Tone, this is an old topic, last post on it was sept 17 2012.
Warblington, who started the topic has only 6 treads, all written in this topic.
It is possible he never opens this forum again.
You could PM him, (private message).
You could start a new topic with your problem.
Normally, diesels are not build for idling.
Personally, if the smoke disappears after a while, I would not starting to work on it, but that's just my thoughts....
However, If the body of the van is sound, you could think it over, to buy a spare engine now, now that they are still available and reasonable cheap.
That's what I have done.