the other thing you may want to do is Remove your turbo and the mount from the exhaust manifold to give that a good cleaning out. I have seen several vans with lots of build up in this area,(not my vans, but others) the build up starts to form similar to the effect eating drive though food has on your arteries. well in your vehicle the bit of soot builds up and falls off everyonce in a while. so you will start getting more black smoke. but if the chunks are big enought they can fubar the turbo and this would give you a chance to check for bearing play in your turbo., so some cleaning is a good idea if your allready going to be doing some maintenence. This took out my turbo on my diesel wabbit.

[Adrock]

at 2000km, you've most likely filled it a max of 7 times, and thats if you've got the small single tank and believe the accelerator has 2 positions, on and off. id say more in the realm of 4-5 fills, meaning it could be a lot of things, maybe things that you've done, or maybe a difference between canada and japan that the van was adjusting to.

regardless, let us know what helps. Good luck.

[Schwa]

Has the injection pump timing been checked and set? If it hasn't, chances are it's out and causing a lot of the trouble. My van makes one or two puffs of white smoke when it first starts, but after that there's no visible smoke other than a little puff of black when you stomp on it from low RPM.

[vanjuggler]

Where do people get their injection pumps timed? I went to West Coast Fuel Injection, but they didn't seem to want to tune the delica much. They also didn't seem to know anything about biodiesel. The guy seemed surprised to see the gunk from my fuel filter, but I expected that after running bio.

[EnviroImports.com]

The guy seemed surprised to see the gunk from my fuel filter, but I expected that after running bio.

UM, SCARRY, why do you have gunk in your fuel filter. I know they can get a bit dirty, but I hope your doing some major filtering if your brewing your own bio or wvo... do you have a glass filter where you can see particulats building up?
With Bio you shouldent have major build up. unless your brewing your own and its not filtered much..

[vanjuggler]

The guy seemed surprised to see the gunk from my fuel filter, but I expected that after running bio.

UM, SCARRY, why do you have gunk in your fuel filter. I know they can get a bit dirty, but I hope your doing some major filtering if your brewing your own bio or wvo... do you have a glass filter where you can see particulats building up?
With Bio you shouldent have major build up. unless your brewing your own and its not filtered much..

My understanding was to expect to change my fuel filter after switching from diesel to bio. Gunk due to paint (from the fuel tank) or from the diesel deposits... I'm not making my own bio - I just buy it from autogas, and now wholeenergy.ca.

[EnviroImports.com]

Can I ask if you changed your fuel lines over to synthetic? bio will break down the lining of your rubber lines. also the rubber seals in your injection pump.
Hopefull your stock fuel filter is catching everything. but if your getting that much stuff in your fuel filter, do you think the bio breaking down the fuel lines FROM your filter to your injection pump the rubber seals and then into the injectors....

[vanjuggler]

Can I ask if you changed your fuel lines over to synthetic? bio will break down the lining of your rubber lines. also the rubber seals in your injection pump.

I haven't changed my fuel lines, but I've been checking them for spongyness. I'm going to keep an eye on it.

Luke

[EnviroImports.com]

Hi,
just so you know, BIO EATS rubber , when bc transit "converted" the majority of its busses here to be able to run on "bio" the conversion was replacing all the lines to synthetic and the seals in the pump. By the time you can feel a spongy feeling in a rubber fuel line, the damage has been done. I started an experiment 2 months ago with a few rubber "O" rings and a couple inches of fuel line, so far the O rings have all started to "sluff" and the small cuttings I have taken from the fuel line show the same thing. so where does that sluffing and and other crud go. well it goes straight into your injectors. and if it doesent clog and kill them, it gets to pass into your combustion chamber and your not doing any favors to your engine by cutting your fuel with partially broken down rubber , Lots of chemicals in rubber.

I sure wouldent want to drive long distances away from any repair shops knowing that your main fuel filter keeps filling up with "crud" but nothing is filtering the fuel from the filter to the injection pump and your injectors. , The whole reason you filter your fuel is to STOP the crud from reaching the injection pump , injectors and engine.
Im not trying to be pushy or tell you what to do, but you may want to AT LEAST change that foot or two feet of fuel line that runs AFTER the fuel filter could be the best $5 bucks you ever spend, that wont save the seals in your pump, but at least its a start.
Noel

[Kuan]

What percentage bio are you running?
You can expect the bio to clean out the tank and fuel lines. Depending on the % of bio I wouldn't generally expect the lines to breakdown that quickly, but I'm no expert.

FWIW, I've been running 5-20% bio since January with NO fuel filter problems but I've been very careful about where I get my bio and monitoring everything.

I plan to replace all my fuel lines, pump seals and filter before I put more bio in the van though. Its not worth it to wreck your vehicle over a small savings especially when its so new.

I get no smoke on my van on a general basis, only if I'm climbing the Malahat and trying to do it quickly do I get a puff.