300TDI rough running in higher rpms

Hi guys , girls and others

I have recently had the head gasket replaced , yesterday in fact and the compression of the engine is fine and starts first time.

I’m getting white smoke out the exhaust and lack of power and general rough running along with a tapping sound at high rpm.

my question is is there any advice on what this could be I was thinking the timing might be out / jumped a few teeth .


I’ve attached a video in case anyone recognise a sound.

additional note : exhaust manifold is lose replacement bolts and gaskets in the post.

Bloody hell switch that off and dont run it until you have sussed what is wrong!

Who did the hg?
Pop the rocker cover off and check valve gear for adjustment and anything broken, dont actually need to measure valve clearance just make sure as you turn motor over with spanner they all have a little play.

lynall said:

Bloody hell switch that off and dont run it until you have sussed what is wrong!

Who did the hg?
Pop the rocker cover off and check valve gear for adjustment and anything broken, dont actually need to measure valve clearance just make sure as you turn motor over with spanner they all have a little play.

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Yeah that was my thinking aswell , all the valves are okay I have already checked that

Lewi112 said:

Yeah that was my thinking aswell , all the valves are okay I have already checked that

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Did you look down the pushrod holes and see if the tappets look okay?
Do all the valves come to the same height when the rockers are free?
Did they touch the cambelt?

lynall said:

Did you look down the pushrod holes and see if the tappets look okay?
Do all the valves come to the same height when the rockers are free?
Did they touch the cambelt?

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pushrods , tappets and valves are all perfect. And no they didn’t touch the cambelt, I was also thinking the timing might be out.

my theory behind this is the engine cylinders where flooded so when the car initially broke down it was probably trying to compress the water / coolant and can’t complete a full stroke causing the belt to jump a few teeth

Where did the water come from?
Im not certain water in the cylinders would effect the cambelt in any way? pistons/rods maybe.

Of course it could just be sheer conicidence and you do have a cambelt issue as well.

Either way I reckon safest bet is to remove the head again, and check everything again.

The water came from the cooling system once the head gasket blew this ended up eventually flooding the engine essentially and and also filling the oil sump.

I was going to check the timing anyway as it’ll be an easy job , if you notice the noise towards the end off the video the noise seems to be coming from the timing belt cover , so this is where my assumption came from along with the white smoke

I was following the train of thought off this
https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/89372-300tdi-loss-of-power-white-smoke/

As above water cant make the timing jump, the pistons are driving the belt not the other way around.
Either way I'd go for timing cover off as it costs nothing then head off again and check for a bent conrod or 2

Kev12 said:

As above water cant make the timing jump, the pistons are driving the belt not the other way around.
Either way I'd go for timing cover off as it costs nothing then head off again and check for a bent conrod or 2

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itll take a look under the timing cover as it’s the cheapest option I can’t imagine getting the head stripped again will be a cheap / easy job

Apart from the head being heavy on these its neither difficult or expensive. In fact as that has just been off it will likely be easier than removing the timing cover if thats not been off for a while

****ed injectors.

Henry_b said:

****ed injectors.

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could easily be ,but you have to check timing ,tappets first

Do you know if they fitted the correct thickness head gasket?

Blackburn said:

Do you know if they fitted the correct thickness head gasket?

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Yeah it was the right one I’ve found the issue now

I can see the problem, some twonk has painted the axle red
Like I said above sheer coincidence.
Good find though, luckily cheap fix.

lynall said:

I can see the problem, some twonk has painted the axle red
Like I said above sheer coincidence.
Good find though, luckily cheap fix.

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I know talk about luck I was gonna start having sleepless nights over engine replacement costs , got a kit on order while
I’m there I’ll replace everything and hopefully its the last none cosmetic modifications/ fix for a long time

Lewi112 said:

I know talk about luck I was gonna start having sleepless nights over engine replacement costs , got a kit on order while
I’m there I’ll replace everything and hopefully its the last none cosmetic modifications/ fix for a long time

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There will always be something else, I used to keep a snag list of stuff that needs to be done, to be fair most of it was petty stuff.

You caught that just in time, belt failiure could have caused significant damage and head off again.

lynall said:

There will always be something else, I used to keep a snag list of stuff that needs to be done, to be fair most of it was petty stuff.

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i have a chalk board In the garage and jot things on it as I find them. I have 3 columns. 1 - routine maintenance plans for the year (cambelt etc) 2 - need to be fixed pronto column (wheel bearings rumbling, propshaft squeak etc) and the third column is minor stuff some of which has been on there for yonks like ‘Tighten up wing mirror’

Lewi112 said:

Yeah it was the right one I’ve found the issue now View attachment 220633View attachment 220634

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that’s a lucky catch there!