[SWDXING]

Hi everyone, my i30 has been very reliable over the past 13 months of owning it since new, tend to use 98 premium fuel, oil & oil filter replaced recently, and today I experienced something that was a tad alarming...

I was driving home from a lunch, and had been driving for about 10 minutes, and came to a stop at some traffic lights on the bottom of a hill.

When I accelerated, I gave it the stick just a slight amount, and revved it to about 4,000 RPM, going up a slight incline, all of a sudden, it felt like it shuddered, the RPM dropped to about 3,000, lost some power, and came good again. Soon after that I noticed some smoke coming from the exhaust (there was a cloud of it !), with a sort of white/grey colour to it.

I pulled over to check it out, left the engine running, confirmed that it was coming from my car, and gave it a little rev, blew some more smoke.

I knelt down to the exhaust to have a sniff, and the smoke sort of smelled like diesel in a way? (odd smell, wasn't ring smoke).

I turned the car off, checked the oil, and everything else, and things appeared to be all good, sat there for 5 mins or so, then proceeded to start it. It sounded a little bit rattly for a coupe of seconds, and it sort of spluttered and carried on for 5 seconds.

After that, I drove it home (another 15 k's or so), and there was no more smoke noted, and performance was back to normal.


I should also say that a couple of times over the past 2 months, it has carried on a little bit upon starting it after a short period of time of being off. So I am not sure whether it's poor fuel or something of the sort (problem was there prior to oil and filter change).

I will book it in to get it checked out at the dealer tomorrow. So has anyone else experienced anything similar ? Or any clues as to what would be the cause of this smoke and symptoms?

Cheers
Sam

[Dazzler]

Very odd! Poor fuel would be my best guess, although using premium would limit the risk of that I imagine. 

Hopefully our master Hyundai Techie (Cruiserfied) will come along shortly to offer his valued opinion. 

[Phil №❶]

Generally speaking, oil faults don't fix themselves after 5 minute or so. For some unknown reason I suspect that the fuel was unable to be ignited and may contain water. After idling the motor the water was cleared from the fuel line and performance was restored.

The normal cure for water contamination in carburettor cars, (not yours), is a good dose of metho in the tank. This emulsifies the water into the fuel and is burnt, however, there is a big complication with modern cars. The fuel injectors in modern cars can explode due to vaporization of water into steam (just like a steam train), with catastrophic results. So your best option would be to confirm that there is water in the tank and have it drained.

I suspect the smell you experienced at the exhaust was a mixture of steam and unburnt fuel, not oil IMO.

[cruiserfied]

Very odd! Poor fuel would be my best guess, although using premium would limit the risk of that I imagine. 

Hopefully our master Hyundai Techie (Cruiserfied) will come along shortly to offer his valued opinion. 

I've got nothing sorry. A hundred things ran through my head but nothing seemed right. The closest thing I could think of was bad fuel as Dazz said. But it should have flushed through by now if its been happening for a while. Maybe an injector is spraying crappy or spark plug breaking down intermittently?

[Dazzler]

Thanks Tim, not bad for "nothing"... 

[Tien]

It just happened to me this morning 21/01/2015 I stopped my i30 at traffic light then I accelerated my i30 then I noticed a big cloud of smoke from behind my car. It was very very alarming. I looked at my rear vision mirror and saw the car behind me stopped because of so much smoke.

[tla]

It just happened to me this morning 21/01/2015 I stopped my i30 at traffic light then I accelerated my i30 then I noticed a big cloud of smoke from behind my car. It was very very alarming. I looked at my rear vision mirror and saw the car behind me stopped because of so much smoke.

This may be a different issue to the one reported by the OP.   If you haven't caned the engine in a while, then the smoke may be similar to that reported in the following link: Exhaust pipe blows white/gray smoke when accelerating - Hyundai Forums : Hyundai Forum   See post #3: "This has been a common issue for people who baby their cars and rarely, if ever, accelerate hard. Take her out, romp on the loud pedal once or twice a month to clear out the cobwebs and chances are you'll never see it again."

[Tien]

Thank you - I came back from my 2 week holiday and I just used my i30 since Monday 19/01 - However I will keep an eye out for any more smoke

[SWDXING]

It has been a while, but the issue has not come back, could have been a build up in the exhaust pipe, but who knows. I have changed where I get my fuel from, and the problem has not come back, also drove him up to QLD and back, and he is running much happier now.

[Dazzler]

Good to hear!

Did it start first pop the day it smoked badly? If you had to crank it a bit, it might have been a fuel build up?

[SWDXING]

Good to hear!

Did it start first pop the day it smoked badly? If you had to crank it a bit, it might have been a fuel build up?

Yes if I remember correctly, was performing just fine up until it misfired and started smoking. Only happened once, although it ran a but rough for 5 minutes upon start up over the next week or so after it blew the smoke.

[Dazzler]

  for the reply!

[prozac_tr]

I also think that it was a contaminated fuel event.

[SWDXING]

I also think that it was a contaminated fuel event.

Me too, won't go to the same fuel outlet again!

[tommy_vercetii]

could it be because of excess engine oil at the last service by the dealer? 

[Dazzler]

could it be because of excess engine oil at the last service by the dealer?

Welcome Tommy.. Good thought (worth checking!) 

[Jakes1707]

This has happened to me a couple times aswell. I usually drive very conservative, trying to get max MPG. I only fill up at BP/Shell.

Slight foot on the gas to get over a traffic intersection made car for a second stutter and unexpectedly kick from 6th to probably 3rd or 4th. Huge amount of smoke.

Now every so often I will use a fuel system cleaner and drive on that tank a little harder. It has never happened again.

[Wingerdave]

could it be because of excess engine oil at the last service by the dealer? 

I had that happen to me once with an Opel Astra. The garage had put a liter too much oil in the engine an when i turned on to the motorway and accelerated the world went white behind me. I slowed down and it went away, but everytime i got over 100kph it startend blowing smoke again.

Went to a different Opel dealer and he drained the oil and refilled with the correct amount and the problem was gone.

It was a question of too much pressure in the Engine and it was blowing oil past the piston rings under load.

[Phil №❶]

Very James Bond.