300tdi belt tensioner

[muddyjames]

ooh thanks for that.

I have now picked it up and it is mine :D

I do see what you say about not very nippy but I am happy with that and I think I counted right and it dropped into 4th gear at bang on 50mph. It was doing about 1500rpm. Does that sound right for 4th gear. I am fairly sure it was 1500 not 2500.

I am mega shocked on the size of the diesel tank though. from having the light on to it filled up was £80. OMG  But as I never allow a car to go into the reseve fule and the light come on it should only cost about £70 next time I hope. How many miles should I expect from my £80 worth of diesel?

[muddysteve]

james it was the EGR i was talking about

when are you going to put the pictures up?

Steve

[Matt_H]

ooh thanks for that.

I have now picked it up and it is mine :D

I do see what you say about not very nippy but I am happy with that and I think I counted right and it dropped into 4th gear at bang on 50mph. It was doing about 1500rpm. Does that sound right for 4th gear. I am fairly sure it was 1500 not 2500.

I am mega shocked on the size of the diesel tank though. from having the light on to it filled up was £80. OMG  But as I never allow a car to go into the reseve fule and the light come on it should only cost about £70 next time I hope. How many miles should I expect from my £80 worth of diesel?

If it's a regular auto box the lock they are talking about is when the viscous unit is effectively cut out of the equation.

Think of an auto box's "clutch" as two big fans which sit in viscous oil, one fan is driven by the engine the other is connected to the gearbox in the normal way, the engine fan spins the fluid which spins the other fan.  When it's on tick over you can easily hold the second fan still in the fluid by using the brake or park setting.  This method always has losses - somewhere between 10 and 20 % I think is the norm so if a regualr disco does 30 mpg then an auto would only do 24mpg - this is the main reason qhy old autos had rubbish fuel economy (not so much to do with them having less gears as they are 'taller' as no clutch to burn out when slipping).. Anway to get around this you have something called lock up where something hard joins the two fans together and locks them so no loses are caused in the fluid, this is what I believe the others were refering to.  To test drive along slowly accelerating from about 50mph, you should when you get to the speed mentioned see the revs drop off a little then increase.

How many miles will you get from £80 well assuming 30 mpg you should be able to work it out, 1 mpg = .21997 miles per litre .: 30 mpg = 6.59907 miles per litre,

£80 of diesel @ 98ppl = 82 litres

6.59907*82 = 533 miles or another way is to say it costs
15 pence per mile

Mine uses 20p per mile or about 23 mpg but then my throttle only has two positions generally!

[muddyjames]

[

  To test drive along slowly accelerating from about 50mph, you should when you get to the speed mentioned see the revs drop off a little then increase.

How many miles will you get from £80 well assuming 30 mpg you should be able to work it out, 1 mpg = .21997 miles per litre .: 30 mpg = 6.59907 miles per litre,

£80 of diesel @ 98ppl = 82 litres

6.59907*82 = 533 miles or another way is to say it costs
15 pence per mile

Mine uses 20p per mile or about 23 mpg but then my throttle only has two positions generally!

I shall try it out and see if the revs do drop off then go back up slightly. The manual says doing 56mph on a motorway I should get 41mph with an auto. I thnk that would be down hill with the wind behind in a lorries slip stream!!!

If I get over 500 miles from the tank I will be a happy bunny. That will be ALOT better than the 3.9 v8 auto range rover I had!!! Yes before you say it Matt. You were right!  :P

[Matt_H]

the revs don't drop then increase slightly, they drop slightly then continue to increase as speed does.

At 56 mph you get 41 mph - how does that work???? ;-)

Matt

[muddyjames]

i meant at 56mph i should get 41mpg. 1 letter wrong!!!

[muddyjames]

Hello. I had the belt tensioner changed last Friday before I went to Wales for the weekend.

The disco had a very small struggle to start on Thursday morning but nothing major. Just thought it was a pre heater gone. Drove to Wales. Max speed was 70mph and that was reduced to 60mph up hills. You did say it was sluggish.

