Hi there

I've got a Perkins Prima turbo diesel from a Maestro/Montego in my Series 1. The car is new me. I'm wondering if any of the problems I'm experiencing are down to a common fault(s) with these engines...

The engine has huge difficulty starting from cold - even after I've let the glow plugs do their job for 30 seconds or so. It makes clouds of white smoke which smell of diesel while turning over. So I'm starting it using EasyStart instead. Once started, the smoke turns more grey and lessens after a few hundred yards. Once warmed-up, the smoke disappears completely.

However, the oil consumption is quite high.

It idles perfectly.

I've just done a 700-mile round trip, achieving about 30 mpg, but using a couple of litres of 10W/40 Magnatec! The engine is standard, except for a K&N air filter, but I understand that the previous owner has tweaked the fuel pump to get some more HP out of it.

Any ideas what could be wrong or where to start looking?

Many thanks.

Geoffrey
Newcastle Upon Tyne
geoffreyworthington43@yahoo.co.uk

How many miles has the engine done? Sounds like possible worn rings or cylinders. I would get a compression test done if I were you.

Stop using easy start it bends conrods , oh yes it does dont argue . get a compression test done , these little prima motors usually start pretty much straight away .

Thanks guys. I'm not sure how many miles it's done. The Land Rover is reading about 70k - but it's anyone's guess with the engine. I was told the engine came from a low mileage car, and it hasn't been used as a daily driver since being in the Landy...

I was also under the impression they were pretty good starters so definitly worth a compression test.

ive just put my series 2a back on the road and it runs with the same engine, with diesel starts with about 3 seconds of glo plugs but now im using veg oil its the same symptoms as yours. I think its just a case of mixing more diesel with it as it is cold in the mornings.

sorry didnt notice your oil prob, i use 20/50 in mine as the engines are old now and it seems fine. The other prob i had was oil coming out of the breather pipe check that if it is give the engine a flush with forte worked for me.

Thanks again for all your suggestions!