Fumes rising from engine compartment

[Coffeedoctor]

Hi, I have had my XF 2.2 diesel for just over 4 years and never until today experienced any faults with it. It has covered 40,000 mile and been dealer serviced from new. It was last serviced in March 19 and hasn't covered many miles since service. I had driven around 50 miles yesterday and was stuck in a queue of very slow moving traffic when I could smell fumes inside the cabin. Initially I thought it was exhaust from the car in front but shortly after that I noticed a smoke coming from the gaps around the front of the bonnet. When I got an opportunity to stop away from the traffic I had a look under the bonnet but could see nothing out of sorts. The fuel was quite low at the time but I can't see why that would cause an issue. The drive home went fine and I didn't notice the smell again. I filled the car to max today and had a short drive and although I haven't seen any smoke today I did feel there was a bit of smell still after parking. I wondered if anyone could shed some light on this or has had the same issue, thanks in anticipation. 

[Leo]

This sounds like a regeneration, cleaning the DPF. When this happens it heats the DPF to a very high heat, which can cause a burning smell if the car is standing or moving very slowly. I guess that any deposits on the outside of the DPF would burn off, and the smoke could blow forwards if that was the wind direction.

[Coffeedoctor]

Thanks for your response Leo. In your opinion, would it be worth taking the car to the dealers just to get it checked out. The general performance of the car seems to be OK in regards to acceleration and running. Could the fact that it stood quite a lot without being used exacerbate this fault

[Leo]

If I am right there is no reason to take it to the dealers: It is just doing what it is designed to do.

What I find inexplicable is that there is no warning light to tell you when a regeneration is happening. All modern diesels have DPFs, and as far as I know none has a warning light to keep the driver informed.

Using premium diesel makes for fewer regenerations, a cleaner engine and marginally better mpg: We always use premium diesel in my wife’s Citroen C4 Grand Picasso for those reasons.

We still have the occasional regeneration though, and if at a standstill we get that burning smell.

[Carpo]

Check the Oil level. If it is above maximum, you'd best get the Oil changed asap, as extra fuel from the regeneration could have entered the sump and diluted the Oil. 

[Coffeedoctor]

Thanks for the reply Carpo. I had the service done in April with the main dealer so the Oil levels should have been ok. As there is no manual way to test I checked on the electronic check and it reported OK. I did visit the main dealer to ask their advice in the meantime and they felt sure it was down to the regeneration and the time it had decided to regen, in very slow moving traffic and I was unusually quite low on fuel. It hasn't shown a problem since so I'm hoping it was a one off 

[AlexWard]

Also check that your cam covers have not split... You will need to carefully remove the foam insulation around the top, once the engine cover is removed.

They are prone to cracking on to side edge that faces the injectors. FYI, these parts, both left and right are on their 8th part revision, even though JLR wont admit there is a design issue with them..

[xfr karl]

On 8/25/2019 at 4:29 PM, Coffeedoctor said:

Hi, I have had my XF 2.2 diesel for just over 4 years and never until today experienced any faults with it. It has covered 40,000 mile and been dealer serviced from new. It was last serviced in March 19 and hasn't covered many miles since service. I had driven around 50 miles yesterday and was stuck in a queue of very slow moving traffic when I could smell fumes inside the cabin. Initially I thought it was exhaust from the car in front but shortly after that I noticed a smoke coming from the gaps around the front of the bonnet. When I got an opportunity to stop away from the traffic I had a look under the bonnet but could see nothing out of sorts. The fuel was quite low at the time but I can't see why that would cause an issue. The drive home went fine and I didn't notice the smell again. I filled the car to max today and had a short drive and although I haven't seen any smoke today I did feel there was a bit of smell still after parking. I wondered if anyone could shed some light on this or has had the same issue, thanks in anticipation. 

Hi I have had the same issue with my 2014 xf 2.2 r-sport.

[Tomato]

What colour was the smoke? Could be a Oil leak from somewhere.