Woke up at mates house on Friday, went out side to go out for the day, took ALOT of effort to start up then when it did it wouldn't rev over 1200rpm but did chuck out a massive plume of white smoke out the exhuast for 5 minutes but still no more revs until it had warmed up. Going up and down the welsh hills (not very steep ones) max speed was 60 and 50 up hills. Went into a mine museum, came out and again started it up white smoke for 5 minutes (and I do mean an embarrasing amount. Enough to hide the car in and I couldn't see out). drove back to mates house. went to the voluntary work accomodation just outside Cardiff. Max speed I struggled to get too in on any road around Cardiff was 30mph with white smoke the whole time and not many revs.

Mate looked at it in the dark with a torch. Belt I had put on the previous day by Keith Gott that had done 200 miles had near enough been stripped and the pully that goes out of the engine was wobbling. So it looks like the key way is bust and the pully for the alternator and the cam belt are both wobbling and loose so I had aht RAC take it away on a low loader today to a garage in Banbury. He is very highly praised for his work by 3 of my mates who take their Landies there and we shall see what happens. Will keep you posted.

[Xtremeteam]

going by what you hsve said about the smoke mine did that on tues & it was the headgasket that was away & it was blowing the water out the expansion bottle (mines is a 200tdi BTW)

did mine in 5 hours ish  

[Jake]

James
Good work on getting the motor.
Looks nice.
I hope you get the problems ironed out soon.
Whats your plans with it?
Mad off roader?
Keep us posted.

ps if you ever want to sell the front light guards, let me know  

[muddyjames]

I plan on making it not a mad off roader but a winch / and winch bumper, rock sliders, 2" lift and a snorkle

i may be selling my body soon to pay for the repairs.

[Jake]

James
Check your PM box
 :D

[muddyjames]

have done

[Matt_H]

Hello. I had the belt tensioner changed last Friday before I went to Wales for the weekend.

The disco had a very small struggle to start on Thursday morning but nothing major. Just thought it was a pre heater gone. .

to be honest it's not likely a glow plug or even the whole lot - it's really not cold enough to need them - I don't even bother waiting during the cold weather, I've two batteries though so it helps cold cranking.

Drove to Wales. Max speed was 70mph and that was reduced to 60mph up hills. You did say it was sluggish.

depends what kind of hills really - you should realistically be able to cruise at 70mph on anything the M4 has.  I had some in wales where 20 mph was hard enough!

Woke up at mates house on Friday, went out side to go out for the day, took ALOT of effort to start up then when it did it wouldn't rev over 1200rpm but did chuck out a massive plume of white smoke out the exhuast for 5 minutes but still no more revs until it had warmed up.

I noticed it struggling to rev when I came over the other night - very hesitant beyond 1200 rpm, foot flat to the floor it kind of hickups.

Was it white or blue smoke?

Check the oil and water levels cold and hot, if as RedlineMike says it could be the headgasket that's gone somewhere.  If engine gasses are getting into the coolant then you may see the water level rise a lot and have gas bubbles in it you won't tend to see white smoke this way round though.  If water is getting into the cylinders then the water level will drop slowly over a few days as it is being used up in the engine.  When the engine is heating up it is expanding and sealing the gap.  Best case you may just be able to re-torque the head bolts (I'm not sure if they use stretch bolts or not tho).  Middle case scenario it's head off new gasket and back together, probably about a days work for the home mechanic.  Worst case scenario is that the head has warped or cracked in which case it will need milling by a few thou, that would cost probably about £30 to skim but you obviously need to take the engine apart  (I've been looking for an excuse to buy some engine stripping tool :-).  

If it is blue smoke at tickover then it could be the turbo oil seals (I think the 300 still uses an oil cooled unit).  Turbos aren't too expensive to replace despite people often sucking their teeth!

If it's blue smoke at cold then it's could well be the piston rings or valve seals as these expand when they get hot.

Belt I had put on the previous day by Keith Gott that had done 200 miles had near enough been stripped and the pully that goes out of the engine was wobbling. So it looks like the key way is bust and the pully for the alternator and the cam belt are both wobbling and loose so I had aht RAC take it away on a low loader today to a garage in Banbury. He is very highly praised for his work by 3 of my mates who take their Landies there and we shall see what happens. Will keep you posted.

