New Owner- Not going so well- Few Questions

Hi All,

Picked up my first discovery last night, Discovery 1, Manual 1995 TDi300 with 130k on the clock. Thought i'd checked it over pretty good before buying it, but the following day, i'm doubting myself. Mainly because it came home on the back of an AA wagon, due to a failed water pump 20 mins after picking it up. But thats not where my questions are aimed-

1) Firstly, smoke, i have blue smoke when i'm revving the engine (stationary) between 1krpm-3krpm, but as i get up near 4krpm it appears to clear. If i drop down the revs it starts again. I'm thinking blue is burning oil, so i would suspect the turbo or the engines piston rings, how would i be best to check these items over? Could is possibly have the wrong grade oil in? Is there as high mileage diesel turbo oil like there is for petrols? (Castrol GTX do high mileage oil)

2) Smoke number 2, when driving, i have a small amount of black smoke out the tail pipe all the time, but anytime theres some throttle being applied, i get a huge cloud of black smoke out the back, not normal diesel style, smoke screen style. The recovery bloke seems to be a bit of a landrover buff, and he thinks the diesel pump has been 'turned up' and is causing the smoke, any ideas? How do i check, and what do i need to check?

3) The off road tyres catch the radius arms at the front near full lock, as lock is needed where i live (tight street) can i get wheel spaces to give a bit more clearance between the tyre and the arm, or do they sell cranked arms?

Its a shame, becuase i really like the car apart from the above, smoke really isn't acceptable for me, although some of my friends think i should just live with it. Car has apparently (according to the previous owner) had a cambelt change, full service, oil/air/fuel filters, engine and diff oils.

Any help massively appreciated

Matt

I would have turned back around and got my money back the moment you knew the waterpump was fecked.

Did you take it on a test drive?

Yep, seemed ok, didn't overheat, nice warm heaters, went down the motorway a few junctions and everything was fine, back to his to sign the paperwork, and then 20 mins down a different motorway we were on the hardshoulder.

I guess you live and learn, swapped the water pump this morning and it appears to be worked properly now, all pipes getting hot when they should with the operation of the thermostat, wasn't doing that last night. So thats hurdles jumped, just the smoke to sort now, i do hope i haven't bought a lemon

Thanks

Matt

In fairness to the previous owner it is possible that he dint know about the water pump - if yu couldnt hear it squeeling and it werent pushing out water...
the tyres just need the lock stops adjusting and as for the black smoke - I think one of the Herts guys knows of a very good guy - but it might mean travelling to London.

The Mad Hat Man said:

In fairness to the previous owner it is possible that he dint know about the water pump - if yu couldnt hear it squeeling and it werent pushing out water...
the tyres just need the lock stops adjusting and as for the black smoke - I think one of the Herts guys knows of a very good guy - but it might mean travelling to London.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on the lock stops, but i'm hoping to actually gain some steering lock rather than just limiting the rack so it doesn't catch because the tightness of my street requires as much as i can get.

Thanks

Matt

ok, a year and a half ago i bought my 300tdi, it was fine when i brought it home but i couldnt drive it untill about a month later. a few days later i started it to play with it and i had loads of smoke. i would accelerate and there would be a big cloud of smoke. this happened all the time, i never managed to clear it by doing that or putting the diesel engine cleaning stuff in so i just put up with it like you said. eventually i was driving it and noticed when i was behind another disco on the road i just couldnt keep up when leaving the round-a-bouts so took mine into the garage. so sounds just like your problem. i was scared it would be a expensive job but it turned out it was the timing belt being out of time, £40 later and i had more power, no or very little smoke and more mpg. i hated feeling like i spent 1700 on a car that kicks out more smoke then power and felt stupid i hadnt got it fixed before. hope that helps. James

if its the same problem i had it will clear both the smoke problems you have

smoke isn't always a bad thing

change the air filter and fuel filter and see if the smoking clears before you spend money getting someone to look at it and throw some redex init.

cheers

leekegs

StreetDragster said:

Hi All,
The recovery bloke seems to be a bit of a landrover buff, and he thinks the diesel pump has been 'turned up' and is causing the smoke, any ideas? How do i check, and what do i need to check?

Click to expand...

Very possible - do good for Bosch VE injection pump tweaks, you can turn things down a little and see if the smoke clears, once it's gone, turn it back up until you get a little smoke on acceleration.

Hi All,

Thanks for all replys!!
Here's my findings for today..........

1) I've checked the oil level, its right at the top of the full section, possibly a cause, i'll monitor that
2) I've drained the sediment box, nothing un-toward appeared to come out, just plain diesel, but thats one box ticked anyway.
3) I removed the airfilter and took it up and down the road for testing purposes only, there is less black smoke, but still quite a lot being produced
4) I discovered the EGR has already been blocked off
5) There is what looks like a pneumatic fitment onto the vacuum hose that goes from the turbo to the diesel pump, its black with blue collers in the ends, you need to de-press them to release the pipe. Not sure if this is standard? If it isn't, possible sign that a boost gauge has been plumbed in, maybe to adjust the pump mixture as described HERE
6) The oil filter doesn't look all that new to me, maybe due to being covered in mud from a recent off road adventure.
7) There doesn't appear to be any damage to the turbo pipes, the metal pipe is solid, and the rubber pipes seem off, but they are a bit soft.
8) The blue smoke occurs if i start the car and mess about with the revs between 1-3.5krpm, but if i then take it out for a drive, it doesn't appear to do it again, maybe pointing to valve stem oil seals?
9) The black smoke is not as bad as i remember from picking the car up, still heavy, but i remember it being alot heavier, only really occurs on hard throttle, maybe 85% plus of the throttle pedal travel.



Steps forward for me so far (i think!!)-

• I'm going to change the engine oil, filter, air filter and fuel filter just to be sure
  I'm going to put a bottle of injector cleaner through it, with some fresh diesel
  I'm going to plumb in a boost gauge and see what the turbo is running, as use that as an indication as the whether its been tampered with
  And the see where i'm at, if very little to no improvement i'll book it in with my local (trusted) garage and get the cambelt and diesel pump timing checked.
  If thats ok i'll then maybe see about taking it to a diesel specialist and see if they can 'tune' the diesel pump to drop the smoke output, or try 'turning' the pump down myself.

All sound ok so far?

Thanks

Matt

Sounds like a plan! it still sounds the same as the problem i had with mine, used to run it the blue smoke at the start would clear and then it would only smoke a fair amount when i pushed the gas pedal down. i will be surprised if it is not the same thing, but thats just from my experience, im no mechanic. that was the timing belt was out of time btw. get back to us when you get things sorted. James