Hey guys!

I have a 2002 110 defender TD5 which I bought new, the vehicles has always been looked after and regularly serviced.

Its used to have a very smooth and soft engine note before but lately it has started to sound like a 300 tdi.. well not really but there is some other background noise along with its own engine sound.

Its has 102000 kms on the clock... does it need new injectors or is they any room for adjustment of some sort.

Cheers

First thing to do is make sure its engine noise and not ancilliary noise.
You can run the engine for a short time at idle with the serpentine belt disconnected.
Remember you'll have no vacuum and no alternator, no power steering, but most importantly no water pump so only do it when the engine is cold and only for a few minutes to hear if the "background noise" is gone. If its still present then it points to internal engine noise.

The TD5 has hydraulic valve lifters which means they should always be "in" adjustment.
The lifters can get blocked with dirt from the oil if you've not been to bothered about keeping things clean when servicing. They only have the tiniest of oilways and are easily blocked.

It may be one of the injector rocker tappets has come loose. Only way to check this is to take the top off and see if the locknuts are tight and the tappets correctly gapped. This is a good time to have a look at the wear on the camshaft lobes and rollers. They should be shiny with no pitting or scoring which is another sign of dirt in the oil.

You might also want to take out the hydraulic timing chain tensioner and give it a good clean as it can also get dirt in the oilways which makes the tensioner bind and not tension the chain correctly. They do wear out but I've never seen one that has. Dont be tempted to start the engine with the tensioner out or you'll pump all of your engine out before you can switch the bugger off.

Other than that without hearing the noise its virtually impossible to diagnose.

Does it change with engine speed? Is it regular, tapping, squealing, rumbling, knocking, buzzing, etc? Does it worsen when the engine is hot/cold?

Thanks shifty for taking the time out to write such a detailed reply.


I will remove the belt and then check but I am pretty sure that its not the ancilliary noise.

I am an experienced DIY mech and as far as I can tell it have some thing to do with the injectors.

How can I check the injector tappets gap? I would like to do that first. And what should the gap be? Will I need a feeler gauge for that?? if yes what kinda gauge would it be since I will have to buy one.

And yeah its perfectly normal when cold and the TAPPING starts when it gets to normal operating temperature.

Cheers!

Bump!

Raider td5 said:

Thanks shifty for taking the time out to write such a detailed reply.


I will remove the belt and then check but I am pretty sure that its not the ancilliary noise.

I am an experienced DIY mech and as far as I can tell it have some thing to do with the injectors.

How can I check the injector tappets gap? I would like to do that first. And what should the gap be? Will I need a feeler gauge for that?? if yes what kinda gauge would it be since I will have to buy one.

Click to expand...

You do not need any gauges but a torque wrench would be handy.
To set the injector gap wait until the engine is cold then take the top off.
Turn the engine over by hand and adjust the injector tappets individually when their corresponding cam lobe is at full lift and the injector has started to compress.
Undo the injector adjuster lock nut and carefully screw the adjuster down with a suitable screwdriver until you feel the the injector bottom out. It will be obvious when this happens so dont go cranking on the screwdriver too hard.
Once the adjuster bottoms out back the adjuster off ONE complete turn and holding it still with the screwdriver lock it off with the lock nut. Be very accurate when you turn the adjuster back. Dont undo the injector clamp bolt.
Turn the engine by hand (large socket on the crank pulley or put it in gear and move the car back and forward) and do this for each injector and job done. There is no specific gap setting amount but you can run feeler gauges between the cam roller and the cam lobe to check if they are all roughly the same. If there is no gap then you've done something wrong and risk damaging the injector once the engine hots up. If one gap is vasly different to the others then reset it by following the complete procedure detailed above.
Put the lid back on and tighten the bolts to no more than 7 ft/lb.
Make sure you dont get any ****e in the engine whilst the lid is off.
Start the engine, check for oil leaks, and you are good to go.

Thanks Shifty for the explanation.

As I understand one complete turn is 360 deg. rotation or is it 180 deg?

And is this adjustment a must do standard procedure after certain millage or will I be doing it just to check if the sound gets normal.

Thanks again.

1 complete turn = 360 degrees. Try to be as accurate as you can.
Once they are adjusted you only need to do them if you disturb the injectors to change seals or some such.
Of course you could check them if you ever take the top cover off.