300tdi smoking like a trooper in norway

after 3 months and a whole bunch of miles im very close to the finish line and getting home.

very cold in norway at the moment and the defender has started to smoke white for the first time.

im loosing a bit of collant but always have really. oil is fresh only 6000km ago. doesnt seem to be increasing in level. on the dip stick it did seem to have some small bubbles that might have been water drops.

checked for oil in the turbo. no more than normal.

no bubbling in the coolant res when running.

but shes smoking good. doesnt go away when reving just gets worse. started today when driving alot. not hard driving just cruising along the fjords.

going past a landy dealer tomorrow so i could stop and get anything done that might be serious but keen to keep going if its ok. engine pulling and running fine.

If you have or suspect water in the oil then l suggest you get it looked at.
You might get away with it until you get home, but the engine could fail when you are miles from help.

Keep an eye on your coolant level. You don't have any drips coming from any hoses or radiator do you? I had a slight leak that I thought was the head gasket and it turned out to be a very well hidden leak on the rad.

would water in oil cause he smoking?

If its white smoke when it is at running temp and you are not losing coolant you have a fuel problme of some sort, either inj/pump failing or pump timing.
Have you checked the timing chest drain hole for black dust/debris?
Recently derved up?

hmm thats interesting. think i will change the fuel filter and check the pump. had the timing belt changed in mongolia. bit of a drama. guess it could have slipped. nothing through the hole but i will check it out. guess i will do some simple things tomorrow and head to the dealer tomorrow. would be a massive shame to blow the engine meters from the finish line.

just an arse it happens in the MOST expensive country in the world.

Take it to a VW dealer for an emission test, probably find that it's OK.

defo loosing coolant. quite a lot. res car has pressure behind it no mater how long you leave to cool. engine gas getting into system?

ran engine and removed oil filler cap. white smoke which could have been steam coming gently out. so coolant leaking into oil?

all this makes me think its head gasket. will have to order in which could take a week. how far could i drive it like this? if not at all i will stay here in bodo amd wait for parts. if i can do 2000km i will drive to sweden this weekend as the garages here are shut anyway.

Ive only done a few 300 head gaskets, you know when they are bad as they split the coolant tank around the seam.
Bodge would be to run with coolant cap slackened off and stop frequently to top up if needed, but system wont be under pressure with slack cap so may quite happily run like that.
Right hand side of head look at the gasket and you will see little tangs the number of tangs is the thickness of the gasket.

Ps look at the back of the water pump to see if the P gasket is leaking, they leak very slow, so slow the coolant evaporates on the hot block so the driver is unaware they have a leak, then it gets so low engine overheats and blows head gasket.
P gasket is about a quid.

NiallRussell said:

defo loosing coolant. quite a lot. res car has pressure behind it no mater how long you leave to cool. engine gas getting into system?

ran engine and removed oil filler cap. white smoke which could have been steam coming gently out. so coolant leaking into oil?

all this makes me think its head gasket. will have to order in which could take a week. how far could i drive it like this? if not at all i will stay here in bodo amd wait for parts. if i can do 2000km i will drive to sweden this weekend as the garages here are shut anyway.

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NiallRussell said:

defo loosing coolant. quite a lot. res car has pressure behind it no mater how long you leave to cool. engine gas getting into system?

ran engine and removed oil filler cap. white smoke which could have been steam coming gently out. so coolant leaking into oil?

all this makes me think its head gasket. will have to order in which could take a week. how far could i drive it like this? if not at all i will stay here in bodo amd wait for parts. if i can do 2000km i will drive to sweden this weekend as the garages here are shut anyway.

Click to expand...

if coolant hoses under constant pressure even when cold,or hissing when the caps removed head
gasket has failed or head cracked,leave it long enough and water will get into the cylinders and hydrolock the engine

thanks for the advice guys. must be the head gasket. no where open in boo or umea so going to try and push to stockholm to keep moving.

weird thing is it stopped loosing coolant and smoking yesterday for 600km and only started smoking again when i was parking in the evening. maybe cold? hopefully it will play ball and i can get to amsterdam where im storing the car for a month anyway. fingers crossed.

It seems that the pressure builds up and once the engine revs drop (such as parking) the pressure in the coolant system now pushes the water into the engine and the steam returns.

When I turn off the engine I purge the pressure and top up the coolant and when starting the car again (in the morning) it starts with steam and then runs clear after 4 or so minutes.

Hoping all this means the leak is small and continuing this method I'm pushing on to a reputable garage and getting closer to home.

Just be careful if it struggles to turn over in the morning, dont keep trying it as you may have water in the cylinders, to remove the water remove a glow plug and spin it over on the starter, refit plug and carry on.

Niall, had the same problem with one of our volvo's on the way back from Holland. When the engine was running the pressure in the cylinder kept the water out. As soon as the engine was turned off, the pressure in the header tank forced the water into the cylinder through the crack in the head gasket. Only lost water when the engine was off and was fine while running.

i know this is a very old post but i had issues with white smoke when i rev it turned out water was running from rear tub of double cab down through fuel filler cap area and running down the hose that fills the tank and getting into the tank via a slack jubilee clip believe it or not my full fuel system was full of water all the way to injectors you can imagine how much my head hurt trying to find issue until i was under it one day and it was raining and i saw the rain trickle down to the hose and into the tank.

Try some sealant in the system. Fix it when you get home if you are lucky.

its a build from scratch jobby so bits are hanging off all over the place just hadn't put a jubilee clip on it sorted now though,just need to find a good painter as i dont have a garage to do it myself even though i would like to.