Uh Oh.02 TD5 sounded crook

[cinders]

So coming back from the moto expo today in Melbourne when I heard a slight knocking coming from somewhere under the bonnet. I backed off and accelerated again and the noise disappeared. Ten minutes later it came back and was much louder. I pulled over and popped the bonnet, everything looked ok, no leaks evident underneath either. I waited about twenty minutes and checked the oil, still full and fairly clean.
Started the car again, all quiet, revved it, still quiet so pulled back onto freeway and kept going. Got off at FTG rd and left onto Springvale Rd. About two hundred metres up the road the revs increased to lots with a very loud knocking, blue smoke poured out of the exhaust, engine warning light came on and it died.
Rolled into the service lane and proceeded to expel a few expletives.
Once again checked everything over, just in case but looked good to me. Waited another ten minutes and thought I'll try and start it. It started ok, revved it slightly, ok. Increased revs to 3000RPM gradually, no worries.
So I thought I'll try for home which was about ten km's away.
Well it drove normally, no smoke, no knocking, no worries.
So even though it sounded terminal (a very loud knocking) it seems ok now.
I should say it's done a tad over 230,000km's.
So is it knackered or not??
Cheers

[landcol]

Hey cinders I had the same problem and symptoms with my td5 I even made it 2 hours on the freeway without a recurrence, but turned out to be delaminated intercooler hoses. Not sure if I was just lucky though, but I guess you have to start looking somewhere..

[Graeme]

the revs increased to lots with a very loud knocking, blue smoke poured out of the exhaust, engine warning light came on and it died.
Sounds suspiciously as though it was running on oil or oil and fuel mix from the sump, but possibly from the intercooler from needing to be cleaned-out. I suspect you have been lucky that it didn't detonate so suggest it not be driven until the cause is determined lest it detonate next time.

[Graeme]

Hey cinders I had the same problem and symptoms with my td5 I even made it 2 hours on the freeway without a recurrence, but turned out to be delaminated intercooler hoses. The symptons should have been different - engine choked rather than increasing revs and the smoke black.

[nismine01]

It does sound very much like de-laminated intercooler hose.

I'd try the pre turbo hose first, if soft it can suck closed and restrict the air intake.

The pressure side is a lot less likely to cause a problem but not impossible.

If a hose can close over, ie a piece de laminate and restrict the air coming in, the engine in trying to source air will draw fumes up past the rings. This will be quite oily and may cause some detonation, it's not fuel grade, plus the injected fuel.

If stuck or you can not fault them try several layers of stocking over the EGR valve or intake manifold taped on as a filter and drive the car without the inter cooler hose connected. Try not to drive through dusty conditions cause the filtration is not that good.

It will be a gutless wonder but if there are no noises it would seem that the problem is in the air intake system rather than a mechanical problem.

Regards


Mike

[cinders]

Ok. Thanks everyone. I'll have a look tomorrow.
Cheers

[justinc]

Drain some fuel from the filter and see if it smells of petrol...:(


JC

[Pacemaker]

Blue smoke....
Im with Graeme on this one.
If it was an intercooler hose there would be no acceleration and black smoke. The engine would have choked and probably stalled.
Cheers
Michael.

[cinders]

Sounds suspiciously as though it was running on oil or oil and fuel mix from the sump, but possibly from the intercooler from needing to be cleaned-out. I suspect you have been lucky that it didn't detonate so suggest it not be driven until the cause is determined lest it detonate next time.

Didn't get much of a chance to look at it today, but when I checked the oil it was about 50mm above the full line level!
So I drained some oil out of the sump into a glass jar and it is extremely runny, nearly like water. So It looks like diesel has gotten into the sump.
Would this be from faulty injector seals??
Cheers

[dfendr]

Good place to start

[cinders]

Well so far so good. Changed the injector seals, orings seemed ok but 3 of the copper washers looked like they had leaked. I drained the oil and yes, lucky it didn't detonate as I had drained out 18 litres!
So the engine runs a lot smoother and I got my economy back, yay.
Cheers for all the help people.

[cinders]

Bugger, bugger, bugger. That was short lived. Diesel is back in the sump so it appears it's the head, grrr.
So I have heard that the early TD5's had a porous head. Mines an 02 so is that considered early and if not, what could cause the head to leak diesel into the block?
Last thing, should I go original or I have found a mob called Turner engineering who do a head as well and claim it is better than the original.
Cheers

[robbotd5]

G'day cinders.
That's no good but is a very common problem. I had the same issue with mine, although no where near as bad as yours, 10 liters of diesel in the sump is a lot:o
Providing all your bearings are still ok, get hold of an AMC head from a local supplier or Turners UK. Yes I've heard the early heads had issues with the casting being porous, but its more likely to be a crack in one of the injector mounting holes. This causes the dilution. You could also have your injectors tested. Sorry mate, there is no easy way out if you intend to keep the vehicle.
Regards
Robbo

[cinders]

Hi Robbo,
It's definitely a love/hate relationship with this car but it is a keeper so I guess I'll get the Turner one when I have enough coin.
It's funny but I was so close to getting rid of it but then I thought what else is out there that can be treated the way I do.
Bashing it up rocks, through monstrous bog holes etc while still having fairly decent economy. I can open all the doors, take the seats out and hose it all clean, park on a hill to drain the water out and blow the rest out with a compressor.
If I want to run new wires into the dash, 10 mins and the whole lot is off.
So it still ticks all the boxes so I guess I'll just keep replacing the broken bits with better ones.
Cheers