ok this might turn into a long post but i am going to explain about my car and the problem that i am currently having. basically i bought my car brand new from the dealership. today i have 47,000 miles on it and have never missed one oil change. i do all of the services my self. the engine has never been modified. just a few days ago i got a random cloud of white smoke out my exhaust. figured it was a one time thing...wrong. the next day, driving home from the store i went to accelerate and the car stuttered (missfired) and i looked in my rearview mirror to find a huge fuc*ing cloud of white smoke. i figured it had to be a blown head gasket due to the amount of white smoke. so this morning the car got flat-bedded to my local dealership for them to take a look at. i got a call back from the service tech who told my my dip-stick was bone dry...which i find very hard to believe because i did an oil change last week and filled it up with 8.5qts. he also told me there was alot of sludge found in the motor. they performed two back to back oil changes to see if they could knock some sludge out of the motor. by noon they told me the car was all set and the white smoke i was seeing was due to "blow-by". i am very confused because i didnt know burning oil ("blow-by") came out of the exhaust white in color. so i pick the car and everything seemed good to go. came home from work, went over to a buddies house for a couple hours and when i started my car to leave...nice big cloud of white smoke. the dealership is giving me a hard time saying that there was a lack of services done to the car and that is due to the sludge. i know for a fact that i took care of the oil changes that needed to be done in the correct fashion. i think they are giving me a hard time because i didnt bring the car to them for services. could anyone chime in? does anyone have sludge problems? would blow-by cause white smoke? to me it seems like with the misfires and white smoke that it is a head gasket. should this be warranty work?

ANY help would be greatly appriciated!

tia-chris

 

white smoke is common for these cars on start-up

 

its not just a little puff. it billows out for a few seconds and makes a nice big embarrassing cloud behind the car...noting that should be seen coming from a benz

 

White smoke is generally an indication of a blow headgasket, you are correct.

With engine at normal operating temperature--remove oil dipstick and drop a drop of hot oil on manifold or other hot part of engine--oil will smoke water will sizzle
If water and oil mixed --good indication head gasket is bad
If you are getting white smoke from tailpipe when engine is hot--good indication of bad head gasket
Also, remove radiator cap while engine is running BUT NOT HOT YET. A blown headgasket will leak cylinder pressure into the cooling system; it will show up as anything from small bubbles in the coolant to coolant spurting out of the radiator filler.

 

thanks for the responses. another thing i forgot to mention is that i never got a check engine light. also, the smoke does not come anymore while driving since i got it back from dealership. it just came again tonight when i started it. i will check the coolant tank tomorrow morning like you mentioned. im still pretty clueless and hope this is warranty work. also extremely confused about the sludge buildup

 

Just a few questions & comments.

Did you use the correct oil when changing?

Did you change the oil filter at each oil change?

Do you drive in dusty conditions. Have you changed the air cleaner.?

Why do you think the oil level was low ? Did you check for leaks around the sump plug & filter O ring? Did you check the dip stick level after filling ? Any oil drips on your garage floor? Engine oil seal problems?

Are you sure that you did not overfill the sump & cause foaming with the cranks whipping up the oil like an egg beater.

Does the exhaust have a "old banger " burnt oil smell ? To loose a couple of litres by burning it sounds like broken rings.

If you are pushing water vapour out of the exhaust your radiator level would be falling rapidly.

If you had white emulsified sludge in the sump it could be caused by a head gasket leak.

I would ask for a second opinion from another MB dealer & have some head gasket & cylinder pressure tests done.

I do not know whether these engines are prone to fuel leaking into the sump diluting the oil then flashing off when heated.

If the smoke appears at start up it may be valve stem seals leaking into the combustion chambers.

Keep cool & logical & keep us informed . Good luck.

 

Do you have your receipts for oil and filters? If so those will go a long way in showing that service was performed. They cannont force you into using them or any other shop to perform required service and they have to PROVE that a lack of service casued a failure to deny a claim. The burden of proof is squarely on the dealership so any proof or service that you have will go a long way.
As far as mechanically, was the oil contaminated with water when they first changed it, or even now? If so, it is almost surely a head/head gasket issue. If it has been leaking for a while, it would make the oil look pretty foamy, chunky, nasty, etc, etc and that is not a sign of improper maintainance but a mechanical problem...covered under warranty.
Looking forward to seeing how this plays out. Good Luck and let us know!

 

Check around the oil cap to see if you may have lost oil due to a faulty gasket.

Sorry to hear about what you're going through. Hope it works out well for you.

 

\

 

there are two possibilities here. 1. You did something wrong 2. You have a naturally occurring problem.. Go check your compression and leakdown and then let us know. You can rent a gauge from autozone and watch a tutorial on the internet. It isn't as hard as it sounds.

 

.....Or a leaky head gasket that has nothing to do with what the owner did.

 

Well done on the check list.

I did just wonder about the quality of your fuel but that would not explain the loss of oil.

I do not know your engine sump breather pipe layout.In some engines the sump can be pressurised by excess 'blow by' compression gases & these can pick up oil & are then burnt in the combustion process.

I had this experience in an older car when blow by gases in the sump forced the oil into the breather line which deposited the oil in the aircleaner. This overflowed into the carburrettor giving an unbelievable amount of WHITE smoke, so bad that it actually stopped the traffic. It results in a very high oil consumption. Mine was 4.5 gallons in 600 miles!

As you don't have another dealer close handy I suggest you again visit the local service manager with your oil & filter receipts & car service log book detailing the service dates & mileage. be firm & quiet & don't take no for an answer. Stay there in his office & quietly negotiate for as long as it takes. Do not leave till you have a result.Make sure you have all your arguements off pat.If you run out of arguing points start at the beginning again !!! Good luck.

