Smoking on trip to France ??

[philip600]

Hi again,

Just got back from trip to France in the X5.
We did 1700 miles in 9 days & glad to report my X was faultless.
I got just over 37mpg (on OBD) travelling 450 miles to where we stayed taking it steady with a mix of 90kph to 130kph roads so well pleased with that, average came down a bit on way home as we were in bit of a hurry but over the 1700 mile trip the OBD is showing nearly 35mpg
Now the reason for my post, after the first fill up of diesel in France ( 1.29 euro's a litre ) my mates travelling with me in two other vehicles mentioned there was a lot of black smoke coming from my X when accelerating hard. Now my X has always smoked a little when using kick down which seems normal ? But after they mentioned this I tried a full on blast away from a toll booth & looked in the mirror, bloody hell There was a trail of thick black smoke visible !!
I didn't notice any drop in performance although there was four adults in the car & a boot full of luggage so it was a bit slower than usual.
I checked the oil etc in case it was the turbo but all was normal.
This smoke went on for the next two fill ups ( supermarket & service station ) but on Saturday I filled up with 90 litres of ''Super'' Diesel at a BP station ( 1.53 euro's a litre ) and the smoke was gone, or at least back to normal.
My question is, is the diesel in France generally less refined than that in the uk ?
It's a lot cheaper than petrol & cheaper than diesel in the uk.
I forgot to mention my X was remapped by BW Chiptune & I seem to remember when I was asking about getting it done they asked if I would be using the car abroad ( or maybe I've imagined this )
Anyone else experienced this ?

Thanks for reading, Phil.

[B1G JV]

Quite probably the fuel!! EN590 allows the blending of up to 5% Biodiesel with 'normal' DERV in most EU countries- a 95/5 mix. In France, all diesel sold routinely contains this 95/5 mix. Therefore maybe your chipped car hasn't been programed to run on a 95/5 mix of bio ?

[pvr]

I had a problem with French diesel as well, it also did not register when filling up the car (i.e. the meter remained on empty) and the car did not run as nice either.

... and I did the booth test as well and smoked them out

[philip600]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies.
I thought our diesel now contained 5% bio now anyway ? I think it's probably more to do with our diesel being more refined ?
It seems strange they sell ''super'' diesel at some filling stations although most had only the standard pump.
My advise for anyone travelling through France would be to find a named ( BP, Shell etc ) filling station & use super diesel.

Anyway I've worked out the real mpg over the whole trip ( as oppoosed to the OBD ) & it works out at just over 32mpg.
That was over the 1700 miles with four adults & a boot full to the brim of luggage over a mix of driving conditions ( probably 70% on 90kph to 130kph roads )
My mate got 47mpg from his diesel VW Touran ( 1.9TD ) and our other friends got less than 20mpg from their Discovery 4.4 V8

Regards Phil.

[fradillian]

I'm so glad I've read this post. We're going to France soon and will be towing a caravan. At least if we see black smoke it won't be an immediate panic (unless there is a nasty clonk associated with it). Ours hasn't been remapped so I'm hoping it won't smoke at all.

Quick question (and apologies for hijacking), did you have to stick 'beam benders' to your headlights or is there a manual/automatic way of getting them to switch over? Only thought that as noticed that foreign cars over here don't have 'beam benders' so wondered if they can be switched.

Many thanks

[philip600]

Hi,

My advice would to to fill up at named filling stations ( or ones that sell 'super' diesel which I think is like our diesel in the uk ) although apart from the black smoke it didn't seem to have any other advserse effect.
With regards the lights, my ( facelift ) model has a switch at the back of each light that moves the beam to drive on the right but & didn't bother with it as they are pretty hard to access. We only ventured out twice after dark & didn't get flashed once so I don't think they were a problem ( unless they were driving down a ditch after being blinded )
Regards, Phil.

[NewX5]

Phil you sure not something to do with remap as i drive to south of France regularly although 1st time in x but had know problems with smoking and never had with their diesel.

Fradillian - Your lights will be fine as they are.

[philip600]

[quote="NewX5"]Phil you sure not something to do with remap as i drive to south of France regularly although 1st time in x but had know problems with smoking and never had with their diesel.

It could well be but I had the re-map done in February with no clouds of black smoke, ( there has always been a puff of smoke when in kick-down etc but this clears straight away & most X5's I see seem to do this ) even the first part of the journey in France ( with UK diesel in the tank ) there was no smoke. It only occured after the first fill up ??
Coincidently when I brimmed the tank with BP 'Super' diesel in France the smoke disappeared.
There was no smoke when driving normally, only when in kick-down or accelarating hard & instead of the usual puff of smoke it was thick black sooty smoke.
I'm convinced that the diesel in France is less refined or has fewer additives.
Phil.

[B1G JV]

or maybe has more additives

[squeaky2]

Just done 5400 miles in 3 weeks in the Transit running across europe mostly france......to be honest ive never had any real problems running with french diesel and stick in the odd tank of super just to be nice. I find that the X smokes anyway when you give it a throttle full as just trundling along the particulates build up and a full throttle start just blows it all through.......i think aswell as the miles increase the injectors become more inaccurate so youll find that more diesel is being thrown into the engine hence more black smoke.......

Only need to really worry if the smoke is blue or white.

Oh and if it makes you feel better the trannie has averaged 22mpg

[acideraser]

Went to France in April, did about 700 miles round-trip, most of it on diesel from Auchan petrol station in Calais and later some other petrol station at the supermarket - not BP, Shell etc. I had another X following me all the way, no smoke was reported and all went well, can't blame.