Smoking 300tdi

hi, I'm new to this forum but would really appreciate any advice on / experience of the following:

I have an ex-army defender which has recently had a 300tdi transplant. It has not been quite right since then! This has been a long running project and I think I'm coming to the end of the road.

The latest thing is that the exhaust smokes when going downhill and I can't decide or work out whether it is the valves or the rings. Both of these were changed on a rebuild 600 miles ago.

On a separate note (possibly connected) the timing belt slipped 200 miles ago. Push rods were bent and replaced by a garage, that said it was ok.

Any suggestions, apart from the obvious of scrapping it / getting another one...

First thing's first.... what colour is the smoke?

hi, thanks for your message.

smoke has a sort of bluey tinge to it...

If it's piston rings there will be blowby in the crank case, you should be able to feel this as pressure (and fumes) out of the dipstick tube.

It's rather odd if it only does this when you come off the power going downhill though, in all cases I've seen of worn piston rings or scored cylinders there's been smoke on heavy acceleration too.

Blue smoke is definitely oil though.

Check to see if there's any fresh oil in the breathers to the inlet.

its probably the turbo on its way out - this is how mine showed itself first. Easy fix, easy test an all.

take the intake pipe off to the turbo. Grab the end of the spidle and wiggle. There should be a barely conceivable amount of movement. Anything more, shove a new one on. I drove my turbo into the ground, and it resulted in other problems. Changing a 300 turbo is well easy, have a read!

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