 

ok...little update. started up this car this morning and a little cloud of blue smoke formed behind my car. drove it to work with no problems. when i was getting ready to leave work, i stated my car up and got yet again another nice plume of white smoke. car drove fine all the way till i was about 500ft from turning down my street. car misfired and blew a huge cloud of white smoke out to the point where it was hard to see the car behind me. dealership wants me to keep driving it but it will be in their hands monday morning.

has this happened to anyone else?

 

It's been pointed out correctly that you can do your own service work provided that a written record is kept but whether receipts to back that up are required is unknown to me. You are specifically protected by federal law on this.

You haven't revealed where you are located but let's hope it in the US where consumer protection laws to help you out are better than elsewhere.

Out of curiosity, what brand and weight of oil have you used and where do your filters come from and what change interval do you use? This will be asked.

You are getting close to the end of the warranty period and even though you have started a paper trail now, you should actively pursue this and if a dealer is dragging his feet, you should get the local MBUSA field service manager involved.

As far as white smoke puffs, the only time my C300 has ever emitted any smoke is on restart after a short cold start (backing out and shutting down, 10-15 seconds) and that was likely unburned fuel which is not white.

I disagree that your situation is normal. There are two (maybe more) standard phrases mechanics and service writers hold dear, "They all do that" and "We have never seen this before" which suggests that you are out of your mind.

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

i am indeed in the US...New York to be specific. as i have preformed my services i have logged it in the maintenance book and im sure i could come up with a few receipts but not every single one. i dont find much of a need to keep them for oil and a filter.

as far as oil goes ive stuck with mobil1 0w-40 since the very first oil change. for filters ive always used k&n hp7004. i try to change my oil every 3k miles, however one or two changes i went about 5k miles in between.

i appreciate everyones input so far. this whole situation has got me pretty damn confused. i still cant understand how i am blowing white smoke, and misfiring (symptoms of a bad headgasket). but it comes and goes and my oil nor coolant are contaminated. then if the car has been running for 10 or 20 mins and i shut it off and restart i get no smoke. but when it sits for an hour or more and i start up i get a nice thick cloud of white smoke that billows out for atleast 5 seconds. once that stops it seems to be good. but i am still getting the occasional misfire and HUGE cloud of white smoke.





edit: just pulled a plug. black base of plug around electrode. electrode itself is almost gray in color. electrode is not worn. ground strap is rough in texture and white.

i will be doing a compression test sometime this weekend before it goes to dealership on monday. to the best of my knowledge this problem could be piston rings, bad valve seals, problem with headgasket, or a slow coolant leak somewhere (maybe intake mani). it doesnt take much coolant to make a lot of smoke!

 

You may not know that the K&N HP7004 is a relabeled version of the same filter MB sells, made by the same German manufacturer and available cheaper in the aftermarket.

 

ITs Low, Any update details yet on your mystery loss of oil & smoke ?

 

finally an update! got the vehicle back a few days ago and mercedes could not find much at all. since ive had it back i noticed that it only smoke under a certain condition. when i leave the car parked and running for 5 to 10 mins, then i get in and drive away i get the missfires followed by a sh*t load of smoke. the only thing i can put together maybe a coolant leak into the intake mani which puddles up and then when i drive coolant gets blown into the cylinders causing missfires and alot of white smoke....

-chris

any input would be great!

 

Find another Mercedes dealer.

 

The dealer must be a moron .Take it back to him & replicate the condition again. No mechanic in his right mind would let this car out on the road without diagnosing the problem.If you obtain no satisfaction, it is time to contact MB USA Customer Care.

It sounds to me like a small coolant leak into some of your combustion chambers. If the engine is a V6 with 2 heads the codes should show up on one bank only.

With that amount of discharge from the exhaust you may be able to see a small amount of coolant on the top of our pistons when removing the plugs.It will depend on the engine design whether you can see the piston top.

I had a similar experience with a 4 cylinder engine missing at start up.I could see the green coolant with a torch , sitting on top of one piston. I added a coolant stop leak & the car did 450,000 km without the head being removed. I do not suggest you add the stop leak to a new engine. It should be fixed properly under warranty.

The spark plug of the affected cylinder should be a lot cleaner than the rest as water acts as a cleaning agent. If the leak was oil it would have a carbon build up.

It is possible that you could irrepairably damage your engine by hydrolocking a piston if the leak became worse.

Good luck & keep us informed. This is a real mystery.

 

Sorry to hear about this, I'm a former W204 owner and my wife put 40K miles on that car prior to trading it for an R350 after our son was born. Never once during the ownership of our W204 did it ever emit any kind of smoke other than the normal steam you get when the motor is cold in the winter. Our R350 has the same motor-drivetrain and it's the same deal never any kind of smoke from that car either. I'm not a mechanic so I'm not inclined to give any advise but I will say you car sounds like it has a serious issue. I agree find a different dealer. Our R350 had a problem with a jerky shifting transmission, I took it to the MB dealer I bought it from twice with the problem not fixed. I went to a different dealer and got a new valve body which fixed the problem. Good luck.

 

How does this not sound like a worn piston ring? Between white and blue smoke it sounds like he's either allowing air or oil to leak past his piston screwing up his mixture and causing the smoking and combustion problems. A warmed engine can expand slightly to tighten the seal. The car may idle fine, but increase the compression and again, leaking, smoke, and bad combustion mixtures.

 

Doesn't that easily show up on a scope?

 

Hello Chris, Have you been able to sort our your mystery problem ?. Carsy

 

what yr is ur car?? there was a recall on the Cam Magnet Sensors, and being that u didnt do services at the dealership, then this could be the problem, u have to remember these vehicles, need more than just an oil change when the service is due. Im a mechanic myself, but take mine in for THEM to do the service, not tryin to void my warranty in any way.