DPF related smoke issue

[Halfhidden]

First off I'm grateful for being a member of this fantastic site.
I do have an issue that I'm struggling to resolve, so here's a little background to the issue.
The Transit is a 2.2 RWD Mk8 plated at 2015. There seems to be some confusion as to what engine it has. Some garages say its a Puma whilst others say it's a Duratorq. I've had the van for about 9 months and the initial owner maintained it well with regular services. It was sold to a carpenter who used it as a mobile workshop and didn't maintain the vehicle, so when I purchased it i wasn't surprised to learn the DPF was getting full.
Initially I took the DPF off and soaked it for about 8 hours and washed it out, dried it and replaced it back on the van. Cleared the learning in the ecu and all was good for about two weeks. After two weeks it was full again, but this time I tried to force regen and that failed without explanation. So I re soaked the DPF and that worked, but only for a few days.
Eventually I brought a new DPF fitted it and then cleared the learning in the ECU and once again it was all good for two weeks and now back to the same state.
This is the interesting thing. Whilst the dpf was blocked and the van was in limp mode everything seems to be fine (except the lack of power), but as soon as I cleaned or replaced the DPF and the engine got up to a decent temperature I could smell diesel and white smoke coming out from under the bonnet (a lot of smoke). If I turned of the engine and restarted it after a few seconds the engine returned to normal and no smoke or diesel fumes. Then, perhaps half an hour later it would do it again and I would do the same process to stop the smoke.
This never happened when the van was in limp mode, only when the DPF was empty.
The garage claims that it is a leaking injector, but I'm not convinced.
I haven't yet replaced the exhaust pressure monitor (will be doing that this weekend), but I would like to invite ideas of what it could be or perhaps someone has experienced this already and can offer advice.

[metalworker0]

Think that the fact that it's 2015. its going to be a 2.2

Your issues can be caused by a number of things
for which, you need a code reader that shows more than just codes

A code reader where you can see real time changes happening
They recommend "Forscan" here, this is free software you download to a laptop

Download from here

https://forum.forscan.org/

Then you need the interface cable called "V-Linker" about £20 off ebay

With Forscan - You'll be looking at:

if EGR is staying open, which will cause rich mixture and lots of soot, leaks in the boost pipes.. which cause the same.
Other things to check are what is happening or not happening, when it should be regenerating, exhaust gas temperatures and readings from other sensors will help determine what's going on. .

You can take apart or replace the vaporiser... this is a diesel injector that injects into the DPF during re-gen. they get blocked!

You can .. (always recommended here) watch a few dozen of O'Rileys videos on youtube .. he specialises in transit DPF troubles, and has all the answers

https://www.youtube.com/@ORileysAutos

you can forgo forscan and do the maintenance that should have been done regularly .. EGR clean or replace and check or service vaporiser .. and it may or may not cure the problems

all the best.mark

[Halfhidden]

Thank you for the reply Mark.
I have been using CarScanner Pro, but to be honest it is limited. In fact the free version seemed to have more options!
I'll download Forscan and check out the forum for hints.
Yes, good shout about the EGR. Although I haven't yet started the diagnostics, I did do a visual and can see that the breather pipe between the rocker and air filter is simply not connected and although the air filter was replaced a month ago, it is already showing signs of carbon. So I guess that the van is probably running quite rich.
At the moment it is in limp mode again, but isn't severely restricted in power (yet).
I'll start the diags tomorrow and post either the conclusion for the forum, or further odd issues.
Once again, thanks for spending the time and effort to reply to me. It is greatly appreciated.

[BHM]

When my DPF vaporizer blocked I had the same symptoms. The smoke in the engine bay and cabin was from the vaporizer pipe connection at the vaporizer leaking a little due to pressure building up in the pipe, from the blockage preventing the fuel release into the exhaust system. I used a large syringe to test the fuel line to vaporizer, and yup it was blocked. Other than glowplugs thats the only engine fault I have had with 130K miles of round-town driving.

Don't forget to force regen after any work, this will effectively test everything in the area. Engine needs to be right up to temp, Forscan is your friend.

BHM

[Halfhidden]

Thanks for the heads up BHM.
I actually got underneath the van today and found the vaporiser. I was under the impression that it was just below the turbo near the outlet manifold, but it is actually near the flex pipe and the chassis cross member and accessible from the drivers front wheel bay. Once the engine was up to temperature I could see that the van was trying to regen and that white smoke was actually coming out from the vaporiser. There's a fair amount of carbon around that part of the exhaust and after cleaning some away I discovered a small hole in the thread of the exhaust housing.
You can see it next the the vaporiser nut at the exhaust end
I've attached a picture of this and wonder is this hole is by design or some muppet had damaged the exhaust at some point.
Has anyone ever seen such a whole and if so what would be the purpose of it?

[metalworker0]

Cant see properly .. are you talking about a hole down the side of the threaded bit that's welded onto the exhaust

That could be where the last person could not get the vapouriser out and drilled a hole down the side of the threads to relieve stress and get it out .

i would imagine with some exhaust cement stuff or pyruma etc it will seal it again, if you put the stuff in the threads and the hole before you screw it back in

otherwise you'll be welding on a new one like so .. but not necessarily is so .. as i dont know the thread you have in there LINK FOR IS REFERENCE ONLY

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285024041609?

You cant search for these with the word transit .. you need the thread type in the search .. followed by .. "weldment", "bung" , "sensor hole" , words like "weld-on" thread fitting for vaporiser etc etc etc

They sold as universal for all vehicles .. you have to know the thread .. be that metric , NPT, unf , unc , or what ever it is ... and you must be able to weld .. and probably have to clean it up with the right tap size once welded as it will distort .

all the best.mark

[Halfhidden]

Cant see properly .. are you talking about a hole down the side of the threaded bit that's welded onto the exhaust

That could be where the last person could not get the vapouriser out and drilled a hole down the side of the threads to relieve stress and get it out .

i would imagine with some exhaust cement stuff or pyruma etc it will seal it again, if you put the stuff in the threads and the hole before you screw it back in

otherwise you'll be welding on a new one like so .. but not necessarily is so .. as i dont know the thread you have in there LINK FOR IS REFERENCE ONLY

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285024041609?

You cant search for these with the word transit .. you need the thread type in the search .. followed by .. "weldment", "bung" , "sensor hole" , words like "weld-on" thread fitting for vaporiser etc etc etc

They sold as universal for all vehicles .. you have to know the thread .. be that metric , NPT, unf , unc , or what ever it is ... and you must be able to weld .. and probably have to clean it up with the right tap size once welded as it will distort .

all the best.mark

Thanks again for the information. Yes I suppose it is possible to plug that hole as the pressure there isn't massive. I'll try that first as it seems to be the quickest solution. Whilst I was under the van I see that someone has fitted the wrong diesel filter housing, cracked it and did a bodge fix lol
I'll post up the results for this smoking vaporiser once it's fixed

[rossano]

i think the DPF is a red herring, look at whats causing the smoke and soot INJECTORS new injectors recut and new seals you will see a massive improvement.