Urgent help needed 300 tdi S

[K2]

Hi guys I have bought the tdi s I was looking at but due to your advice got the price down. I am now worried it is not as good as I thought. We brought it down last night in a blizzard and it was quite good BUT the engine cut out about half way home (about 8mile into journey) it did not do it again. My mane worry is blue smoke from exhaust. Last night it stopped smoking about 15 mins into journey at that point it was only in 3rd gear doing 25 mph due to blizzard. Once we got back to Dundee and the weather cleared we gave it a blast along dual carraige way and it was perfect with no smoke. Gave it a quick run today only around the houses in 2nd gear and again blue smoke. We do not know when the timeing belt was last done so we are doing this at the weekend and still using the old one untill then. Any ideas what it could be and is the smoke and engine cut out connected or have I bought a pup :(  By the way it has a CAT which is new and new exhaust fitted in last couple of weeks.

[Range Rover Blues]

Blue smoke is usually oil, so keep an eye on the consumption.  Might be best to dissable the EGR system too, if it's blowing at all.  Check out the insides of the intercooler pipes,if they look all gummed up then it's a bad sign, but some soot/oil is to be expected.

[Darren]

If it just cut out without any warning then it could well be the immobiliser. It's a not uncommon problem. I had the same thing with mine and detailed the fix on my website here. There's also some information on there about removing the EGR valve, amongst other things.

[tjsj]

Bit of a different vehicle but I have a 200tdi and have had it for about 10 months now and ever since i got it it puffed a little bit of blue smoke on tickover and low revs but not an abnormal amount and then turns to slightly black when really booting it! I thought that it may just be burning a bit of oil but as i am only using it for offroading i thought i would just drive it until it stopped but since i bought it 10 months ago, its hasn't lost any oil what-so-ever which amazed me really. Not much help to you but shows that others do it too.

[Rich_P]

If it just cut out without any warning then it could well be the immobiliser. It's a not uncommon problem. I had the same thing with mine and detailed the fix on my website here. There's also some information on there about removing the EGR valve, amongst other things.

Having read your page, can you gain access to the heater matrix through that central unit or do you have to remove the whole dash?

[Darren]

Nah, I think you'd still have to remove more of the dash. It's incredibly tight in there (ooh-err missus).

[K2]

Thanks all for help.
Ranger Rover Blues we have now checked the intercooler pipes and they are not gummed up, EGR system appears to be ok. Thanks.

Darren had a look on your website it was very helpfull the OH will follow it to the letter when fixing my cut out problem. Thanks.

The blue smoke problem seems to be settling down to just when cold. I do not have last years MOT'S emission results so a friend of mine with a tester is going to run it through on Monday to give me an idea of it's levels

Cheers guys

[huskynose]

Have you checked the fuel filter for water?

[Tyke]

Smokey Tdi's are pretty common.

Diesel motors produce a lot of particulate matter in the exhaust and this is often very visible in the rear view mirrors at night when another vehicle is following. Doing the same run in the same conditions in daylight the smoke will often not be noticable.

If the oil level is not needing frequent topping up I rekon the engine is  not likely to blow up on you for a long time yet. We just have to live with these things it seems. Worrying and annoying it may be.

As a matter of interest, I believe that the Co2 emmissions from diesel engines are not tested at MOT . . . . it is the level of particulates, (smoke), they measure and this is something totaly different.

[thermidorthelobster]

Do 300tdis have an air mass flow meter?  It sounds like it could be an AMF problem to me, but not if they don't have one!

[Tyke]

I've a '95 300Tdi and it's almost totaly 'manual' . . . . later ones with EDC may well have such electrikery . . . . . but being a bit 'old school' I wouldn't know about such things . . . . RRB got any ideas?

[cardiff_gareth]

How long was it stood for before you bought it as it might of been stood for ages then smoked to clear out all the rubbish that was in the engine etc. Mine smoked like hell when I got it and the guy said to run it for a while which I did and job done, not smoked ever since

If it still smokes then it could be the EGR valve but I thought that would be black smoke :?:  :?:

Incidently, I was going to do my EGR valve at some point, where is the cheapest place to get the pipe from  :?:  My dad paid £30 something quid for his from Allisport :shock:

[Leslie Henson]

The EGR valave sticks open, which allows too much exhaust gas back into the engine for the amount of revs. The result of this is a thick, sooty build-up (marmite), inside the inlet manifold, and some of the associated pipework. This has the effect of choking the engine - giving poor acceleration and smoke. If you pull the intake hose off of the inlet manifold, you will easily see if you have this problem.

Very good discussion with pictures here:-

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=7757


Les.