leaking/smoking defender 200tdi

Hi everyone,

My name's Max , new to the Landy world and to the forum,
actually it is the very first time I ever post on any forum.
I am a not a mechanic and have very little knowledge when it comes to engine.
Anyway I have got a problem that I cannot solve and hope someone with more experience could help,
sorry if the post is a bit long but will try to explain as well as possible.
By the way sorry if I make mistakes I am French :S.

So,
I just bought myself a 1988 defender 90 with a 200 tdi engine in.
Everything started last week when I tried to start , it did for a couple seconds then stalled.
tried to push, no luck.
Changed battery , no luck, found an cheap starter motor so changed it.
Loud clicks or more like BANGS then after a few tries it turned on !

Now to the part that worries me,
the engine does turn on but struggle can't rev up and a lot of white smokes come out of the exhaust,
starting from the first joint after the turbo and between each joint in the exhaust system with A LOT at the end of the exhaust .
On top of that some heavy leak of what I first thought was oil but now I am pretty sure it is actually diesel spitting at the same spots.

If anyone has any idea on what it could be that would really help as i read a lot of things but nothing I can really relate too. It might even be 2 completely different problems.
After hours of reading I started thinking of :
blown turbo ? fuel relay ? piston rings ? anyway so many things I am just lost.
By the way, tried to start removing the back of the turbo to check the blades but didn't succeed yet.
Last thing when I changed the starter motor the main relay was plugged to it and on the forum it didn't look like anyone else's was so just plugged it straight to the battery with jump leads just to try for now.

That's it , thanks to anyone that even just took the time to read this !

Might be a good idea to take off the pipe to the turbo and have a look inside there. Look at the blades, check it turns, look for oil all over the place and in the intercooler pipes.

It might be helpful if you could post some pics of the leaks and smoke.

I will posted in 2min ! thank TURBOMAN you do sound like the man haha,
I am going to sound very stupid right now (first diesel car and turbo ) but where is the intercooler :S is that another name for radiator ?
As I said Very little knowledge..

Maxlondon said:

I will posted in 2min ! thank TURBOMAN you do sound like the man haha,
I am going to sound very stupid right now (first diesel car and turbo ) but where is the intercooler :S is that another name for radiator ?
As I said Very little knowledge..

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Intercooler is an air to air heat exchanger, like a little radiator sat beside the main one, it is connected to the turbo and intake by pipes.

I think you need to get or download a manual, and do a bit of background reading, landrovers need careful looking after if they are to run reliably.

And I am not called Turbo for the reasons that you think!

Here is a few screenshots of the video I made

Haha ok , i thought it was something like that but didn't see anything , I will check it tomorrow .
I bought the workshop manual and spend my time reading about it since I have it but I have got a lot to learn!
so what am I looking for in the intercooler pipe ? and what would it means ? thanks for your help , I really appreciate

Maxlondon said:

Haha ok , i thought it was something like that but didn't see anything , I will check it tomorrow .
I bought the workshop manual and spend my time reading about it since I have it but I have got a lot to learn!
so what am I looking for in the intercooler pipe ? and what would it means ? thanks for your help , I really appreciate

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Loads of oil, and/or diesel in the pipes and turbocharger are a bad sign.
That smoke, and the liquid running out of the exhaust, isnt a good sign, could be a few issues other than turbo. maybe very bad cranckase pressure, cracked head, different stuff.
Try forum search, and read around on the forum, a lot of people will have posted similar issues before.
Be careful, you might not be too far off a diesel runaway with that one.

that is exactly what I am scared of after a lot of reading ...

But the thing is , everything I hear sounds way over my capabilities/knowledge and so many possibilities that I feel like I will have to get a real mechanic to look at it and never went to one (apart from a wheel bearing that i couldn't take out) and don't trust them to be honest ... plus the ones around me sounds like they know just as much as me...

