Club 80-90 Forums

Hello all,

A bit of advice please before I start,

I recently bought a van with a duff engine, its a 1990 turbo diesel (1600) It almost runs struggling to reach tickover, trying to fire and is accompanied by some smoke and a rattling, screeching noise. (I probably tried it for about 5 seconds)

I'm guessing something is terminally wrong with the bottem end, any ideas before I start to dismantle it.

What are the weak points on these engines, I believe the previous owner was probably slow to put oil in!

The turbo is one year old.

Thanks

John

Does the glowplug light come on and go out ? Do you know if the glowplugs are working ?

What are the weak points on these engines

Non diesel-savvy owners unfortunately..

Follow Aidan'ssuggestion..

No. 1 is fuel and glow-plugs in this weather...

Once its running and warmed up, you can start to diagnose it here...

A short video of it idling and being revved up once warmed up would be handy...

Don't judge a diesel when its cold, idle it at about 1500~2000 gently for a while and see if it settles to 900 rpm tickover after a few minutes

Make sure its got opil in it but not too much, 4.5 litres from empty, aftre filters been off. On level surface should be on max on dipstick no more.
Are you sure engine is 1.6TD still, quite a few have been replaced with 1.9s, many dubious!

Yes the glow plug light goes out, and the oil level is full, just the awful noise stops me trying further.

I had it running briefly, but the noise and the fact it wasn't catching properly put me off.

I don't believe there will be a quick fix, but was curious if anyone had heard anything similar!

John

This happenned to me not so long ago after i changed the head gasket.

The timing was out by a bit and this caused no end of problems. Once set up it runs like a dream.

Ringo

Because the glo light goes, doesn't mean that they're working...

Try warming the air all around the cold-air inlet with a hot-air gun for 5 minutes before you start it to see if it will run better and cleaner, that will be a big clue... even take the air-filter end-cap off, remove the filter and warm the air inside for a minute or two first

Of course, if you KNOW that someone's been messing with it, that'll be another piece of evidence to consider.. why don't you ask the prev owner what's been 'done' to it?

The previous owner was the owner of a spares shop and this was his van, so its bound to be neglected!

Transporters are still common here and often have a hard life, this one is reasonable with good panels and interior.

I had wondered about the alternator bearings, or the vacuum pump, but I'm sure its wishful thinking!

John

The previous owner was the owner of a spares shop and this was his van, so its bound to be neglected!

Negelected isn't the problem - you want to know if someone's recently had the head off it, or done the cam and pump timing belt.. if so, did it ever run properly thereafter?

If you really want to nail it... get a compression test done.

The head hasn't been off or the timing disturbed, as far as I can gather the noise started, which stopped the van being used
It has then been stood for a couple of months until they decided to clear the space in front of the shop, which is when I bought it.

If the diesel engine is run low on oil what is the most likely component to fail, this sounds like metal on metal (saw blade touching metal object) and is rythmic.

I will try to charge the battery again and have another go today.


John

The problem here is this...

Diesels can make the most horrendous 'metallic kncoking, tinkling, tapping noises in time with the revs - that sound very metallic, but aren't.

They are combustion pressure peak noises usually, or if metallic are caused by excessive combustion pressures.

<<Petrol engine 'pinking' and 'detonation' can also sound very metallic, but are minor explosions that strip the combustion chamber of an insulating layer of gas rather than a controlled 'burn' (NB. Engines don't run by exploding their charge, they burn it rapidly, a very different thing.>>

So you may easily be mistaking a high frequency tapping or knocking for a detonation noise.

Much lower frequency, duller heavy knocking may well be the engine's bottom end - but these engines aren't known for wrecking their bottom ends easily if they have had oil in them. Did they say they found it low on oil??

In other words, don't jump to conclusions...

Bad injectors can create this type of detonation noise, esp. when cold, or the timing belt might have jumped a tooth

Thanks, I just had another look at it for ten minutes or so, and the timing is a distinct possibility.

I tried to start it again, with a fully charged battery and it wouldn't really catch,

It sounded very similar to a transit that had jumped a notch on a mates ex ambulance.

It feels to be firing early and stopping its self spinning

I think i'll wait until saturday when I have light and time, I have a spare belt etc in the garage.

Thanks (btw the previous spelling of the word t r a n s i t is controlled by mysterious gremlins within t'computer!)

John

(btw the previous spelling of the word t r a n s i t is controlled by mysterious gremlins within t'computer!)

its a club80-90 thing

I think i'll wait until saturday when I have light and time, I have a spare belt etc in the garage.

OK, but have you tried what I suggested to start with?

Warming the air in the filter box thoroughly with a hot-air gun (paint-stripper gun) on low or even an (old) hair dryer...

If it's anything like cold outside (< 10C) then that can make a very big difference... because diesel starting parameters are critical within a few degrees, depending on the compression pressures, degree of glow plug temperature and how many of them are actually working, cranking rpm, etc...

If starting is marginal just a few degrees rise in inlet air temperature - Bingo! If you try it I assure you you will be surprised

When the engine is cold and the glow plugs heated it will just about run, but as it gets warmer it stops.
This is also accompanied by the mysterious noise

Its then difficult to turn over as it reaches compression, it almost locks each time it fires.

I'm suspecting the timing tensioner is making the noise and the belt has also jumped a notch.

Come saturday i'll poke around a little, and see what there is to see! I'm probably wrong but I'm hoping for a quick fix

John

Possibly sticky injectors, or horrendous spray patterns...

But I'm no expert on that...

You can check where the cold start lever and pump control arm are - the cold-start on JX diesel, I believe, both richens as well as advances the timing... the lever is to the left of the pump when looking from the rear (between the pup and block, hard to see easily), and should I think be pulled right back towards you to set it to 'off', normal driving...

though I doubt it will have such a large deleterious effect if left on. Just soemthing else worth checking though...

Rgds