Jamondo

Does anyone know if there a way to trace the ownership history of a vehicle? I'm trying to find out what colour green my 90 is, which I was fairly sure was eastnor green until I had some mixed. It's close, really close, but still not quite right. Anyway, I took it to the body shop that does a lot of work for us, and the lads there say it looks a lot like a forestry colour, which has naturally gotten me quite intrigued. They really do know their stuff so I'm inclined to believe them but it would be nice to know who owned it from when to when, as I know it has been owned by a plant hire company once upon a time. I've rambled on enough so any help much appreciated ??

Grey smoke is unburnt fuel (raw diesel vaporising) and your blue smoke is oil which on overrun would suggest a possible valve stem oil seal problem, although normally more noticeably with a petrol engine but It could be coincidence so I wouldn't read too much into just yet incase the head does come off. concentrate on this heavy grey smoke issue. The smoke clearing after a warm up says to me there's something dribbling into the piston crowns while standing. IF it is a crack, which I suspect it is if I'm being honest, that something could be water, oil depending on where the issue is, or a bad injector not shutting properly. Obviously a bad injector has nothing to do with a head fault so you could get them pop tested first to rule them out. This fuel smell you say of is another identical Symptom of mine, hence why I suggest an injector test, but this could also be a sign of incomplete combustion caused by bad compression or cylinder contamination. A fuel tank vacuum is almost certainly a blocked breather pipe, which again could just be coincidence that it's stopped doing it, because I can't really think of an engine issue causing a tank vac, normally a tank vac would cause the engine issue so I can't help much on that one but I'll think on it. J

Just to add, when I had problems with mine, not once did she use any water and it ran perfectly, apart from the smoke which is what made the diagnosis rather confusing. In the end I put it down to a hairline crack that was opening up at temperature and sealing back when cold, which also confused the compression tester. By the time I could get the injectors out and get the tester through all 4 cylinders it had cooled enough for that crack to close up again. J

I know it's not what you want to hear but I've been through exactly the same symptoms with my 300. Being a mechanic myself, albeit HGV, I suspected the head all along but I wasn't prepared to strip it until I'd ruled out everything else. I did combustion leak tests on it, changed injectors, filters, fuel pump (all known to be good second hand units from a breaker I had) but nothing worked. Eventually when I did pull the head, it was actually cracked. Everything else I tried along the way fortunately didn't cost me anything other than time. With, yet again, a known good head off another lump I've got in the workshop, all is well. She runs really sweet with little to no smoke other than what is classed as normal. Head removal isn't a big job if it comes down to it, and a quick pressure test in a local machine shop will show up any cracks or faults. Sorry for the essay, just hope you get it sorted. James

Thanks for the welcome all, as I said, I know some forums have an "etiquette" when it comes to new members. Been enjoying reading through some of the build threads here, some top work going on.

Hi all, just thought I'd throw up a quick intro post, I don't know if it's expected of new members but I'll do it anyway. I've used another forum in the past which I think has gone a bit "stale" and each time I turn to google for help, it's lr4x4 that seems to be giving me the answers! I own a 92 defender 90 which I've fully converted to 300tdi spec, including gearbox trans tunnel floor plates etc which, as with anything green oval, will always be a work in progress. Hope I can be of some help to other members along the way. James