What with the 7 being temporarily off the road, my darling girlfriend has very kindly lent me hers to get to and from work, while she gets a lift from a colleague.

Now, the car in question is a 2002 (I think) Ford Focus 1.8 diesel. In many ways it's a very nice car; comfy, well appointed and incredibly economical. What it isn't, obviously, is a patch on the 7 performance-wise but having got the hang of how to get the best from it (and stalling it on numerous occasions in the process) it does have a fairly sprightly turn of speed.

Thing is, any vigorous acceleration is accompanied by a cloud of black smoke that would put Mount St. Helens to shame.

Now, I'm not that familiar with diesels - although I've seen more modern ones kick out a puff of soot when booting it on the motorway - but this does seem a bit worrying. Do they all do that, Sir - the fact that it's a fairly old diesel engine with 83,000 miles under its belt - or is it the sign of impending doom?

Do they do Redex for diesels?

Our first Turbo Diesel, a 1996 Golf TDi 90 smoked enough to frighten following drivers into dropping back, always did it, had it 7 years with no problems. Next was a Mondeo TDCI, hardly smoked at all, the next a Focus TDCi never smoked as did the BMW 118D and current Kia Ceed CRDi.

Technology has moved on in the the years since your Focus was made and that is a generation newer than our Golf was. Modern diesels have DPF's which collect the soot particles and then burn them of by some cunning process that cuts pollution. If you see a post Jan 2011 diesel smoking it must have had its DPF removed.

With regards to your Focus its perfectly normal, enjoy.

Thanks for the reassurance. She's forked out a fair few bob on the car this year and the thought that something else might be going wrong made me nervous!

Which collects the soot particles while the car is going through the type approval tests with their strict emission limits and then burns them off at a later date when nobody is looking. Net effect the emissions are the same but the manufacturer can claim they are greener or bluer or whatever buzz phrase is in at the moment.

The science behind a regen is the emissions are safer than the particles.

Do a Google.

Modern diesels still smell the same as oldies, rattle like the oldies did, and after filling the tank of the works van so do my hands - YUCH!
If I'm paying - NO THANKS

Suggest you drive a modern diesel.

My last diesel, BMW 118D had an engine as smooth as a petrol, quieter than some petrols and it did not smell. The wifes Kia Ceed is slightly noisier but still very quiet. Both have way more torque than most modern petrols and on the whole are a nice drive.

If a modern diesel smells like older ones did its because there is a problem with it or the dim wit owner has removed the DPF.

Before making comments like this try one.

CatZ
Works van is a 12 reg transit or a 11reg ford courier - Both rattle like a diesel always has, smell like diesels always have, and the Filler pump handle gets diesel on your hands like they always have - In fact just like i mentioned in my previous post.
If diesels work for you then that's good
Each to his own - but if I'm paying then NO thanks

s47

Say's someone who thinks a Caterham Series 4 is a nice car, need I say more?

The wife's car is an Evoque diesel, and to be honest it's bloody hard to tell it's a diesel...
It's actually a darn good vehicle - with no rattles and no smell!

Personally I think modern Diesel engines , in cars at any rate are massively improved over old stuff, never see black smoke from the XF 3 ltr we have , maybe vans ain't changed much but cars certainly have

Trotsky et al
Cars or Vans:-
Try following any brand of new or old diesel down a long ALPINE descent they all smell seriously yuch and chuck out foul smellin' blue smoke - cough cough!
Vans cars trucks busses - they all do it

Vans and cars all have to comply with the same EU rules, many vans use the same engines as cars. Its only the old and poorly maintained that smoke today and such vehicles should fail their MOT.


No they don't, follow my wifes car, I can guarantee no smoke.

Totally agree - modern diesels are very clean and not at all smelly...

Actually, the Le Mans winning Audi diesels were more than clean and smoke free - they were boringly quiet!!!

I have a 168 bhp diesel T5 chipped to 218 bhp, goes like a rocket and will all over most 2 litre boy racers, doesn't smell, it's not noisy and it will do 125 mph and if you are careful it will do 55 to the gallon. Fantastic, who needs petrol
If your hands smell wear a glove, mind you if I dove an S4 I would wear a mask