smokey bedford

[wozza]

Cheers everyone for the help sorcing some power steering parts. They might have to wait for a while tho as my truck smokes a lot and i might have found the problem. The smoke is particulary thick when accelerating. Having looked at the engine there appears to be an oil leak just above the injector pump between the block and the head. Im gonna hav to get a guy out to have a look i think but is the head gasked difficult on one of these and more to the point are they expensive? Any ideas, sources of parts, people to call are most welcome as i have never owned a truck like this before. Its a 330 turbo diesel engine.

[Swill1952xs]

What colour is the smoke.......... blue, grey, black or white? Not taking the Mickey, but the colour of the smoke often tells you where the problem is.

 

Does the smoke reduce when the engine is warm?

 

Is the smoke only there when the engine is pulling?

 

Has the engine spent a long time running while the truck is stationary?

 

Does it smoke and / or misfire when it starts up?

 

Have you changed the air filter since you had it?

 

Has it had any work done on the engine before you bought it?

 

Does the fuel in the tank look and smell ok? Contamination?

 

Does the exhaust sound ok? (Silencers have been known to collapse internally and block the gas flow)

 

If you can answer these questions, it could help diagnose the fault. I wouldn't have thought the oil leak would have much to do with the smoke problem. Head gaskets can leak oil without affecting the cylinders and compression in any way. It could also be that a good "Thrash" down the motorway could do it the world of good.

 

Er..................jus' tryin' ta be helpful. :-D

 

P.S. answer all the questions and you win a night out with the forum cheerleaders........... and here they are... :yay::yay::yay::yay::yay:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:noyay:Sorry.......theres always one..........wassup Cynthia? In the wrong place again..........Doooh

 

Oh......... an' welcome to the forum.

[Stormin]

My MJ had an almost new engine in. Oil as clean as new. It used to smoke a lot on start up from cold. It cleaned up once warmed up thoroughly. Diesels need to be worked a bit to warm up properly and have the turbo spinning to thin the mix of fuel into the engine.

The Bedford lump is well proven and durable so don't assume the worst just yet. Work your way through the list as given by Swill, and also look at the turbo hoses for holes, collapse or oil contamination.

[wozza]

Engine smokes when warm. The previous owner said the vehicle had not been used in a while. Its white smoke, air filter is clean and i have just changed the fuel filter. Put a sniffer test in the filler for the coolant behind the flap on the passenger side and it turned yellow. I fear it might be head gasket but befor i do the inevitable i will see if anyone has any cunning ideas! Is it a difficult job on one of these?

[Richard Farrant]

Its white smoke,

Put a sniffer test in the filler for the coolant behind the flap on the passenger side and it turned yellow. I fear it might be head gasket but befor i do the inevitable i will see if anyone has any cunning ideas! Is it a difficult job on one of these?

 

Hi Wozza,

 

I have built hundreds of these 330 engines when working in REME, but last one was quite some years ago now. I am 99% sure the only way the water passes from block to head is at the front, pump and thermostat housing and at the back where two large "O" rings seal to the rear of the head gasket. So what I am saying is that I don't think it can be the gasket that is leaking. They do have removable sleeves for the injectors, with rubber rings to seal, it might be a leak here perhaps.

 

It is a two man job to remove the head and you need to remove the seats and the large access panel over the engine.

[wozza]

Hi Richard, cheers for the advice, might save some time and hard work! Will check the items you suggested and see what happens.