Black soot out of exhaust under load, the clunking out of ge

[polish van ben]

Hi all

I've got a 1.9 turbo diesel, I think it's the TDI conversion, but with a mechanical pump/injectors fitted and Jx turbo exhaust set up - have deduced this from previous posts and advice. It was put in as a reconditioned engine about 6 years ago in Poland and has run beautifully up until about 8 months ago, and now it just seems to be one thing after another - as a result am getting a bit depressed with it all and wondering if it's time to sell up. Must have done about 60000 on the recon

It all started when I noticed a loss of power, so getting about 20 km less at top end or on hills then previous and some evil smells with white smoke coming from exhaust when under load. Took to the garage and they said turbo had seized up. Seemed to make sense. Ended up taking turbo off, sending off to Midland Turbo. They sent me a reconditioned unit which I fitted myself - all at a cost of around £500. End result, engine sounds great in idle and running around town, but still loss of power on hills and at top end. Now can only get to 80km, while previous could do 100km no worries, maybe down to 90 on hills.

Have driven down to West Wales from Cardiff in it this weekend and really noticed the difference, but exhaust runs clear when in idle (but very hot after long drive) with no smoke whatsoever. But got a friend to follow me for a bit and going up hills I've now got definite black smoke coming from exhaust, which stays quite low, hence I couldn't see it - it seems very sooty as there are quite big deposits of soot around the inside of exhaust down pipe.

So first question is what would cause this, if not the turbo? My only theory now is the injectors - the van has always had a problem with occasional stalling when idling which I have put down to a fuel/injector prob - could this be linked? And if it is injectors how much do these cost to fix/replace? Could it just be the air filter? Or something more terminal? How can I check these things before laying out loads more money?

Right - next problem. Have just driven the van back from West Wales, and just past Port Talbot there is a clunk and I loose drive. Pull into hard shoulder, but drop into third and drive is back again. Carry on as normal but keeping a keen ear out. After few more miles happens again when in fourth, and then keeps happening intermittently when in fourth and on hills. Gear stick just seem to jump out of fourth when under load - I think this is now totally unrelated to my other engine probs, but any theories and ideas on costs to get sorted would be greatly appreciated.

Basically coming to the point where I'm having to sum up whether we spend more or just get rid - which would be gutting as she's been with me for over 6 years now especially as now have young family so know if I loose her it'll be a long time before replacement is bought, as money just seems to disappear somewhere now

Any help would be greatly appreciated - and also if anyone knows of any friendly vw types in Cardiff area with exp of alternative diesel engines that I might be able to take it to

Thanks

Ben

[nevill3]

Sorry to hear of your current woes, here is a link to a diesel website that helps to identify "Smoke" problems

http://www.uniteddiesel.co.uk/diesel-engine-smoke.php

Click on the probable cause on the left column to see further details.

Have you done an oil change recently, a couple of years ago I swapped from using mineral oil to synthetic (I had a 5 litre bottle of Quantum platinum to hand when the oil change was due so thought I would use that) and found that my 1.6D non turbo smoked and was sooty until I changed back to using mineral. Just my experience so if your oil was changed recently and a different type was used maybe a change back could help, as well as a new air filter.

Good Luck

[polish van ben]

Yep, did oil change when I changed turbo - to part synthetic halfords 15/40 - could try that
Also not sure if air filter has been changed for a long while - so guess will start with that

More worried about poss clutch/gear box probs now with popping out of fourth - could this be down to need to change oil in gear box? as don't think that has been done since new 4 speed was fitted with engine. Could a lack of/old oil in gear box also attribute to a loss in power? Had started to notice a clunk when I change gear recently also.

[polish van ben]

Also thanks for smoke article, had looked at that, but seemed to throw up a few different options - thought I might be able to narrow it down a bit and get some ideas of costs - really can't afford to spend more than a few hundred getting it ticking again - need to know whether to accept defeat and lose it

Problem is that mechanically I'm still just feeling my way, so even better if anyone knew someone local to me that could help me out with it - obviously for cash if jobs were beyond me

[lloydy]

Popping out of fourth is usually a sign of gearbox on its way out (needing a rebuild) although you can be lucky and get away with it just being the linkage. Loss of power and black smoke.. The only time I have seen this on my van (I'm ETDI) is when a boost pipe has come loose. So I'd check your pipe between turbo and inlet manifold, see if there is a split or if it has come loose. It does sound like you are getting no boost...

