White smoke on start up

Hey all, my 2003 TD5 (defender 90) has been puffing some white smoke on cold start ups, it clears up after I drive it for 30 seconds or so.

Air getting in to the fuel lines somewhere.

miktdish said:

Air getting in to the fuel lines somewhere.

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any usual suspects I could start checking first? those little valves in the lines by the duel pump?

Mine does this occasionally too. It's fine after the engine has been worked for a short while. If you manage to solve it come back and let us know.

Another suggestion I've had from a mechanic who seemed to know a lot about Land Rovers and built competition vehicles in his spare time is that it could be an injector sticking, and once it got warm it freed itself. This sort-of makes sense, because the smoky start ups are less noticeable after I've put a bottle of injector cleaner through it. It's never been bad enough to merit major investigation and the engine still seems happy otherwise.

Is it not the case that the Td5 has glow plugs only on four of the five cylinders. White smoke is just unburnt diesel so is it just a case of the one with no plug needing a mo to heat up [ from the compression] before it joins in the bang bang party?
My car I figure has a duff plug and takes a mo for all four to run. Better sort before winter but not a big issue just now.

tottot said:

Is it not the case that the Td5 has glow plugs only on four of the five cylinders. White smoke is just unburnt diesel so is it just a case of the one with no plug needing a mo to heat up [ from the compression] before it joins in the bang bang party?
My car I figure has a duff plug and takes a mo for all four to run. Better sort before winter but not a big issue just now.

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Yes they do have 4 glow plugs.