1985 1.6 diesel- black smoke and losing power

[cruising_r32]

Hi guys,

I've been reading through the tech section for the last hour but have not found an answer to my question so thought it was time to start a new thread.

I have a 1985 1.6 diesel camper, I bought it back in July for a festival but decided to keep it after having a great weekend in it.

The poor thing did not come from a loving home and so did not come with a service history or even any sign of a recent service.
It was not the quickest thing on the road but could manage 65mph on the motorway.

I changed the oil, oil filter, air filter and fuel filter as soon as I got it home.
On start up there is a lot of smoke, it is grey/ black in colour but this normally fades after after a few minutes of idling.
There is a hole in the exhaust back box helping it make more noise and smoke (its on my to do list).

My problem/ question is this-
I've driven about 1000miles in it trouble free but over the last few days I have noticed there is a lot of black smoke while I am driving and it is lacking in power. It is struggling to drive up the slightest incline and and when you push it, it just makes more smoke.

There is a small oil leak that I think may be coming from the crank seal (very dirty engine so hard to tell).

Has anyone else had this problem or can anyone make an educated guess from my description as to what the problem might be?

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciate

Alan
Dublin, Ireland.

[armyphil]

Black smoke is usually overfuelling try looking at the air filter clean it out or another new one, if that's ok if could be your pump timing that's out.

Hope that gives you a bit of an idea

[jamesc76]

dont they have a cold start lever? if it does cold this be stuck on giving excess fueling ?

[armyphil]

dont they have a cold start lever? if it does cold this be stuck on giving excess fueling ?

Yes mate they do,

[cruising_r32]

Yes there is a pull out button below and left of the steering wheel on the dash- think it is referred to as a choke....
I normally pull this out when starting the van but push it back in after about three minutes- it seems to do the same thing as putting your foot on the accelerator slightly.

Armyphil- I'll check the air filter now but as far as I know it is pretty clean. If it is the fuel pump timing that is off- how to I go about adjusting that?

[armyphil]

While you've got the engine lid off make sure the "choke" is releasing at the FIP first.

If your not that competent a mechanic the timing will involve a garage.

[cruising_r32]

Phil, you sound like you know your way around these engines fairly well, I'm new to these old diesels...

I've covered the basics when I first got the van- oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter but if I want to dive a bit deeper into the engine and refresh gaskets, seals etc what should I be looking at replacing.

I'd rather not have an engine out job as I just went though that ordeal with my Nissan Skyline but would still like to give the engine a new lease of life and some more reliability.

[armyphil]

Like most things it's easier to take the engine out especially as you mentioned a crankshaft seal has gone, the front seal is do-able if not a little awkward while in the van.

To be honest though if it's not broke don't fix it, if it's not leaking don't worry.

For your seals gaskets though look on brickwerks.

If your engine is that old and tired though look into a 1y or AAZ conversion

[cruising_r32]

Thanks for the advice Phil, appreciate it.

I'd love more power in the camper, not really for going faster but just so I can keep up with traffic with out pushing it and so hills don't make it struggle.
What kind of money would an engine swap cost me and how handy are they to come by/ get done?
There is not a lot of people over this way that would take it on, so i may have to take a road trip over to you guys.

In the mean time though- do anyone know what could be causing the lack of power?
It has come on all of a sudden, I'd rather not kill the engine by continuing to drive it if it is a simple fix.

[armyphil]

The engines are common and it's something a novice mechanic could fit with a little help.

eBay or scrap yards are good for engines either mk3 golf of other vw's of a similar age.

Have you checked out the other points first??

[cruising_r32]

I wouldn't have thought a golf engine would fit been a FWD.
I'll need to read up on that some more, more grunt would be nice to have.

I'm handy enough with the spanners and have a few friend who like to get their hands dirty so if it is just a case of buying the right engine and bolting it up, it could make for a fun weekend project.

[armyphil]

It will take roughly a day to do it's just a case of swopping parts over like engine mounts.......etc it's a very easy conv.

A search on here or brickyard brings up a lot of info

[colinthefox]

Smoke and lack of power might indicate poor breathing. The air intake is via a scoop inside the left hand high level grille at the back. There is a corrugated air pipe with noise attenuation stuff inside from the scoop down to the air filter. This pipe is usually broken, and is inadequate at the best of times. If the stuff inside collapses it can easily block the tube. I did a fix for this, and you can see it on my "AEF engine" thread on the Brickyard.

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/16cs- ... ine#428158" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If your engine is past it, you might consider an AEF engine as a replacement. Cheap and straightforward.

Last time I had smoke from my old 1.6D, I had left a rag under the air filter! Silly me.