Now that is interesting.  Although I'm not sure what the pully that goes out of the engine is -(????).  If the belt has been severely warn then it could be one of the anscilliaries that have gone..  If it is water seeping into the combustion chambers, then it could have run dry or very low, the water pump could have ceised which will have caused the belt problems.

What's the garage in banbury you got it taken too?  Have they given you an estimate before starting work etc etc?

Matt

[Xtremeteam]

thing is when my HG went it didnt smoke much when cold but when it was warm it was billowing out the back at tickover & when running it would blow the cap of the expansion bottle if you dared unscrew it

the bolts are fixed length & reusable & also doesnt take long to do,as its a 300 takes a  bit less but can have the head of in just under/over an hour from starting,takes a bit longer to put back together though (tapets take freckin ages to set)

[muddyjames]

I have been told by mates at the weekend who are very land rovery minded that it is probably the key way into the engine hence why the pully was wobbling hence the shreaded belt so the cam belt is probably nearly shreaded as well and if it is wobbling the belt wont be going round the right speed so the timing maybe very slightly out. Thats their thought any way.

I will find out later on today the extend of the damage.

THe garage in Banbury is a one man band guy who used to work on john deer machinery and gave that up quiet a few years back and now specialises in Landies. He charges £25 per hour. No quotes as no idea on exactly what is wrong.

[Matt_H]

I have been told by mates at the weekend who are very land rovery minded that it is probably the key way into the engine hence why the pully was wobbling hence the shreaded belt so the cam belt is probably nearly shreaded as well and if it is wobbling the belt wont be going round the right speed so the timing maybe very slightly out. Thats their thought any way.

I will find out later on today the extend of the damage.

THe garage in Banbury is a one man band guy who used to work on john deer machinery and gave that up quiet a few years back and now specialises in Landies. He charges £25 per hour. No quotes as no idea on exactly what is wrong.

How does timing out give white smoke?  Surely it would be black smoke if timing was out.

Matt

[muddysteve]

our engines chuck out white smoke when the fuel pump timing's out

white smoke is unburnt fuel or steam. there were no bubbles in the header tanks and the pressure in the water system was ok when i looked at it.

i reckon its down to fueling rather than anything to serious we have it at work quite often when an injector or 2 go down on an engine they throw out plumes of white smoke and wont rev.

silly question james you did put diesel in it not petrol? as this would cause lots of smoke

Steve

[muddyjames]

I definately put diesel in it!!!

Garage said it is definately the pully off the cam chaft (or what ever shaft comes out to turn the cam belt pully) and the nut that should be at extreme torque worked its way loose so the timing is slightly out. will find out how much damage was done soon.

[Xtremeteam]

if the bolt has become slack it CANT change the timing,all that can happen is it shreds the belt quite quickly as it runs off line,the only pulley that can change the timing is the one on the front of the injection pump

[muddyjames]

so changing the pully may not solve the white smoke?

I will call the mechanic tomorrow and ask him whats what. it sounds like it could go into thousands at this rate.

I have been well and truly conned

[Xtremeteam]

been thinking & swithering over this,if the key way is gubbed it will allow the pulley to move side to side on the crank,this "could" change the timing but shouldnt cause white smoke,if the keyway is ***** it would need a new crank or a new engine,i wish i could diagnose it for you but its hard going by a description

[muddyjames]

the mechanic did say it could be a new crank but hehas a 300tdi engine in his yard that has had the top half cracked or something and the crank is  perfect  and he will sell that 1 to me for half price (£200).

I am sure I will find out sooner or later what is wrong and will fall over backwards with the bill!

[Xtremeteam]

if he thinks £200 is 1/2 price id buy it NOW

[Matt_H]

been thinking & swithering over this,if the key way is gubbed it will allow the pulley to move side to side on the crank,this "could" change the timing but shouldnt cause white smoke,if the keyway is ***** it would need a new crank or a new engine,i wish i could diagnose it for you but its hard going by a description

The thing that get's me is the smoke goes once it has warmed up - certainly timing if massviely out can give white smoke (lack of fuel ) so i've read up, but even a tooth out on the timing won't make it that bad I remember a certain Russ Brown-Lee telling me it'll just drive really badly.

Oh I do hope it's fixable for your sake James and not too much money.

Matt