hmmm - what's happening

[ashley]

Firstly - just worked out how to post a new thread, after looking at this site for about three weeks...and not being able to work it out.

i am as of about three weeks ago the proud owner of a 98 130 defender.

in the week i had it before i took it to a landrover mechanic to get the timing belt fixed it started fine (straight away), and didn't blow any smoke that i noticed. it seems that ever since i i picked it up from the mechanic it has developed a problem of not starting straight away when cold. if its warm its fine. when cold, when it finally starts, there is a lot of white smoke. its all very odd. it goes away once its warmed, but all the same, i'd like to know what's going on.

i wonder whether the timing is not quite right on the timing belt, or whether the guy i bought it off put heaps of 'stop smoke' stuff in it before i bought .

any thoughts ideas would be appreciated.

[long stroke]

Welcome
He could have played with the timing and retarted it

TIM.

[ashley]

thanks - does anybody else have any ideas?

[V8Landy]

Try in the tech section

[Michael2]

Welcome to the REAL Land Rover fraternity (read Defender/ Series owners ).

White smoke could also be water vapour, are you loosing any coolant?

Has the glow plug wire been unplugged (though the 300Tdi should hardly need to be glowed to start). Follow the yellow wire that loops across the four glow plugs to it's plug at the back of the engine. You can test it by switching the ignition on and seeing if you have power (while the glow plug light is still on at the dash, so you only have 3 seconds). Use a test light or a multimeter.

Given that the timimg was done, I'd be guessing the belt could be out a tooth.

Also, how fresh is your fuel?

[justinc]

Definately timing is out. Get him to retime and while they're at it, increase plunger lift to 1.6mm.

Running it like this is hard on starters, glazes cylinder bores and causes diluted oil in the sump with unburnt diesel.


JC

[Blknight.aus]

it can also be contributed to by

glow plug circut U/s
injectors out of spec

the main culpret is bad injection timing tho.

[Rangier Rover]

White smoke points towards retarded fuel timing.