Please help. Random power loss

Hi there I have got a series 3 with a 2.25 diesel
For some reason this happens

Cold
White smoke nice power

Warm
Little smoke normal power

after 1/2 a mile
Little smoke
But no power

Like 20 max

Please help
Diesel is fresh, filters are new, no smoke out of oil intake
And tappets been adjusted ok

Please can somebody help.

Lift pump on the way out.

Have a look at the air intake hose, they tend to collapse with age. Try running it without it on, they don't cost much to change.

Check all the diesel pipe unions and filter bleeds. Sounds like you might be pulling air in somewhere.

Dumb question - is the stop cable slipping in and cutting off your Diesel supply? Might be worth a yank on that to make sure it's fully open. barring that I agree that it's the lift pump or you've got an air leak somewhere.

One thing to try as well might be rerouting the fuel pickup pipe from the tank into a container of Diesel and seeing if that changes things. might be you have a restricted intake or something partially blocking your fuel feed.

Good point. Check breathers are working in the fuel cap. I checked mine yesterday as it stank of petrol and the ball bearing had got stuck open...yours might be stuck shut?

Hi all
I replaced the fuel lift pump
Injector lines
Filter
And fresh fuel with a flushed tank

Filter was full of off diesel

White smoke now gone

Now it's knocking when I get above about 1500rpm

Plus grey /black smoke at the same time.

Do you think it's timing?

Many thanks
Regards
Adam

broada28 said:

Hi all
I replaced the fuel lift pump
Injector lines
Filter
And fresh fuel with a flushed tank

Filter was full of off diesel

White smoke now gone

Now it's knocking when I get above about 1500rpm

Plus grey /black smoke at the same time.

Do you think it's timing?

Many thanks
Regards
Adam

Click to expand...

Doubt if the timing is an issue if it wasn't before.
Sounds like a fuel starvation issue, lift pump, air intake in cap, fuel line blockage would be favourite areas to investigate.
Remember new bits don't always work, try and check lift pump etc. for function. Take it these are quality parts?

Turboman said:

Doubt if the timing is an issue if it wasn't before.
Sounds like a fuel starvation issue, lift pump, air intake in cap, fuel line blockage would be favourite areas to investigate.
Remember new bits don't always work, try and check lift pump etc. for function. Take it these are quality parts?

Click to expand...

Hi there
I tested all parts prior to filling
No blue boxes.

It's strange because tick over is good.

I thought black smoke was unburned fuel.

broada28 said:

Hi there
I tested all parts prior to filling
No blue boxes.

It's strange because tick over is good.

I thought black smoke was unburned fuel.

Click to expand...

Good!
Good tickover, disappointing at higher revs, was what made me think of fuel starvation.
Maybe worth checking the pump timing, but it probably wouldn't tickover nicely if it was wildly out. And unless something has broken it shouldn't change suddenly.
Check filter head internals for blockages, sometimes the little pinhole fuel spills get blocked.
In the fuel intake fitting on the injector pump, there is sometimes a tiny brass strainer. You have to unscrew part of the union to get at it. They sometimes block up.
How bad is the smoke? Most old diesels smoke a bit from cold, and many also give a plume of smoke under acceleration. So long as all else is well no concern. Not so good if it is billowing all over the street, though!

Video of knocking and smoke

broada28 said:

Video of knocking and smoke

Click to expand...

Is that from cold. or fully warmed up?
Smoke is nothing, probably go away after a good run down the motorway. What sort of oil are you using?
Might be a bit of bearing knock, could be in engine, or even gearbox. Doesn't sound that sweet, might be worth a timing check. And getting injectors checked, when where they serviced?

The knock could just be a dodgy injector. Crack a union off each one in turn raise the revs and see if the knock goes away. Have you had the injectors out recently ? If so it may be a miss placed sealing washer, when removing the sealing washers I tend to use a pencil to grab them with as the taper on the pencil fits nicely. I have found that some pattern sealing washers are oversize on outside diameter and hard to remove once squashed. Oh, remember they fit with the ridged part uppermost. If you can borrow an injector setting pump and get them to pop off at 130/135 bar. I once had some refurbished that went off between 140 and 165, ran like a dog !

divie said:

The knock could just be a dodgy injector. Crack a union off each one in turn raise the revs and see if the knock goes away. Have you had the injectors out recently ? If so it may be a miss placed sealing washer, when removing the sealing washers I tend to use a pencil to grab them with as the taper on the pencil fits nicely. I have found that some pattern sealing washers are oversize on outside diameter and hard to remove once squashed. Oh, remember they fit with the ridged part uppermost. If you can borrow an injector setting pump and get them to pop off at 130/135 bar. I once had some refurbished that went off between 140 and 165, ran like a dog !

Click to expand...

Pencil is a good tip! Little buggers are hard to reach otherwise, I always use a pencil.
If they haven't been serviced for donkeys, I would just pull em all out and get them serviced. Often helps.

Thanks guys
Yeah the injectors are returb ones from paddocks less than 6mths old.
The video was from cold but it is the same when it's warm.

I don't think it's bearing as the knock is up top

I will try the pipe route first to see if that is it.

Dam a pencil - I spent ages with a screwdriver getting thoes out.
Thanks for the tip.

As for oil
20w 50 mineral oil.
Fresh less than 1week old
Because I thought the oil wasn't correct that the engine swap garage used. (Didn't trust them)

Still sounds like a lack of fuel to me .. Dunno the diesel pickup in the tank, but on my petrol S3 the tank pickup had a filter on it that got clogged, basically the filter is a fine metal mesh cone, which I just 'removed (it fell apart when i tried cleaning it) and which cleared the problem completely.

Similarly in my Defender recently, petrol pipe from tank to lift pump removed, blown through from lift pump end and wife watching the tank said a load of 'something like jelly/snot, then diesel, then air' came out ... all's been good since.

Worth a try ...

Thanks for the advise
I checked the pick up and it's all clean.

Thanks anyway.

broada28 said:

Thanks for the advise
I checked the pick up and it's all clean.

Thanks anyway.

Click to expand...

I certainly wouldn't rule out fuel issues either. Most diesel problems are to do with fuel or air. Have you checked for little filters in the intake union of injector pump? Like a little brass strainer! They can block too.

Edit. And while you are looking, get someone to turn over the engine, as Paul says^^^^^^, and see that there is clean fuel pumping out of the feed pipe!

Just to update
I did as above and undid a injector at a time and found the knock disapeared when I undid the rear piston injector feed.

New injector (good make) and put back together and it still knocks and i think misfires
Rev very slowly it's fine until about 2500 then knocks until I leave if for about 30 seconds and it disperses
Knocks straight away if I blip the accelerator.

Fuel is all clean and oil is fresh and good.

Thanks for the advice anyway
Regards
Adam

Video uploading

I'd get a compression test done, rules out a few things for little effort. I had simlair probs with a salvage 2.5nad I tried to get running right, turned out to be a slightly bent rod on number 4.
When I pulled the head I could see the piston was a tad lower than the rest.