Smoking Series 3

Hi,

This is my first post so be gentle

I've searched the internet and this forum and can't find an answer to my problem so I hope someone can help.

A few months ago my son and I bought a 1981 Series 3 (five bearing crank) and have tidied it up and done some repairs and the usual maintenance. The problem is that it's now to smoking like a damp leaf bonfire on start-up and at idle. Plumes of whitish smoke with a very slight blue tinge depending on the light.

A couple of weeks ago we took the cylinder head off for a look see and could see nothing untoward, The cylinder bores were fine with no scoring etc., the valves were fine (but we did a light grind anyway) ane we replaced all the gaskets and valve seals. We put it all back together and the smoke is still there. Grrrr!

As I said it only happens at start-up and idle. A quick blast down the by-pass (well as much as you can in a series 3!) and the smoke disappears only to reappear when at idle. There's no adjustment left at one end of the distributor pump slots so I'm thinking the timing is way out. On the other hand it could be the injector(s)........or maybe some dodgy piston rings..........or a miriad of other things a search on the internet will reveal!

Any help would be gratefully received!

James

Heya james,

got a simmilar challange with my 2.5NA, white bue-ish smoke,(also when driving 40), good (tested) injectors, new piston rings, new gasket, overhaul entire engine. now installing a new(er) injector pump to see if me old one was broken.

I'll Keep watching here fro any updates or more ideas.

Bas

Sorry, I should have said. It's a 2.25 diesel

I had a similar problem (white smoke at idle, much less smoke when driving), but with those symptoms the causes may vary widely.
In my case: one bad injector and the diesel pump timing was off.

Hi,

My old 1965 LWB Safari made smoke like a Polaris missile emerging from the Pacific.

I managed to devise a way of timing the camshaft without using a DTI, so fitted a new timing chain. I don't know if the old one was worn, or if a PO had already fitted one, but fitted it wrong. Whatever, the smoke went away.

Take a prowl through Land Rover FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions - Home ...... their used to be a lot of info on smoking engines, if you can find it.

602

Thanks for your help guys. I'll let you know what happens