Engine reduced power and smoking

22805 Views 65 Replies 18 Participants Last post by Carpentree, 11 mo ago

gregbonat

Discussion Starter · Aug 26, 2016

Previous post on DPF full limp mode. Car back at dealer. Had done 3 regens last week. soot at 77, said they brought back down to 21. Took car down road about 4 miles and got reduced power light again and lot of black smoke. Brought it on home and drained the diesel out and replaced with Exxon diesel. Returned to dealer. They did two more manual regens. Told them to take it out for test drive before I come pick it up. Same thing happened to tech, loaded up, sputtering, and smoking. Said getting all kinds of error codes. They are uncertain where to go next. I had put some Sea Foam in fuel when I thought it was bad fuel. Would this have caused some additional problems? The black smoke coming out exhaust is new concern, may be coincidental. At 158000 miles is it still necessary to only use dexos 5w-30 oil? Seems like oil is getting into exhaust, and I am seeing oily residue around Turbo. Think the Turbo seal may be best place to start looking? After all this soot and re-gens are all the sensors able to get cleared of soot and oil so they work correctly, or do you think I will be looking at replacement of them too?
Sorry for all questions. Not feeling too good about skill level of dealership and I am a long way from any other ones. Think they need all the help I can find.
Definitely want to get that scanguage II, and have sent inquiry in to be sure it is set up from my Cruze diesel

1 - 20 of 66 Posts

Tomko

· #2 · Aug 26, 2016

gregbonat said:
I had put some Sea Foam in fuel when I thought it was bad fuel. Would this have caused some additional problems? The black smoke coming out exhaust is new concern, may be coincidental.

This was an exceptionally bad move.

Who ever told you to do this should never be trusted with your car again. Ever.

gregbonat said:
At 158000 miles is it still necessary to only use dexos 5w-30 oil?

In a word: yes. You must only use a dexos2 oil. Ever.

Using a dexos1 or some other kind of oil will lead to multiple system failures such as you've described.

Good luck.

Reactions: 4

IndyDiesel

· #3 · Aug 26, 2016

To echo Tomko, seafoam was a super bad idea. Dexos 2 5w-30 is what engine needs to be used, period.

Soot at 77 is super high, when they do a manual regen it needs to go to near zero not 21.

It sounds like you may have multiple issues to deal with some of them may be self inflicted.

Reactions: 3

gregbonat

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 26, 2016

Well thanks. Hopefully the 20 miles I had to drive with sea foam didn't create too much additional problem> I have since drained tank and put fresh Exxon in it. Had figured since my wife only got 4 miles down road after fueling with diesel that fuel was bad and was just trying to get it home

Also, sure didn't think dexos II would still be needed at this stage. Some sites I have visited seemed to indicate dexos II was more of a collaboration between Gm and oil company. I kept using it not to void warranty though. Hard to find it.

They are telling me at this point that the DPF seems to be bad and I also have a possible bad #3 injector and #1 out of balance. P2202? code and several others.

CruzeDan

· #5 · Aug 26, 2016

You need a motor oil that at least meets or exceeds Dexos 2 or ACEA C3 specifications. It does not have to be Dexos 2, but it must be emissions system safe. If you use regular oil you greatly increase your risk of having issues with your emissions system. The diesels need a low ash oil. Your car may have a DPF that is no good at this point, but it was caused by another issue. The turbo oil seals should defiantly be investigated at this point.

Reactions: 3

obermd

· #6 · Aug 26, 2016

I suspect you may also need a fuel system cleaning, but one designed for low sulfur diesel engines. I would get this done before looking at the injectors as it may simply be fouled injectors. However at the mileage I wouldn't be too surprised if you have a bad injector.

ChevyGuy

· #7 · Aug 26, 2016

Tomko said:
This was an exceptionally bad move.

Good for a gasser, bad for a diesel. Same thing with the oil. Have to use diesel oil, not gasser oil.

Reactions: 1

Snipesy

· #8 · Aug 26, 2016

Dealer shouldn't be running regens if it's having massive problems like that. I don't know why they are blaming the dpf. Your dpf is probably torched now, so they can pay for that. They also could of cracked pistons, melted rings, or worse. Yeah they can pay for that too if that's the case.

Anyway many will say its an injector stuck open, but that will usually cause white smoke (or at least a grey). It can be black, but generally white.

Could also be some crazy pcv problem, which should be easy to test.

Otherwise you're just choking on oil. Whether from turbo, or engine itself.... Not much more to say really.

Reactions: 1

ChevyGuy

· #9 · Aug 26, 2016

gregbonat said:
They are uncertain where to go next.

They need to contact GM for help. As should be evident by now, diesel is a whole different deal than gasoline engines. There's no shame in asking for help in something they may not have a lot of experience with.

