Black smoke when going uphill.

[binka]

Hi folks, just got back from a lovely weekend in the Peak District. Noticed that when going uphill there seems to be a fair bit of black smoke coming out the exhaust. Seems to be worse if I drop it down a gear, say if I'm trying to get up a hill in 4th and am getting slower and slower so drop it into 3rd to give it some oomph. It happens then. Don't notice it if I acclerate hard on the flat.

Oil and filter change was done in Jan and I've done under 1000 miles since then.

I did have a problem in April when the van conked out as if there was no fuel and indeed there wasn't any fuel in the fuel lines, however tank was half full. AA man thought it might be faulty fuel gauge but I filled up at the petrol station and it only took £30 worth of diesel so it was definetly half full. Never did work out what had happened but it hasn't happened since. Don't know if it may be connected to the current smoke issue?

Might it be that the fuel filter needs replacing?

Its a 1.9 diesel engine, no turbo.

Thanks a lot.

[T'Onion]

over fuelling or not enough air mixture

Change the air filter .. if no improvement then get the injectors cleaned and rebuilt ..

[jamesc76]

good service, bung injector cleaner into the fuel should clear it up!

[binka]

Thanks both of you, will start with the air filter then move onto the injectors if that doesn't work.

[colinthefox]

Another thing which can seriously reduce air into the engine is that crappy air tube that goes up inside the left hand air duct to the grille at the top. Most of these are broken and half blocked as a result. Or the metal mesh inside may have collapsed. They were barely adequate for a 1.6, let alone a 1.9. Worth a look if you're still using it. Upgrade is well worthwhile anyway.

[binka]

Thanks Colin, will add that to the list of possibilities.

I've also bought some sort of injector cleaning stuff from Halfords today and will bung that in the fuel tank so will see if tthat helps at all.

[weldore]

they like a shot of 2 stroke in the tank too