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If it's 03 I don't think it will be a PD engine... 😐
White smoke from a TDi Galaxy / Sharran / Alhambra is 99% the Auxilliary heater, under the passenger side rear wheel arch. It's only supposed to try & work below 10degC though. They have a heater plug that burns out. If working fine should sound like a jet engine on a cold day.
For the clattering, watch the aux belt when someone starts the car from cold. They have a clutch type pulley on the alternator. These seize up, & can sometimes take a minute to free up from cold, but usually only when it's idling. It allows the alternator to free wheel. The belt will be jumping around, but then run free. Sounds clattery while it's bouncing. Alternator out to change, & a special tool to change. Several types of pulley, so count the teeth & measure dia before buying.
Other than that, the CAT, loose stuff in there bouncing around ?
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[i]Daz[/i] or [i]Serviceford[/i] are top blokes, & know these cars inside out.
Aux heater works fine. No smoke from that. Just a puff from exhaust on cold start which immediately stops.
I'll check the alternator belt.
Temperature sender,located on the back of the block nearest to the passenger side. Swap out the black original for the green replacement unit. Couple of quid from Eurocarparts. This fools the ecu by giving a false temperature and therefore wrong fuelling at start up.
My dads focus 1.8 tdci would start with all the glow plugs knackered. The injection system is so accurate it still starts but runs like a bag of hammers till it warms up. It would still easily start on one or two plugs but the unburnt diesel would come out as white smoke. Check the wiring they can draw quite a lot of current. Check for signs of burning of the wiring.
My 08 2.0 pd passat does exactly the same as what you describe nomad...
did you get it sorted?