Black Smoke - 19J fuel adjustment

[monkie]

My 19J 2.5 TD puts out quite a lot of thick sooty black smoke when under load and has done so since I have had it, but I now want to sort it out.

To rule out the common causes: I serviced the engine in early February with an oil change and new filters (oil, air and fuel), I recently (a few weeks ago) checked the timing and replaced the belt while I was there, checked and adjusted the tappet clearance and did a compression test. All are spot on and resulted in no change to the smoke. I fitted reconditioned fuel injectors when I rebuilt the engine about 18 months ago.

I'm thinking that it must be down to fueling. There is alot of information around for Tdi engines with the Bosch pump, but I can't find much on the 19J with the CAV pump. Is there an adjustment I can make on the injection pump to turn down the fueling a bit? Would it be to do with the boost diaphragm?

I have also not got round to checking the turbo boost pressure, this is on the to do list. Any recommendations for an inexpensive pressure gauge to check the boost are welcome.

[Jocklandjohn]

Have you tried running a few bottles of fuel/injector cleaner through it? That might give the system a good scrub. And its a cheap way to ensure its all as good as it can be internally. I noticed a considerable difference to the smoke from my own (although not a 19j) after doing it. 

[monkie]

Thanks for the response, I think it certainly won't do any harm to try. I have used Millers in the past. But given the injectors are were conditioned and the engine was rebuilt not that long ago I am still pointing the finger at something being out of adjustment rather than dirty.

That said I will pick up a bottle of Millers tomorrow.

[Jocklandjohn]

How's the lift pump? I've had 6 fail in 4 years, and some of them had smoky symptoms before giving up. Cheap replacement before doing anything more drastic. 

[monkie]

Funny you mention that, I recently stopped to help a fellow LR owner who was broken down at the side of the road. The cause of his problems was a broken lift pump. It prompted me to buy one and stick it under the seat in my break-down-road-side repair kit I now have following my recent break down caused by a damaged "new" fuel filter.

I was so annoyed that I was stuck on the road side for something I could have easily swapped had I had a filter and some basic tools, same applies to the lift pump.

Could a failed/failing lift pump really cause black smoke?

 

[Jocklandjohn]

Technically no idea! They can have various problems, leaking and drawing in air so messing up fuel/air mix, oil leaking in from the engine (although I doubt there'd be much), diesel going into the block from the pump is possible. But I'm no great expert in it, just suggesting links in the chain that might need checking.

TBH it sounds more like a pump issue.  Mind you altering the pump will affect it across the range and if its ok at lower speeds its maybe needing more  fine-tuning than that. Found this - might be relevant:

Quote

Found this while digging through my C drive.  

1.Here is the injector pump we will be working on. The fuel cover plate is in the middle of the injection pump, and has two bolts that are on a slant, holding it on

2. Shut off fuel feed from tank. The valve is assessable from the rear of the tractor, on the left side, at the bottom of the tank.

3. Using an 8mm wrench, remove the fuel cover plate. Be careful to not tear the rubber gasket behind it. Fuel will pour out of the injection pump until it is empty. Looking inside the injector pump, you will see a thick disc with letters stamped on it, spaced out around the outer edge. You will also see the two bolts that hold it in place.

4.You will need to rotate the engine by hand, in order to access one bolt at a time. Remove the first bolt with an 8mm wrench (they are very tight) and use needle nose pliers to draw the bolt out of the injection pump. DO NOT drop the bolt in the injection pump, or you will have to fish it out with a magnet, and it's very hard to do.
5.Rotate engine by hand to gain access to the other bolt and remove it with an 8mm wrench. You may need to use a small screw driver to hold the thick plate up, so that you can remove the second bolt, as it continues to loosen out.

6. Look up above the thick plate, after it has dropped down the splined shaft, you will see a thin plate with four large slots in it, and two holes for the bolts to go through.
7. Viewed from the top of the injection pump (opposite of driven end) rotate the plate with a screwdriver clockwise. You have to do full turns because the bolt holes in the plate have to line back up.

8. Reinstall bolts one at a time. You will need to use a screwdriver to push up on the bolt, and use needle nose pliers to screw it in at the same time. Tighten one bolt down tight, then turn engine over by hand to access other hole. Reinstall and tighten second bolt.

9. Rotate engine over by hand again, and double check tightness of bolts.

10. Reinstall rubber gasket and fuel cover plate, along with the two 8mm bolts.

11. Using a 16mm wrench, crack all of the injector lines on the top of the injection pump open.

12. Open fuel shut off valve on bottom of fuel tank.

13. Bleed air from injection pump by cranking engine over until fuel shoots out of fittings.

14. Tighten fittings back up and start engine. Enjoy your new found power.

I have read, that opening up the exhaust on this T6.3544CC Perkins engine and turning the fuel up one full turn, will give you an additional 30 hp. It was also recommended, to not go more than two full turns up on the injector pump if the engine has more than 5000 hours on it. I assume this is because as the injectors wear, they allow more fuel in at the wrong time. So if you keep your injectors good, you can turn it up more, but I would recommend a pyrometer if you want to do this.

This was posted by another fellow, on the great lakes coal rollers site. I found it about a year ago, when working on a perkins in a Massey tractor. The instructions seemed a little dicey at first, although well written, and if you are looking at the pump, it makes perfect sense.

Up til last summer, it had been the better part of 20 years, since I last worked on a Lucas pump. Funny, I didn't miss them one bit.

Good luck with it.

 There's a lot of mention of the Lucas pump on tractors - you could maybe get some advice in the farming fraternity - there's some info here: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/injector-pump-adjustment.217223/

[monkie]

Thanks for that. I'm still convinved that the fuel injection pump is not quite right somewhere, but the thought of having to remove it and send it off to a specialist for testing and any subsequent repair work, I'm going to try out your cheaper solutions first.

I put in a double dose of Millers diesel treatment and filled the tank right up on Friday (BP rather than the supermarket stuff). I'll take it for an "Italian tune up" on the A303 when I get a chance to Exeter and back.

If that has no effect, I'll exchange the lift pump seeing as I have a new Bearmach one under the drivers seat.

If both those fail to improve the situation, I'll be plucking up courage to take the injection pump to a diesel specialist. Any recommendations for a good diesel injection specialist? I remember someone recommending one in the North West (Diesel Jim??).

[Jocklandjohn]

Well I can recommend Electro-Diesel in Exeter. http://www.electro-diesel.co.uk

When I was working down in Falmouth last year they were recommended by a lad I met, and found a glowing online comment about them in one of the LR forums. 

John the owner is very knowledgeable, and they 'tweaked' my pump for me (although a 200tdi/bosch one) and price was reasonable and they were prompt and helpful on the phone and via email, and happy to assist with advice and suggestions post-transaction too to ensure I was happy. No other connection with them just pleased with the service. Close enough to you too, with 4 branches around the southwest. 

[monkie]

An update. I've not actively done anything about the fuel pump with respect to the black smoke issue; however I have changed the fuel filter, driven around quite a few miles only using BP diesel with Millers fuel treatment in it and to be honest the problem was not going away. I was leaving trails of thick black sooty smoke.

I was fiddeling about with the heater and then the waste gate actuator on the turbo caught my attention. It moved freely but I thought the air pipe from the turbo in to the actuator looked loose. I tightened up the joints then took it for a drive......

Smoke gone, even when going foot to the floor up a steep hill. Very pleased that this too has turned out to be a cheap fix. Don;t know if it was the loose pipe or just moving the actuator to free it up but it has seemingly done the trick.