[polish van ben]

Thanks Lloydy - roughly how much would I expect to pay for a gear box rebuild?

With the loss of power, yep, my fear is its still turbo related - as I've already spent loads of money on this - Once it's stopped raining will check connections, but pretty sure all is solid from exhaust manifold as have just refitted them.

[lloydy]

2WD gearbox is around £800 i think.... Best to get it checked before you presume it's that though
the exhaust side of turbo won't effect boost, follow pipe from turbo to inlet to engine, Hope you spot something

[polish van ben]

Yep - jut taking the worst case scenario...

Is that the rubber pipe off the back of the turbo I should be checking then?

[max and caddy]

Maybe your old turbo had been twiddled with to boost higher and now your down on boost and over fuelling as a result?

Maybe the boost needs to be checked.

[lloydy]

yep, the rubber pipe.

[polish van ben]

Hi Max

Could be, but had noticed drop in power before replacing Turbo

[polish van ben]

Right, finally had a bit of time to crawl under van and do a bit of investigating into black soot and lose of power problems - will worry about gear box once have sorted this!

Removed air filter, breather pipe and pipe between air filter and turbo. Had a good look at pipes - no splits or breaks and all connections good. Took air filter out and this definitely needs changing - ideally would like to do today - does anyone know if halfords stock stuff like this?

Also noticed a couple of other things.

There seems to be oil in the Breather pipe - is this normal? Could this lead to black soot.

When engine is turning over the pipe between turbo and air filter seems to suck a few times - you can actually visibly see it moving as it sucks air - is this normal. Also noticed that where to pipe goes up to the turbo in a kind of U bend, it is sucked in, possibly restricting air flow - not sure how to fix this?

The pipe which leads from the side air vent to the air filter was basically disconnected - to be honest never even knew this was there - could this be the root to the problems? Picture below

Also can anyone tell me if this small pipe which comes from top of the boost pipe should be connected to anything? Picture below

Once again, many thanks for help

[polish van ben]

Got air filter from Euro Car Parts - and fitted everything back together. Seems to ave done the job, definitely a bit more power, almost back to normal.

But now keeps trying to jump out of fourth, resorted to holding the gear stick at one point to try to keep it in. That worked fine until I got to lights then it was stuck in fourth! Managed to get it out and back home.

So now onto gear box - is there anything I can do before resorting to getting the whole thing reconed? How do I check the linkages? Or could it be that oil level has depleted. To my knowledge the oil hasn't been changed on the gear box since it was fitted about 6 years ago - I've had a look underneath and is some dry oil on outside of gearbox, so could it have leaked out- could an oil change sort everything, or is it recon or nothing once it starts jumping out of gear and whining?

[Aidan]

the gearbox oil should be changed every 2-3 years 20k miles max, that way you get to see the drainplug magnet regularly and can judge when it needs rebuilding before it gets too expensive
expect to find magnet thick with metallic sludge
pops out of 4 th gear as the mainshaft is moving back and fro due to wear in bearing and possibly case and probably 3rd gear has pushed against 4th gear wearing the synchro ring too in which case 1st gear will also be damaged
noise is the gearbox's way of saying rebuild me
oil change won't fix anything
budget £1k plus for a proper rebuild

[polish van ben]

Hi Aidan

Many thanks for sobering reply - actually had to take the van to garage yesterday for a weld on the exhaust - got them to check the oil on gearbox and it was very low, so I expect I have done the damage through neglect in this case, been well over 2 years since any oil change- the guy topped it up for me and has shown some improvement, no clunking or whining, but still popped out of fourth under load - so will definitely need a rebuild at some point - but just don't have the budget or it at all at the moment.

When I do get the money together how would I go about organising it with you? If I could get the van up to you do you remove the gearbox also, or do I need to remove it myself and get it sent up? (im in Cardiff)

Cheers

Ben