Thread: Grey Smoke from 2.25 litre diesel

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

G'day Mick,


Thank you for your reply.

My main concern is that the vehicle has been out of registration for quite a number of years before I bought it. This means it will need a full roadworthy inspection.

Otherwise have no fear I would have been enjoying it to the full.

I am not sure of the oil consumption as I have only ever driven it on to and off a car trailer for a couple of trips to bring it home and get transported to and from a welder's place. I also used it around the block doing some fencing just like a real ute.

Kind Regards
Lionel

Roadworthy inspections on diesels from that era have minimal emissions testing requirements. I recall that it cannot blow visible smoke for more than 30s when driving. If in doubt run heavier oil and some injector cleaner for the inspection.

G'day Lionel.
Reads like we both have a similar situation. My old girl ('76, 2.25diesel LWB Trayback) these days has been relegated to moving the caravan around in the backyard.
Re your smoke issue, it sounds very much like what mine had and a quick fix to boot. All that is needed is to slacken the 3 nuts retaining the injection pump and rotate it a couple of degrees in an anti clockwise direction. This will counter the probable timing chain wear
My other problem was hardening/breaking up of the valve stem seals causing oil slobbering out of the exhaust pipe.
I made up a small valve spring compressor so that the seals could be replaced without removing the cylinder head.
Result: a nice clean and smoke free exhaust (read back yard!)
The only other bad habit the old girl has is to occassionally burn out a glow plug which I re weld using spring wire. Being in series, one burned out stops the the other 3 from glowing.
mike

nothing hard about compression testing the 2.25

remove all the glow plugs, use a glow plug adapotor or make one then crack off all the injector unions and set the fuel cut lever to off and have at it. 10-20 turns per cylinder and read the peak and average pressures for the last 5 turns.

Yes could be an injection timing problem. With engine running, go to the exhaust pipe outlet and cautiously smell the exhaust gas by directing it with your hand into your face, if it makes your eyes sting (I did say cautiously, and it won't sting for long), it means you have unburnt diesel. It could be a compression problem or timing. Check your timing on the flywheel marks. If this is correct and its still smoking, there is another test to do.
Drive your landy at 70- 80 kph in top gear up a hill big enough to not allow any speed increase at full throttle, while at full throttle take note of the engine noise, hopefully it will sound as usual.
Now you will need to advance the timing in the injector pump , this is done by adding shims to the advance unit on the injector pump, this is the small cylinder that is on the side of the pump at 90 degrees to it, that has a hex headed cap on it, it contains a spring and shims in the cap, by adding shims to the cap the advance curve is changed. Add some shims ie 020 thou and then redo the stall test. If it still sounds "normal" then add more shims and redo the road test. You will know if you have advanced it too far as the engine will knock and rattle under stall, then you need to remove just enough shim to stop the knocking. Hopefully you will then have more power and no smoke.
I had a customer with the same problem, after taking the pump and injectors to our local diesel shop for a check up and he told me about this test, it made a big difference to the landy.

Cheers Steve

Originally Posted by klonk

Yes could be an injection timing problem. With engine running, go to the exhaust pipe outlet and cautiously smell the exhaust gas by directing it with your hand into your face, if it makes your eyes sting (I did say cautiously, and it won't sting for long), it means you have unburnt diesel. It could be a compression problem or timing. Check your timing on the flywheel marks. If this is correct and its still smoking, there is another test to do.
Drive your landy at 70- 80 kph in top gear up a hill big enough to not allow any speed increase at full throttle, while at full throttle take note of the engine noise, hopefully it will sound as usual.
Now you will need to advance the timing in the injector pump , this is done by adding shims to the advance unit on the injector pump, this is the small cylinder that is on the side of the pump at 90 degrees to it, that has a hex headed cap on it, it contains a spring and shims in the cap, by adding shims to the cap the advance curve is changed. Add some shims ie 020 thou and then redo the stall test. If it still sounds "normal" then add more shims and redo the road test. You will know if you have advanced it too far as the engine will knock and rattle under stall, then you need to remove just enough shim to stop the knocking. Hopefully you will then have more power and no smoke.
I had a customer with the same problem, after taking the pump and injectors to our local diesel shop for a check up and he told me about this test, it made a big difference to the landy.

Cheers Steve

G'day Steve,

Thanks for the detailed information - it is much appreciated. The hard part will be finding a hill - I live in Bundaberg Queensland It is on the coastal plain. The only bump we have around here has a 50 KMP limit on it - by the name of the pimple - whoops the Hummock!


Kind Regards
Lionel