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Author Topic: 2.2dci race smoke problem solved  (Read 13376 times)
tronside
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« on: October 18, 2012, 10:33:13 am »

My espace the race is back on the road after a six month lay-up with a blown rocker cover gasket . It was interesting to note that the gasket had worn from the inside out on the back edge of the second air inlet also of interest is the top edge of each inlet had more build up of soot and oil than the bottom edge/inside curve of the inlets.

I have a suspicion that the soot from the EGR process is abrasive and may have caused the failure of the of the gasket, basically a turbo powered soot blaster !.

So having received my machine back from the garage with a new rocker cover gasket and 4 new injectors  I was determined to protect it from the ravages of EGR soot .I have removed the the pipe from the exhaust manifold to EGR valve and blanked off exhaust end , the EGR housing/throttle body has been removed there is now a straight run of 73mm diameter pipe in its place ( sorry Roy !).

Annoyingly on testing there was a bit of turbo lag and moderate amounts of black smoke on heavy acceleration plus strong over fuelling smell at idle. Air filter is new but I tried a quick run with it removed with no improvement , next I unplugged MAF still no improvement or difference , a search of the forum lead me to an observation by Renaultbiler about intercooler leaks and overfueling/loss of boost. A poke around with the torch revealed oil on the intercooler fins at the inlet end...intercooler was removed from the top leaving aircon rad and engine rad in place ( remove front grille and left headlight split rads in place and lift out IC).

I filled intercooler with water and pressurised with an aquarium pump but there were no leaks ! , After lots of head scratching it was obvious the inlet pipe hose clamp was not tight enough and was blowing oil onto the IC fins . Working my way back to the turbo I checked all the hose clamps (8 altogether I think)  they were all loose and had small amount of oil seeping underneath hose ends .

After putting it all back together and double checking hose clamp tightness I went for a drive...slight grey haze under heavy acceleration no lag ! Something I was wary about having disabled EGR system was engine temp but after half an hour of hard driving the temp did not get above three bars on the display.

We do not have emission testing in New Zealand but a smoking diesel will fail MOT , so disabling EGR is legal also re-directing blowby breather from rocker cover is legal too (into a catch can) . please note that the g9T engine does have a blowby breather that is connected to the air inlet pre-turbo this will make it seem like the turbo is leaking oil from the bearing seals , the pipe work and intercooler plus the EGR valve WILL have a film of oil on them this is ok but silly I recommend installing a catch can if its legal in the UK/Europe , it stops oil getting in the intercooler and it greatly reduces soot sticking to your EGR valve and inlet manifold plus I'm pretty sure it makes for cleaner emissions.

I run my vehicles on bio-diesel I make myself to do my bit for the environment also I love my espace and want it to last forever so I don't feel guilty about removing the EGR also I have six children so I can't afford to have major repairs frequently , I have two other vehicles that I have removed EGR from and installed oil catch cans (Nissan TD27 and Bedford bus with Isuzu truck engine) they both run better getting cool clean air and the traffic behind me doesn't get lungfulls of soot if I hit the turbo !

Hope you guys enjoyed my rant ! , The matra espaces are a marvellous car I think and I am happy to have discovered this forum .

Regards from New Zealand . Smiley
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roy4matra
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« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2012, 03:29:27 pm »


... I run my vehicles on bio-diesel I make myself to do my bit for the environment also I love my espace and want it to last forever so I don't feel guilty about removing the EGR also I have six children...

Regards from New Zealand . Smiley

By removing the EGR valve from the engine, you are increasing the pollution of our atmosphere with a harmful gas that you cannot see. It has nothing to do with removing the sooty emissions which you can see.  You say you have six children.  Well think of their future the next time you say you don't feel guilty.

I am nearing the end of my life, (nearer than to the beginning anyway!) so if everyone ignores all the regulations and starts removing the things that were designed and fitted by law to help clean, or reduce the rate we pollute our atmosphere, it really doesn't worry me much.  But think of what you are saying about your concern for the health of future generations, including your own children...

Roy
« Last Edit: October 19, 2012, 03:36:52 pm by roy4matra » Logged

tronside
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« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2012, 12:15:40 am »

I totally agree with you Roy , as far as burning petro-diesel is concerned even in an unburnt state it's harmful stuff , the Bosch service centre I use has just lost their receptionist of 10years to cancer and I can tell you the reception area there reeks of raw diesel , I'm sure the techs who work in the sealed workroom on IP's and injectors must suffer ill effects also.

As I stated I run my vehicles on 100% biodiesel I make using waste canola oil from my business , here is a list of stats from emission testing of B100 in comparision to Petrodiesel by the Government Environmental Protection Agency here in NZ.

Total Unburned Hydrocarbons , -67%

Carbon Monoxide                     -48%

Particulate Matter                    -47%

Sulfates                                  -100%

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, -90%

Nitrated PAH's                          -80%

Ozone Potential of Speciated Hydrocarbons -50%

Nitrous Oxide.                          +10%

The above percentage values are for B100 tested against conventional Diesel , as you can see Roy an EGR system will not come close to reducing emissions to this extent.

My comments may have seemed flippant but I feel justified in my decision to remove the EGR and I realise I'm very fortunate to be able to run my vehicles on B100 .

I still believe Re-routing the oil breather to a catch can will make EGR cleaning far easier ,the soot will be dry , the intercooler will be clean , any oil that does come through will most definitely be a handy warning the seal in the turbo is failing , last but not least you won't be burning oil in your engine which can only improve your emissions !.
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roy4matra
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« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2012, 10:46:54 pm »

I totally agree with you Roy , as far as burning petro-diesel is concerned even in an unburnt state it's harmful stuff , the Bosch service centre I use has just lost their receptionist of 10years to cancer and I can tell you the reception area there reeks of raw diesel , I'm sure the techs who work in the sealed workroom on IP's and injectors must suffer ill effects also.

As I stated I run my vehicles on 100% biodiesel I make using waste canola oil from my business , here is a list of stats from emission testing of B100 in comparision to Petrodiesel by the Government Environmental Protection Agency here in NZ...

Nitrous Oxide.                          +10%


Yes I can see there is an advantage to using B100 compared to normal fuel, but oddly the one pollutant that the EGR is designed to reduce is Nitrous oxide!  So not only have you taken away the one device designed to improve that situation, you are using a fuel that is 10% worse for that gas too!  Actually one of the problems with EGRs is that they are designed to reduce combustion chamber temperatures, since the higher these are the worse the Nox yet the cooler the chamber temps. the worse the engine efficiency, within limits obviously, so what is good for one thing is bad for another, and with petrol or diesel there simply is no clean engine and probably never will be.  Unleaded fuel is far worse than the leaded we used to use, and causes cancer as it has five known carcinogens, and has led to higher illness and deaths than previously from leukemia and cancer.  The lead in petrol (TEL) was not the one that caused lead in blood poison and was therefore not the problem for humans, but the lead was 'poisonous' to catalytical convertors, and that was the way the U.S. was pushing everyone.  Big money rules again.

LPG is far cleaner but unbelievably when we found oil under the North Sea we wasted the LPG for years, burning it off as an undesirable by-product!  Hopefully they will get their act together before to long and convert to hydrogen fuel, as is starting to happen here.

Roy
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