Hi folks.

The other day my td5 became smokey and under powerd and at idol plumbed White smoke.

Now it will not start. We'll it will for about 3 rotations of crank then quits.

When it cranks there's puffs of blue smoke out the exhaust and then a thick black cloud then death. Same every time.

My brother and I have tried crank sensor and fuel pump tests.

There's visible smoke coming up past the timing chain and I jectors when cranked with rocker cover off. Engine is stone cold at this point. If that's relevant.

Our fear is a cracked cylinder.. any suggestions before a complete teardown gratefully received.

John
 
I'm sorry I'm a bit late to this thread, but this is pretty much what mine did as the ECU was in the process of failing. A short uneven chunder on about two or three cylinders with lots of smoke. The Nanocom revealed 'peak charge long' errors on all cylinders. A fresh secondhand ECU, once coded to the alarm unit and the injectors, produced no such symptoms and it's still running well nearly two years later. So it's worth exploring the electronics before dismantling the engine.

Having had several ECUs fail on me I keep a spare one in the car so I can swap over quickly and keep going if it goes wrong when I'm out on the road.
 
I'm sorry I'm a bit late to this thread, but this is pretty much what mine did as the ECU was in the process of failing. A short uneven chunder on about two or three cylinders with lots of smoke. The Nanocom revealed 'peak charge long' errors on all cylinders. A fresh secondhand ECU, once coded to the alarm unit and the injectors, produced no such symptoms and it's still running well nearly two years later. So it's worth exploring the electronics before dismantling the engine.

Having had several ECUs fail on me I keep a spare one in the car so I can swap over quickly and keep going if it goes wrong when I'm out on the road.

Great thanks I will investigate this first.

There is a .5 volt discrepancy over the injectors to be fair. From the fan end it was .5 .5 .5 then 1.5 1.5. When cranking. We thought that was odd.

I have replaced the injectors looms about 1 week before all this started. ....?

I stupidly binned the old loom...
 
Great thanks I will investigate this first.

There is a .5 volt discrepancy over the injectors to be fair. From the fan end it was .5 .5 .5 then 1.5 1.5. When cranking. We thought that was odd.

I have replaced the injectors looms about 1 week before all this started. ....?

I stupidly binned the old loom...

I wouldn't worry about the injector loom - I think it's safe to assume the new one is OK. I wouldn't read too much into the voltages as measured by a meter if I were you, what counts is the signal that activates the injector, which is more of a job for an oscilloscope. I'm just saying that sometimes electronic problems can sound very like internal mechanical problems.
 
I wouldn't worry about the injector loom - I think it's safe to assume the new one is OK. I wouldn't read too much into the voltages as measured by a meter if I were you, what counts is the signal that activates the injector, which is more of a job for an oscilloscope. I'm just saying that sometimes electronic problems can sound very like internal mechanical problems.
Grand. Thanks,

So I actually have a "spare" ecu out of a disco. Is this something that I can recode to my engine or do I need a computer?

My dad has a regular diagnostic computer but it is not capable of ecu mapping.
 
Grand. Thanks,

So I actually have a "spare" ecu out of a disco. Is this something that I can recode to my engine or do I need a computer?

My dad has a regular diagnostic computer but it is not capable of ecu mapping.

If it's got the same part number as the existing one then potentially yes it could be viable. As you're probably aware, the TD5 ECU was right on the cusp of when manufacturers were moving to OBD, so it's not fully OBD compliant, so a lot of us use devices like the Nanocom to access data and make adjustments. My local Land Rover independent garage has an Autologic machine that seems to do the job, and I believe there's a Snap On device that can read them, but I haven't seen this in use. A bog standard OBD reader off Ebay probably won't help very much. I've found with the TD5 engine is that it is very sensitive to the ECU part number. Mine's an NNN500020 and I've discovered that if it says anything else on the ECU, it won't work. The key thing is getting the ECU and the immobiliser to work together. On the Nanocom it's under 'engine' and 'utilities' and 'learn security code'. Even if the seller claims the immobiliser's been turned off, this still needs doing in my experience. Then you've got to programme in the injector codes. The latter isn't strictly necessary to get the engine to start, but is helpful in getting the engine to run better.
 
If it's got the same part number as the existing one then potentially yes it could be viable. As you're probably aware, the TD5 ECU was right on the cusp of when manufacturers were moving to OBD, so it's not fully OBD compliant, so a lot of us use devices like the Nanocom to access data and make adjustments. My local Land Rover independent garage has an Autologic machine that seems to do the job, and I believe there's a Snap On device that can read them, but I haven't seen this in use. A bog standard OBD reader off Ebay probably won't help very much. I've found with the TD5 engine is that it is very sensitive to the ECU part number. Mine's an NNN500020 and I've discovered that if it says anything else on the ECU, it won't work. The key thing is getting the ECU and the immobiliser to work together. On the Nanocom it's under 'engine' and 'utilities' and 'learn security code'. Even if the seller claims the immobiliser's been turned off, this still needs doing in my experience. Then you've got to programme in the injector codes. The latter isn't strictly necessary to get the engine to start, but is helpful in getting the engine to run better.

OK thanks.

I will check the part numbers.
I also have the engine fir the "spare" ecu sat in the barn.

We bought the now scapped disco fir spares.
Both my brothers have discos, I have a defender my aunt has a defender of dad's neighbours have a disco and a 90 so it's land-rover central here.

The donor vehicle is the same age as my defender.

Thanks for the help. I'll be sure to let you know how I get on
 
If it's got the same part number as the existing one then potentially yes it could be viable. As you're probably aware, the TD5 ECU was right on the cusp of when manufacturers were moving to OBD, so it's not fully OBD compliant, so a lot of us use devices like the Nanocom to access data and make adjustments. My local Land Rover independent garage has an Autologic machine that seems to do the job, and I believe there's a Snap On device that can read them, but I haven't seen this in use. A bog standard OBD reader off Ebay probably won't help very much. I've found with the TD5 engine is that it is very sensitive to the ECU part number. Mine's an NNN500020 and I've discovered that if it says anything else on the ECU, it won't work. The key thing is getting the ECU and the immobiliser to work together. On the Nanocom it's under 'engine' and 'utilities' and 'learn security code'. Even if the seller claims the immobiliser's been turned off, this still needs doing in my experience. Then you've got to programme in the injector codes. The latter isn't strictly necessary to get the engine to start, but is helpful in getting the engine to run better.
I've just looked and the spare ECU is missing a fai amount of ineffable markings.
If I unplug mine and try it wl that have an impact on my vehicle? I'm not sure how it would if my ecu is not connected.
 
Well, it probably won't do any harm, but unless you have the facility to co-ordinate the new ECU with the alarm module it won't be likely to fire up. The ECU and alarm module need to do that 'handshake' I described earlier. Might be worth a try.
 
So it starts with easy start and produces gray smoke at idle brown smoke that turns to white when the the throttle is applied.

It runs lumpy. Possibly an occasional miss.

It is burning a little oil or leaking it... but it has dropped on the dipper stick .
 
Well, it probably won't do any harm, but unless you have the facility to co-ordinate the new ECU with the alarm module it won't be likely to fire up. The ECU and alarm module need to do that 'handshake' I described earlier. Might be worth a try.
Yeah thanks. As expected it did not start.