What do we think is causes this then?

What do we think is causes this then?

Author
Discussion

Megaflow

Original Poster:

9,383 posts

225 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
The car:
2011 Focus 2.0 TCDI 163PS remapped to 200PS with 46k the clock.

The symptoms:
Blue smoke when acceleraring when warm, nothing when cold.
Oil level rises noticeably between services.
Fuel consumption dropped from 42 to 37mpg.
No apparent loss of performance or fault codes.

In my mind oil level rising and fuel consumption suggests an injector issues, but I would then expect the smoke to be white / grey, not blue.

Blue suggests oil, which means turbo, pistons/bore or valve seals. But that doesn't compute with the oil level and fuel consumption.

Either way it sounds like it is going to be expensive...

paintman

7,682 posts

190 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
http://costeffective.com.au/2017/03/05/diesel-smok...
"BLUE SMOKE is an indication of oil being burnt. The oil can enter the combustion chamber for several reasons.
Worn valve guides or seals
Wear in power assemblies (i.e. cylinders, piston rings, ring grooves)
Cylinder glaze
Piston ring sticking
Faulty turbocharger seals
Incorrect grade of oil (eg oil too thin, and migrating past the rings)
Fuel dilution in the oil (oil thinned out with diesel)"

You need to find the leak that's contaminating your oil.

CarsOrBikes

1,135 posts

184 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
That sounds like the DPF is trying and failing to regen, maybe glow plugs not working too, and oil is thinning due to failed regen's diluting it, accelerating wear or getting past things when hot. Watch it doesn't run away on it's own oil if in the intake system, only my2p guess

GreenV8S

30,186 posts

284 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
CarsOrBikes said:
Watch it doesn't run away on it's own oil if in the intake system
That would be my main concern if it's burning a significant amount of oil.

Alias218

1,493 posts

162 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
It seems to me that you have oil dilution. A poor remap may be chucking fuel in (reduced economy), diluting the oil. Once the engine warms up (i.e. the oil has reached operating temp and thinned accordingly) it's being drawn up past the rings and burnt (only appears when hot, blue smoke). Matches your symptoms IMO. Certainly worth seeing if you can revert back to a standard fuel map and see where you are.

In any case, change your oil frequently or risk a run-away.

Megaflow

Original Poster:

9,383 posts

225 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
I should clarify that when it was first remapped everything was fine. The problem has progressively appeared in the last 4K ish.

PositronicRay

27,006 posts

183 months

Saturday 10th June 2017
quotequote all
Megaflow said:
I should clarify that when it was first remapped everything was fine. The problem has progressively appeared in the last 4K ish.
When was the re-map done?

Your oil level is rising between services, presumably this only came to light at the last oil change? How much did it increase and over how long?

E-bmw

9,198 posts

152 months

Saturday 10th June 2017
quotequote all
As has been pointed out above you seem to have a few issues.

Burning oil when warm - ring/bore problem - do a compression test.

Oil level increasing - fuel in the oil - do a compression test/get your injectors checked out.

Whilst these are not exhaustive they are not pointing at your remap as being the sole issue here.

Megaflow

Original Poster:

9,383 posts

225 months

Saturday 10th June 2017
quotequote all
PositronicRay said:
When was the re-map done?

Your oil level is rising between services, presumably this only came to light at the last oil change? How much did it increase and over how long?
Bought the car in December. Remapped in end of January. Smoke started to appear in April.

The oil level increased by ~1/2 a litre in 10k miles between December in May when it was serviced.

PositronicRay

27,006 posts

183 months

Saturday 10th June 2017
quotequote all
Megaflow said:
PositronicRay said:
When was the re-map done?

Your oil level is rising between services, presumably this only came to light at the last oil change? How much did it increase and over how long?
Bought the car in December. Remapped in end of January. Smoke started to appear in April.

The oil level increased by ~1/2 a litre in 10k miles between December in May when it was serviced.
Is the blue smoke as bad now the oil level is correct?

Megaflow

Original Poster:

9,383 posts

225 months

Sunday 11th June 2017
quotequote all
Yep.

Alias218

1,493 posts

162 months

Monday 12th June 2017
quotequote all
Further to my previous post, you may have suffered bore wash as a side effect of potentially over-fuelling. Effectively, the fuel running down the bores washes the oil film away and massively increases wear.

As mentioned, get a compression test and revert back to a stock map. Of course, this is all conjecture based on what you describe so get the opinion of someone who can get hands on.