200TDi Not running well !

[NCF 110]

Went out for lunch today in the Defender, no problem ran very well, when we came home the engine seemed to be firing on only three cylinders or the the timing was out , it was blowing a lot of white smoke , the temperture was not high , it ticked over when we had to shop at the lights , and started again after we got home and I took a look at the engine ( which looked fine to me ) still blowing white smoke when reving , any clues ?
cheers Stewie

[PAT303]

Sounds like you've lost compression to me.Squeeze the top rad hose and rev the engine up and see if it swells in your hand.Is there oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil? Pat

[justinc]

If it suddenly happened after you re started the engine, more than likely the timing belt has been slack and hopped a tooth on the crankshaft gear when you cranked it over to start it. This will cause the fuel timing to be out by a long way and cause the white smoke.

When did it have a timing belt last?


JC

[NCF 110]

It looks like oil in the diesel to me , the oil level as gone down a little , the timing belt was changed about 40,000km ago . The engine starts OK , cleaned the air filter out , checked for leaks ,none found , so it could be the timing belt . Is it OK to dive to find out if it is that ?
cheers Stewie

[justinc]

Stew,

No, it is not OK to drive it, as IF it is a timing belt, then it'll soon hop more teeth and punch the valves into the pistons..:eek:
Furthermore, it could also be a head gasket blown into the crankcase or between cylinders. (It'll be the 3rd this last week if it is!!!) causing the missing and smoke issue.
OR, it could actually have ULP in the tank. Check no one has topped the tank with ULP, drain the fuel filter and see if it has a petrol smell. Although this will usually cause difficult starting and poor performance, it usually won't blow white smoke.

Get it looked at ASAP..
JC