Reactions: 3

gregbonat

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 26, 2016

Thanks, I'll pass that along to them

diesel

· #11 · Aug 28, 2016

gregbonat said:
Thanks, I'll pass that along to them

I don't remember off the top of my head, but can you remind me what the very first thing that triggered all this was? I think I can give some better input once I remember what triggered everything. In the meantime, others have given some good input.

LulzT1

· #12 · Aug 29, 2016

Within the first 500 miles my intake hose after the turbo came off, ran like junk and clogged my dpf pretty quick (like 90 grams or so). May not be your problem, but worth a look considering the number of loose clamps these cars have had..

gregbonat

Discussion Starter · #13 · Aug 29, 2016

Diesel, Wife was returning from 400 mile trip. Stopped to fuel up before getting home. Went 5 mi down road and car started to run real rough. She pulled off shoulder and car went into limp mode. Had to have it towed home.

Dealership is saying they believe now the cold side intercooler for turbo fell apart. Just had brief phone call with them, will know more once they get it pulled out.

I will also take look at clamps, thanks LultzT1

boraz

· #14 · Aug 29, 2016

so how much oil are you losing?

LulzT1

· #15 · Aug 30, 2016

gregbonat said:
Diesel, Wife was returning from 400 mile trip. Stopped to fuel up before getting home. Went 5 mi down road and car started to run real rough. She pulled off shoulder and car went into limp mode. Had to have it towed home.

Dealership is saying they believe now the cold side intercooler for turbo fell apart. Just had brief phone call with them, will know more once they get it pulled out.

I will also take look at clamps, thanks LultzT1

This is EXACTLY happened to me, hopefully that's all. I should have been more clear, disconnected post turbo and so I had no boost, smoked like crazy on Highway and couldn't really go very fast then got reduced power followed by engine shutdown soon, went straight to dealer. Not sure why you never saw messagws. Subsequently had my SCR, NOX#1, and particulate matter sensors replaced about 10k, 15k and 26k miles later and NOX#2 myself at 40k, may or may not have been related.

gregbonat

Discussion Starter · #16 · Aug 30, 2016

Not seeing any oil loss. Never saw where engine was even getting hot at all. I was keeping my eye on gauges when all this started happening. I did change oil though immediately after they did the 3rd manual Re-gen as I figured the oil was being cooked as well. Hope to hear back from them today to see what all they have found out. Having fuel system cleaned, and will remind them to also check all the turbo clamps, but they probably have to remove turbo to get intercooler off. May replace clamps with the Constant Torque Clamps to prevent them from loosening up in future if that is happening.

gregbonat

Discussion Starter · #17 · Aug 30, 2016

Yea, I am a little concerned about those sensors now myself. Hope they can be cleaned off from all the particulate that is likely covering them now. Will know more based on what error codes show up after they replace this intercooler, do a fuel system cleaning, etc. I haven't written down the codes that are coming up now to see what all they are. They're on the service ticket. Hope to have a report back soon on the definitive problem. I am wanting to see this intercooler to see exactly what they mean by the thing falling apart.

diesel

· #18 · Aug 30, 2016

gregbonat said:
Not seeing any oil loss. Never saw where engine was even getting hot at all. I was keeping my eye on gauges when all this started happening. I did change oil though immediately after they did the 3rd manual Re-gen as I figured the oil was being cooked as well. Hope to hear back from them today to see what all they have found out. Having fuel system cleaned, and will remind them to also check all the turbo clamps, but they probably have to remove turbo to get intercooler off. May replace clamps with the Constant Torque Clamps to prevent them from loosening up in future if that is happening.

Keep us posted. Hopefully it gets properly sorted.

gregbonat

Discussion Starter · #19 · Sep 2, 2016

Auto part Engine Fuel line Vehicle Car

WARNING: If you get symptoms I had with smoking, reduced power, sputtering, DPF full warning:
This seems to be the culprit to all the problems with DPF and Engine reduced power warning lights. Intercooler for turbo is made of plastic. It broke and also took out the Throttle body. Dealer says there is a TSB from GM on this as a known problem and they are making a modification to the part. Not sure how long it will be to get the replacement part from GM, still waiting. Not a help to me since I am way out of warranty based on mileage.

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Reactions: 4

gregbonat

Discussion Starter · #20 · Sep 2, 2016

Turbo intercooler break

Auto part Engine Fuel line Vehicle Car

Additional Warning: Dealer just discovered cause of my CEL, Reduced Power, DPF full warning light combined with engine smoking. Intercooler ( located just to right of ball that holds the engine cover down) is made of plastic. GM is aware of the defect, has issued a TSB and is modifying the part. This one broke and also took out the throttle body. Dealer is waiting for GM to send new part. Something else to keep eye on besides the hose clamps. 164000 mi. on my vehicle so out of luck.

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