I suggested early in the thread to suspect compression and it's still looking a probable cause so I would further suggest finding a friendly garage that would do it for you so you can be sure.jma wrote:Thanks for your kind comments..I live in Cheltenham, Gloucester. Feeling duped by the guy who so said repaired and fully tested the head. Going to call him on Monday and see what he says. The gasket was the thickest 3 notch version...also recommended by the head specialist. Do you think its time to give up and take the head off, shouldn't take too long to do I guess. Question..any other way of telling the valves are operating without removing the head? I have got a compression tester however its adaptor is too small (std spark plug type). Rest day tomorrow, head off Monday me thinks. Cheers everyon and will keep you up to speed.
As for which thickness gasket they used, it's not up for debate (at least for "professional" garages imo), the piston clearance should have been measured after a skim and the correct thickness gasket chosen. If the head wasn't skimmed, the same thickness gasket as the original should have been used.
Either way, having not bothered to measure clearance myself and just opted for the thickest repair gasket to fit on mine, I can attest it shouldn't cause the white smoke of "boiled" diesel, it's just bad practice to guess gasket thickness (lower compression = less power/engine efficiency). Something else is amiss.