You could have a (very) drippy injector. Flooding the bore(s) with fuel . Removing them is easy enough but you'll need a diesel specialist to test them.

Hi Flossie , thanks for your input , would that fail out of the blue without warning ? As before I couldn't start the car was driving fine. I will look online for a diesel specialist around me . I guess they will need the whole car and not just the injector isn't it ?

Flossie said:

You could have a (very) drippy injector. Flooding the bore(s) with fuel . Removing them is easy enough but you'll need a diesel specialist to test them.

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No, they just need the injectors to test. They tend to slowly wear out normally and need re conditioning at approximately 60k. The tip may have broken off one of them, quite rare but it happens. Or it could just be stuck open and need a professional clean.
It only takes about a minute to test 1 injector so it should be a cheap check.

You could also check the timing, the belt may have jumped a tooth or so.
The manual shows how to do this and the tools needed are cheap enough or free if you make them yourself.

Flossie said:

You could also check the timing, the belt may have jumped a tooth or so.
The manual shows how to do this and the tools needed are cheap enough or free if you make them yourself.

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Great , will try all that , do you think it is worth getting myself a compression tester and check it as well ?
That sounds like something i can do even if it doesn't sort out the problem at least it will take off some possibilities.
Thanks !

About the injectors , I just had a quick look and is it just about checking them with a multimeter or is there more to it ? Because if that is the case I don't even have to go anywhere I could do it myself ?

No. The injectors are them things with the 4 steel pipes screwed to the top of them, no electrical test to do on them. You've probably thinking of the glow plugs which help starting when the engines cold but the 200 TDI will start well without them working at all, they are not your problem.
Compression testing is always good BUT you need a diesel compression tester which are quite expensive. You cannot use the much cheaper petrol tester.

Doubtful that much liquid would come from an injector. More diesel might come from a faulty boost setup, but I dont know Tdi well enought to say for sure.
I would guess the fluid is water. Careful checking of oil and water levels might give some clues.
Not seen exactly that on a landrover. On an old tractor, that often means the oil level is rising in the engine, due to coolant leaking in through the bottom of the liners.

If you really have very little experience, google and ask around, look for a local Landrover independent specialist, try and get an accurate diagnosis. Hit and miss methods can come expensive.

Turboman said:

Doubtful that much liquid would come from an injector. More diesel might come from a faulty boost setup, but I dont know Tdi well enought to say for sure.
I would guess the fluid is water. Careful checking of oil and water levels might give some clues.
Not seen exactly that on a landrover. On an old tractor, that often means the oil level is rising in the engine, due to coolant leaking in through the bottom of the liners.

If you really have very little experience, google and ask around, look for a local Landrover independent specialist, try and get an accurate diagnosis. Hit and miss methods can come expensive.

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Hi guys,
Turboman , I actually thought it could be coolant but it is hard to make the difference with so much s*** coming out at the same time , I thought it smells like diesel but hard to say ...
What do you mean by bottom liner ?
Bottom end ?
I think like you say I might just stop everything and trying to find a land rover specialist...

Maxlondon said:

Hi guys,
Turboman , I actually thought it could be coolant but it is hard to make the difference with so much s*** coming out at the same time , I thought it smells like diesel but hard to say ...
What do you mean by bottom liner ?
Bottom end ?
I think like you say I might just stop everything and trying to find a land rover specialist...

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Ignore the bottom liner thing, 200tdi hasn't got them, turbo man was just giving an example. It's all just educational guessing really! We need more info and water/oil/ fuel getting down the exhaust all have different causes.
Diesel smoke will make your eyes sting, water won't but oil will to a lesser extent. Have you liquid at the tail pipe? When it's cool is the liquid very runny like fuel or thicker like oil?
Checking the timing, having the injectors tested/refurbed and a compression test are never a waste of money and will eliminate or prove a lot of symptoms without spending a lot.

Going to be off line for a while , 110 needs fixing, good luck!