Lynall, it’s a diesel so I’m going to have the injectors checked incase they are squirting neat duel rather than atomised fuel. Also I have read that the injection pump drive gear can wear causing an injection timing lag of a few degrees - haven’t been able to find one of these though. Thanks...

Ignition as in fuel delivery? Compression? Ignition as in fuel delivery/ compression ?

Engine now purring - I took the head off and lo and behold the gasket had blown between 3 and 4. Those two cylinders were beautifully clean and decarboned by unburied fuel. Rebuilt yesterday and everything working. Back to considering a chain replacement as engine misses a beat on idle once in a...

Gasket removed and there was indeed a large gap in the gasket between cylinder 3 and 4. New gasket installed and engine back to its old self. Thanks for all the help

I have the gaskets from Turner Engineering, lovely guy there told me not to be tempted to mess with the valves as they seat themselves over the years and once disturbed will never be the same. Looking forward to the challenge :)

Lynall, you are a star, I have roughly 25PSI on cylinders 3 and 4 so no wonder they are just chucking unburned fuel into the exhaust. I will take the head off and take a photo for the forum :)

Hadn't even contemplated that. That would explain the sudden immediate loss of power and then further deterioration. I will check compression on those 2 cylinders, if the gasket has been compromised, I imagine compression will be low?

Hi I have a similar problem. My Landy has been advanced right to the end stop on the injector for years but has been running well. Last week I went on a short run - 5 miles when at 35mph I got black smoke from the exhaust and lost some power. As I continued the power dropped further and the car...