veedubmad

veedubmad

New Member
This morning i set off in my beloved 98 RR 2.5DT and after about 300 yards there was white smoke bellowing out of the twin exhausts! :eek: It started fine and went like a train as usual but I have noticed that it has been using quite a bit of water (approx a header tank a week) and also a bit of oil as well recently. I stopped and let the car cool down for an hour then started it up again but no smoke, then once it warmed up a bit the smoke started to appear thicker and thicker which I presume is because the coolant system starts to pressurise ??

Can anyone advise on what might be the cause ?

Thanks
 
Also, forgot to say that i had the RAC out to have a look and they mentioned it could be a number of different things including - The EGR valve or a faulty injector or maybe even a faulty glow plug but surely these things would make it run rougher than normal ? Could these be possibilities or is it just wishful thinking as an alternative to a head gasket replacement ?? :confused:
 
Is the head gasket replacement a fairly straight forward job for a very competent DIY mechanic and does it require any special tools ?
 
EGR valve allows mixing of exhaust gases with intake air to alter emissions, could result in smoke but would probably be grey/blue. Faulty injector could either over/under fuel, both would most likely show some sign of rough running, most noticable at idle; whilst only overfueling would produce smoke and strong smell of unburnt diesel from exhaust. Glow plugs would only affect starting.

I reckon your comments regarding the smoke only starting once it starts to warm up are probably spot on, it's forcing water through gasket into cylinders
 
I probably only got a mile at the most and the temp gauge only wnet up a 5th at the most so do you think it just needs a new gasket or will it need the head skimming etc etc ?
 
veedubmad said:
Is the head gasket replacement a fairly straight forward job for a very competent DIY mechanic and does it require any special tools ?
Click to expand...
Thankfully never had to do my DT's (fingers crossed/touch wood, bark twice at the moon:rolleyes:), have done it on other motors tho. I would have though it shouldn't be too different taken methodically, tho would probably want a pair of helping hands at some points, cause I know how heavy the cylinderhead on my old Zepher straight six was:D A good read of relevant sections of RAVE before setting out probably wise move. It will list any special tools needed.
 
veedubmad said:
I probably only got a mile at the most and the temp gauge only wnet up a 5th at the most so do you think it just needs a new gasket or will it need the head skimming etc etc ?
Click to expand...
No real way to know, you can either try new gasket and see what happens, with the risk of needing to do it again, or take head and get it checked before reassembly.
 
I ended up having it recovered back to my local garage over 200 miles away so got my monies worth out of the RAC i suppose! Will see what conclusion they come to and then take it from there. Thanks for the advice.
 
veedubmad said:
I ended up having it recovered back to my local garage over 200 miles away so got my monies worth out of the RAC i suppose! Will see what conclusion they come to and then take it from there. Thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...
Mine got a ride home courtesy of RAC at weekend, after rad popped! Thankfully evidence so far is head is intact.
 
If you have water leaking into combustion chamber via head gasket then combustion gases can go the other way, and would be pressurising system. If it only happens when engine is warmed up and there is no pressurisation it is highly likely to be a cracked head on the inlet side.
 
Well i have had the rangie looked at by my local garage and they have confirmed it is the head gasket letting water and some oil through, but only when warmed up and the cooling system is pressurised which leads me to believe i have caught it early enough to just replace the head gasket, skim the head and reassemble. So thats what im gonna do. Watch this space. :confused:
 
veedubmad said:
Well i have had the rangie looked at by my local garage and they have confirmed it is the head gasket letting water and some oil through, but only when warmed up and the cooling system is pressurised which leads me to believe i have caught it early enough to just replace the head gasket, skim the head and reassemble. So thats what im gonna do. Watch this space. :confused:
Click to expand...


Nice one good luck.
 
Well i've changed the head gasket and put everything back together. Started her up after a couple of turns and away it went. Seemed to be fine, left it running stationary on the drive for 30 mins then left it to cool. No smoke out the exhaust and it was running nice and smooth. After it had cooled i removed the rocker and tightened the head bolts as per the RAVE manual and re-fitted the rocker etc. Then i topped the coolant up and started it up again, started after a couple of turns again and was ticking over smoothly. Left it running (stationary) for about 45 mins and all was looking good. Turned it off, left it to cool and the next day i started it and went for a drive (couple of miles) all seemed fine, no smoke. Stopped, turned the engine off and left it for 5 mins then came to start it again and smoke out the exhausts again! Drove it half a mile home and still the same. The smoke is a sort of white/grey. Will keep running and check the coolant and oil levels to see if any are going down. Not sure what else it could be, faulty injector maybe ??

Can anyone shed any light on the problem im having ?
 
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