Smokey diesel

often the smoke is caused by a split turbo hose, so it doesn't get enough air, hence it smokes.

What colour is the smoke? Could be turbo seals.

PDH

It's a diesel. They all do that.

No, they don't.

Could be oil getting into the exhaust via a turbo seal going futt, not unknown and the smoke depending on the level of oil leaking would be quite horrendous.

Have you checked the engine oil level as of late?

PDH

My nearly new TDI gives off big clouds of black smoke when I boot it.

Do all Diesel cars have your nearly new TDI engine?

Well, no. But it's not exactly uncommon for diesels and it gets worse with age.

My boss has a C-Class diesel that also does it.

Black smoke? Sounds like excess diesel rather than oil being burned. Is it an HDI or older TD engine? It could be normal, older technology diesels will usually smoke if you accelerate hard, but it could be your injectors are a bit tired and leaky. If it's not too bad and it's a high mileage engine it may be best to just live with it, the downside being a smelly exhaust and increased fuel consumption, and maybe a bit more noise and wear. A few treatments with injector cleaner may or may not help.

Morse

It's an S plate Peugeot 306 TD. It's done 93k miles, which I guess isn't too bad for a diesel. The oil level seems fine.

Morse wrote:

That's nothing for a diesel, barely run in :-) Maybe the injectors are approaching rebuild/replacement time though. I've read that it's not uncommon for them to give grief after around 100K miles, and you're not far off that.

Morse

Having run a 306 1.9DT to 93k miles I second that. Get the injectors checked at somewhere like a Lucas Diesel Service Centre (now called something else I believe.)

The second car is a Y red Rover 25 TD with 60k on the clock and it has a better emissions output than the newer X-Trail I bought.

So much for Euro step 4 engnes I guess.

PDH

While you are about it, check the induction hoses and air filter.

PDH

I've noticed that a lot of 'mechanics' don't really

Good mechanics do ;)

VAG's TDI is known to soot under full load. Just as many do. But there's a difference between leaving a murky dark haze behind you and only seeing it in the lights of somebody behind you.

As others have alluded, it could be that the injectors are needing a servicing or even replaced.

By the same token it's possible that you're still working the cleaner through the donk. You see, if it's cleaning the injectors, it'll produce more crud behind...

How do you normally drive it? If you typically drive it reasonably gently then a good boot of power is likely to leave plenty of soot in your wake...