Thread: 300Tdi knock vibrate black smoke

Sorry for the long delay in getting back on this. I have another car to get around in so the D1 didn't get the love it needed to finish it quickly. Also I followed a few red herrings and got stuck several times during the process.

Thanks again everyone who helped. Gold star for those who said rocker gear, that was the culprit.

Here is a summary of what I found. I took some photos and video, I will try to put something on YouTube later.

1. Removed rocker cover. Found a broken rocker adjuster screw on the 5th valve from the front.

2. Removed bell housing timing plug, rotated motor to no1 tdc and checked fuel pump timing hole. Seemed OK, marks aligned and tool went in OK.

3. Replaced broken rocker adjuster screw and pushrod (the pushrod was actually OK but I replaced it anyway). Checked valve clearances and tried to run motor. Ran quite rough but was better than before.

4. Some advice had been that the rocker parts seldom break for no reason, and I still suspected the timing was wrong.

5. Removed timing cover and checked timing belt, tensioner and alignments. Belt had been replaced around 12 months earlier (3 of those months car was off the road), seemed to be in good condition and had about 4-5mm of play, not enough to jump a tooth. Whoever installed it was very generous with white paint or liquid paper and there were plenty of marks. All those marks lined up, it all seemed OK. No sign of uneven wear either.

6. Rechecked valve clearances. Found I stuffed up the process at step 3 above and had the no 5 clearance completely wrong. Reset and checked all again, found one other valve (no 2) was a bit tighter than the 0.2mm so adjusted that one too but others all OK. Lucky I only adjusted no 5 at step 3.

7. Put timing cover, radiator, pulleys, belts, fan etc back together. Started engine.

8. Runs like a clock. Hooray.

Originally Posted by pk.hoarder

Sorry for the long delay in getting back on this. I have another car to get around in so the D1 didn't get the love it needed to finish it quickly. Also I followed a few red herrings and got stuck several times during the process.

Thanks again everyone who helped. Gold star for those who said rocker gear, that was the culprit.

Here is a summary of what I found. I took some photos and video, I will try to put something on YouTube later.

1. Removed rocker cover. Found a broken rocker adjuster screw on the 5th valve from the front.

2. Removed bell housing timing plug, rotated motor to no1 tdc and checked fuel pump timing hole. Seemed OK, marks aligned and tool went in OK.

3. Replaced broken rocker adjuster screw and pushrod (the pushrod was actually OK but I replaced it anyway). Checked valve clearances and tried to run motor. Ran quite rough but was better than before.

4. Some advice had been that the rocker parts seldom break for no reason, and I still suspected the timing was wrong.

5. Removed timing cover and checked timing belt, tensioner and alignments. Belt had been replaced around 12 months earlier (3 of those months car was off the road), seemed to be in good condition and had about 4-5mm of play, not enough to jump a tooth. Whoever installed it was very generous with white paint or liquid paper and there were plenty of marks. All those marks lined up, it all seemed OK. No sign of uneven wear either.

6. Rechecked valve clearances. Found I stuffed up the process at step 3 above and had the no 5 clearance completely wrong. Reset and checked all again, found one other valve (no 2) was a bit tighter than the 0.2mm so adjusted that one too but others all OK. Lucky I only adjusted no 5 at step 3.

7. Put timing cover, radiator, pulleys, belts, fan etc back together. Started engine.

8. Runs like a clock. Hooray.

Mine did exactly the same on my defender, $18-00 in parts and an hour of my time, i'm glad it was not a major issue.