wife moaning - turbo or overfueling?

Said it wouldn't go over 30mph and black smoke out the back.

Yeah right I says.

Well she was right.

Ok, so it had been smoking a bit lately (120k (as far as we know) 300 Tdi, auto box).

From what I searched on here it could have been overfueling (coz it was black), turbo pipes delaminating, intercooler fouling up.

I'd cleaned breather pipes, always keep on top of my servicing.

I tried some Forte diesel fuel cleaner in case of injectors. Didn't hurt. Then I used forte engine flush.

Now got new filters again (I changed them before and after treatments).

I thought overfueling coz IT STARTS TOO EASILY. I kid you not. Used to turn over once or twice and start, now starts with half a turn over - way too soon.

Anyway, took it out just now and gave it wide open throttle test.

Tonnes of black smoke - unbelievable, and then turbo kicked in.

I kid you not, I think it has been going around with no turbo, heard it whizz in, smoke was gone.

Drove around like it always used to - for a while.

Stopped it. Started it - usual 1 to 2 turn overs, so that felt good.

Drove around a bit more and noticed when hit 53mph and auto box goes through to LOCK OUT? is that the term? When all autobox viscous stuff is by-passed and get through drive train? Whatever - - top top gear, black SMOKE puffed out again, it laboured a bit, ease off throttle and no smoke, but speed drops below 53mph, - it had been doing this before I "fixed it" with wide open throttle - so I haven't fixed it of course.

So I don't know what to do? It has obviously been a problem building up, and is now quite a big problem.

Is it turbo? what do I do next? Is it oil seals on turbo - you can get a kit can't you?
Or is it overfueling - so what can I do about that? I've heard of turning something - but what?
Or is it really a garage job - that'll hurt - never had a car in a garage except for MOT before.

Thanks if you can help.
All I've ever learnt about cars is from fixing them because I had to or from guys like you who know more than me and are willing to pass on pearls of wisdom.
Cheers

Hi mate ,my mate had the same problem,turned out to be the turbo intake pipe losing structure due to age and collapsing in on itself, effectively no air = over fuelling = no power = lots of smoke.Try taking air filter to turbo intake pipe off and running it.Might not cure but will be the cheapest starter option .Hope this will be of help.

Thanks for that.

Will give it a go.

kingcarlos said:

Hi mate ,my mate had the same problem,turned out to be the turbo intake pipe losing structure due to age and collapsing in on itself, effectively no air = over fuelling = no power = lots of smoke.Try taking air filter to turbo intake pipe off and running it.Might not cure but will be the cheapest starter option .Hope this will be of help.

Click to expand...

So, fitted new silicone turbo pipes.

Still not right- bit too much smoke, and low on power (although after a damn good thrashing she seems to run better for a while with less smoke most of the time), but if floor it after 50 mph, so much smoke you can't see behind you.

Will get boost pressure tested soon. (How much will that cost, anyone know).

Someone said that it could be that timing belt has lost a tooth and valves are out of time, causing lack of power and smoke ?? !! ??

This could be the first time a car of mine has ever gone in to a garage for work other than MOT.

Can the intercooler get bunged up? Threads on here seem to say no. But a lot of oil peed out of the old top intercooler hose where the person before didn't weld the egr hole up properly. There shouldn't be oil peeing out of there should there?

I've had oil coming out of my intercooler to inlet manifold pipe before, however i was shocked when i clean out my ic just how much oil came out of it. Maybe worth a try.

Thanks guys.

Fixed.

Intercooler was jammed packed.

You know that blue industrial tissue type stuff - it was all in there.

I think I covered up the air intake on turbo with tissue once when I took air cleaner etc off to change shock absorber turrets. I reckon I left it there when reassembled the air cleaner to turbo.

Could it have gone through and stuck in intercooler?

Anyway, drives like a dream now; so much power. No smoke (unless really stick the pedal down )

Have I damaged turbo with that tissue going through?

I may not have left tissue in there - not like me, it may turn out to be some other waste material, but assuming it was me - what's the damage?

toadfish said:

Thanks guys.

Fixed.

Intercooler was jammed packed.

You know that blue industrial tissue type stuff - it was all in there.

I think I covered up the air intake on turbo with tissue once when I took air cleaner etc off to change shock absorber turrets. I reckon I left it there when reassembled the air cleaner to turbo.

Could it have gone through and stuck in intercooler?

Anyway, drives like a dream now; so much power. No smoke (unless really stick the pedal down )

Have I damaged turbo with that tissue going through?

I may not have left tissue in there - not like me, it may turn out to be some other waste material, but assuming it was me - what's the damage?

Click to expand...

:doh:

I know.

Tell me about it. :doh::doh::doh:

It should be OK actually, if it had been in the turbo at one point it will not have caused it any real harm. If the turbo is spinning then it's not clogged so it was all in the intercooler. If any made it to the engine then it will have been ejected as ash.

Thanks for that.

Thanks for all help in fixing her up.

Feels good to have managed it.

Feels great to have her running well.

Just want to go and have a good look at the debris now and figure out if it really was me !