Greyish diesel smelling smoke--cant solve

[DieselPower208]

I cant upload more the 5 pieces of media so here's a link to the google drive

Car - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Hello guys,

I'm having a little bit of an issue with my 2003 ALH Jetta w/ 5 speed. At idle as seen in the video (my tune has a high idle addon and I just started the car) I'm getting what seems to be an injector haze similar to what I had in my 12v cummins. it also puts out a greyish smoke while accelerating. Haze is there when the engine is warm and cold. I'm not burning oil or coolant. If I am it's not at a noticeable level whatsoever. I do have bigger injector nozzles (.230) from Xman Turbos LTD. My car does have a tune as well. They are pop tested and all that fun jazz. Before I had my 2003 I had them in a 2000 ALH for about 10-12k miles. I did not notice any hazing while they were in that car. I've played with the IQ and had my local VW shop play with it as well. While adjusting the IQ they performed the hammer mod, and no resolution was found. There was a haze no matter what. My pump timing is slightly advanced, but I don't think it would be causing this. I was planning on pulling the injectors and having them re-pop tested and ultrasonic cleaned, but with only 15k miles the nozzles shouldn't be terrible. My IQ is sitting at about 4.6-4.8, car goes in on Thursday to have it brought back down to around 3.5. My MAF numbers are normal, a little above spec but I believe that is due to my tune. I have a check engine light on but it is for the glow plug harness. could it possibly an injector stuck open, but wouldn't I have a noticeable knocking sound? Im stuck on what else I should check. Im waiting on an oil sample from blackstone to check my fuel oil dilution numbers, to check for possible fuel wash.

Does anyone else know what I can check? or what my problem could possibly be? I know it's possible to get smoke when the injector pumps failing, but I killed 2 pumps in my 00 and that was a very noticeable thick white smoke. I'm trying to start will small fixes and see if I can solve this haze before picking up a new set of injectors.

Thanks guys, stay beautiful.

 

[STDOUBT]

I was planning on pulling the injectors and having them re-pop tested and ultrasonic cleaned,

That would be a waste IMO.
Also, turning your IQ down will increase fueling. Did you try to run with IQ up around 6 or 7?
That would be my first move to try and solve the haze.
If you had VCDS you could do it yourself and save a ton of money over time.

 

[DieselPower208]

That would be a waste IMO.
Also, turning your IQ down will increase fueling. Did you try to run with IQ up around 6 or 7?
That would be my first move to try and solve the haze.
If you had VCDS you could do it yourself and save a ton of money over time.

I have VCDS, I'm just not comfortable doing the hammer mod myself. The first time I had the shop adjust it they had it up between 7-9.0 when I get it back. I don't remember exactly, and it still had a haze.

Edit just messed with it the highest I can bring the IQ with the computer is 7.8-8.0.

 

[TPW]

I was fighting a similar issue on my 2003 Golf ALH for about a month. I put rebuilt injectors in, adjusted timing and did the hammer mod to get my IQ to 5, took off intake and burned all the carbon out, took off the exhaust to make sure it wasn't blocked and made sure the whole intake was clean. No fault codes but I finally unplugged the MAF and the problem was solved. I know your MAF numbers are normal, but for some reason your car is not getting enough air for the fuel that's going in. I used a shop vac to check air flow through exhaust and intake. If your car starts easy and idles fine, I doubt if it is the injection pump.

 

[DieselPower208]

I was fighting a similar issue on my 2003 Golf ALH for about a month. I put rebuilt injectors in, adjusted timing and did the hammer mod to get my IQ to 5, took off intake and burned all the carbon out, took off the exhaust to make sure it wasn't blocked and made sure the whole intake was clean. No fault codes but I finally unplugged the MAF and the problem was solved. I know your MAF numbers are normal, but for some reason your car is not getting enough air for the fuel that's going in. I used a shop vac to check air flow through exhaust and intake. If your car starts easy and idles fine, I doubt if it is the injection pump.

I can take the intake and exhaust off this weekend to check it. Everything looked clean when I took them off my 00 (PD150 intake and 1752 turbo)but they were brand new when I installed the injectors. I'm not having any power issues that would make me think the maf is faulty or anything is clogged.

 

[DieselPower208]

Pulled the injectors and it turns out I wasn't paying attention when I swapped them. 3/4 injectors had two copper washers on them. gonna boil it down too there was too much space between the injector nozzle and pistons, which causes the fuel to not atomize correctly. Replaced the washers and I no longer have a haze.

 

[STDOUBT]

Nice! Good job finding the problem.
I would think if you can swap injectors, you should have no worry about a DIY hammer mod.