cured smoke, not sure how

Thought I'd ask for an opinion on this so I know where to pinpoint efforts in future.

Freelander (1, TD4) was stinking of diesel at the exhaust and belching black smoke on acceleration.

Things I did

1. changed crankcase breather assembly. Sounds obvious but a few months back I had already swapped it for one off another Freelander because valve had gummed up and put in new foam filter.

2. While doing it I noticed that a spring clip was missing off the bit where the return pipe goes into he top of the injector. So I put one in.

3. Took off Maf sensor and sprayed the wires with cleaner. However, they looked completely clean before I did it.

4. Took off air intake manifold and cleaned some of the crap out and

5. Took off MAP sensor and cleaned that. Now that was bunged up with crud.

6. I put back the EGR valve after testing it was working in case there was something wrong with blanking kit.

7. Replaced the gaskets on the manifold before replacing.

Result: couple of puffs of black smoke for first drive but nothing since and smell has gone.

I can do that every so often as a routine maintenance but I am trying to understand the systems as well do some patching up, so would value any thoughts on what was most probable cause.

Thought this was going to be an interesting thread about ham or salmon or summat. Turned out just to be another diesel thread, shame, but interesting all the same.

I know. Its just that I'd feel more pleased with myself if I hadn't solved it by accident.
I think I may have caught the Landrover disease. I spent about four days trying to get a hub nut off to change a driveshaft, and when it finally cracked I felt a wholly disproportionate sense of achievement. I've also taken to staring at Series land rovers on eBay and instead of seeing what is really there - a more or less unrecognisable pile of rusting bolts and bits of twisted metal - I see pristine vehicles at the top of high mountains against the backdrop of a setting sun.

I do the same, all jobs at once on while there basis and eventually I don't know what actually fixed it.

websun said:

I do the same, all jobs at once on while there basis and eventually I don't know what actually fixed it.

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I suppose it could be the MAP sensor, but it's hard to believe so much **** could be caused by a tiny nozzle being bunged up. All I did was clean it out with pin and spray some cleaner down it.

None of the above suggest BLACK smoke to me. Most plausible is indeed the map and/or map

websun said:

None of the above suggest BLACK smoke to me. Most plausible is indeed the map and/or map

Click to expand...

`I suppose the other thing could have been pipes not sealing properly. A couple of months ago I had a bad diesel leak which turned out to be because the hose clamp had twisted to enable it to leak out under pressure. So I guess the same thing could have been happening with the pipes carrying the metered air, and I solved it without realising when I put them back on.

I wouldn't think too much at this until next issue arise.

websun said:

I wouldn't think too much at this until next issue arise.

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I guess. I don't suppose I will have to wait for long. I've been lucky in being able to tackle issues so far and each time I learn a bit. I'm taking bits off another one I've got up on blocks and there's some more stuff `I want to take off before I scrap it. I'd like to take the turbo off and also get the injectors, but that's going to test me quite a bit. From what I've read so far I may not be able to get the injectors out of a cold engine without damaging them.

Do you have a mint gear knob?
To take injectors off easy throw in some wd40 and leave it running. If you cannot do that, put wd40 a day before, they will come out easily.
I did a test myself, added above mentioned substance on two only, and tried to remove them all. The wd40 ones came out easy, the others are welded in.

websun said:

Do you have a mint gear knob?
To take injectors off easy throw in some wd40 and leave it running. If you cannot do that, put wd40 a day before, they will come out easily.
I did a test myself, added above mentioned substance on two only, and tried to remove them all. The wd40 ones came out easy, the others are welded in.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that advice. I haven't been able to get to it yet, maybe this weekend. I actually doused them with Kranoil, which is stupidly expensive but does work on seized components. Mostly, anyway. I can't run it because I took the oil cooler out and starter motor cam with it. Although I suppose I could just reattach the starter motor. It should run for a while without oil cooler. No oil in it now though. Wonder how soon it would sieze.

Not sure how mint gear knob is - will have a look at weekend. You welcome to it if it is any good.