Thread: 300tdi Defender - Oil pouring out of front sump wading plug

@ 13 sec the engine lifting bracket is rattling....
Apart from that, it seems like a pretty unhealthy TDI.

Id be trucking it to a trusted mechanic (probably not the one who did the head)

How well did the vehicle run before starting this work?

Lack of power and smokes badly - timing still out? Valve not sealing?

Probably not your issue, however, the only time I've lacked power in a Tdi was when a line at the turbo was knocked off - from memory there are two line at the turbo and I think it was the vacuum line from turbo to fuel pump(?) that was knocked off at the turbo end while doing other work. Regardless of which line it was check at the turbo that these two lines are is still attached or not got a holes - from memory the one that was giving me trouble was tucked in behind the turbo and a little difficult to access. I think what was happening was that no vacuum was going to the wastegate controller, so the gate was not opening and the turbo was not spooling up to pump compressed air into the cylinders to aid combustion. The vehicle felt way underpowered - it would reach road speed but very slowly - in other words running as naturally aspirated rather than turbo charged. I don't recall getting loads of smoke.

It acted similarly before with a lack of power (and no turbo spool). Cleared up after 20 km with the only thing I did was pour in some injector cleaner.
It drove great for about 120 km until the crank seal started leaking oil at a rate of a litre an hour if not more (the reason this thread was started).

Seems unlikely injector cleaner would do anything this time. All the lash caps where there when I did the adjustments yesterday.
I also thought it was the loose engine hook, but I can still hear a metalic sound when holding it. I can be best heard with an ear near the intake manifold.

I'm sure I did the timing right this time, I must've rotated and checked the pins double digits - unless the belt somehow slipped since putting the cover on...

Thanks for the link jboot, I've ordered a new adjustor screw. It's possible that number 1 rocker has been thrown completely out of wack because of it... But to cause no power and black smoke? I'll pull the cover and see what the clearance is now as - 5 km

Perhaps the engine is just buggered and wants throwing out or a rebuild... Theres been a fair bit of oil in the intercooler - a sign of a tired engine if the breather is spitting out that much as I understand it?

300tdi needs boost to allow the injection pump to really fuel up (the small hose from manifold to the IP is so it can sense boost pressure), so if you're not getting boost you shouldn't be getting enough fuel to make lots of black smoke. Unless of course you're not getting enough air into the engine, in which case even a small amount of fuel won't burn properly.

I'd pull the intercooler hose off the inlet manifold and take it for a quick spin to see if that changes how it behaves. If the black smoke stops or reduces you know there's a restriction upstream in the hoses/intercooler/turbo or air filter etc.
If you're concerned about driving it with that hose off then just pull the hoses and work through those components making sure that nothing is blocked/restricted. Good opportunity to give the turbo compressor a spin/wriggle to make sure that seems OK.

Oil in the intercooler previously might just be blowby from a glazed engine that hasn't had enough hard work.

Steve

How many kilometers has the vehicle done overall?

What sort of fuel consumption have you been getting?

Have you regularly checked oil levels? Level been rising instead of static or falling?

To confirm, you are not getting turbo spool?

Okay, so it has 375xxxkm on the clock. I don't know the history of the car, but I do know in the past year it's been sold twice... Never a good sign.

Interesting you ask about the oil level. The crank seal leak this thread was started over was bad, and I lost everything in the engine twice, but when I checked it after doing the timing and seals it was about 10mm over full (on a slight hill).

I took off the intercooler top hose, was bloody loud but had no power at all, couldn't even pull out from the slight hill it's parked on.

Can't say for sure if the turbo is spooling or not, but it doesn't sound like it. I took a video while revving to 2k.
Be warned, it sounds shocking.
https://vid.me/EvHE

Thanks again.

375 thousand is still a good engine if generally looked after.

Hard to say where to from here.

Intent of the questions about fuel economy and oil levels is to determine if you have diesel leaking into your sump ie a leaking lift pump. Don't know what others think about the rate of your leaking - it seems a lot to me for a worn seal, unless the machine components are firing the oil directly at the worn seal - if you are claiming a loss of about a litre an hour(?) and your dip stick is not retreating then you are filling up from somewhere. I have a tractor that at one stage was getting diesel into the sump, stick level went up, and as soon as the fluid level reached the bottom of the cylinders the engine lost power, almost coming to a halt, and smoking. My guess is that 10mm above the full is not going to be a problem - although you could drain some oil and see if the engine improves.

Can't get the video link to work.

So you could not observe forced air coming from the turbo? Can the lever rod that operates the turbo gate be moved by hand - just in case the vacuum sensor, that normally moves the lever, has split.

Was it still pouring out black smoke with the intercooler hose off?
I'd have expected it to run like a normal 300tdi just pre-boost ie gutless but no significant smoke.

Steve