Hi,
I have been recommended to contact this forum by a friend, regarding my ZX TD Volcane, which is playing up.....badly.
It is now using quite a bit of oil and there is a fair amount of black sooty smoke under full right peg, the acceleration which is smooth in to and throught boost varies in strength depending on how the car is driven before its been booted?!?. Also this w/e whilst replacing the derv injector run off pipes, I noticed oil in my intercooler - can't be good.
It's also not to happy starting, very lumpy for 3/4 seconds before running correctly.
I am hoping these are symptomatic of a repairable problem.
Any assistance greatly appreciated.
Alex.
p.s. excuse the spelling!
On the way out?
Moderator: RichardW
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MountainMan
- Posts: 26
- Joined: 04 Nov 2003, 18:16
- Location: United Kingdom
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Right, Don't panic...
Sooty under acceleration. When did you last change the air filter?? Have you adjusted the Diesel pump setup? A lack of air will cause unburnt fuel to emerge from the exhaust as soot. Especially under acceleration. The diesel injection amount is metered by the pump and doesn't adjust itself for over-richness like a petrol would. Hence the overfuelling.
Lots of oil being used, could be cause for concern.. Do you get much grey/whiteish smoke at all? This would indicate burning oil.
I'd check for any substantial leaks first. Camshaft oil seal, Vacuum pump seal. even the sump / rocker cover gaskets. If it's a high miler it could be the turbo, or possibly cylinder bore wear.
But they don't call Diesels oil burners for nothing.[:)] Oil in the intercooler is nothing to worry about either, a certain amount of oil vapour is passed back into the intake system, the oil then condenses and causes sometimes alarming amounts of oil to be present where you would not expect them. If this is the first time you have looked at the inside of the I/cooler, it's to be expected.
The difficulty starting, more than likely the glow plugs on the way out, but if the high oil consumption is linked, it may be the poor compression associated with bore wear causing the starting problem. Yet, again the fact it doesn't burst into life instantly is no cause for concern.
My ZX TD has 174,000 miles on the clock now, and it takes a few turns to fire up even on a cold morning, but it still starts!!
Hope this has helped a little, there are loads of variables to your problems this is just a quick guess as to possible answers.
As for the spelling, no need to apologise..this is a forum not an 'A' level exam...[:)]
Sooty under acceleration. When did you last change the air filter?? Have you adjusted the Diesel pump setup? A lack of air will cause unburnt fuel to emerge from the exhaust as soot. Especially under acceleration. The diesel injection amount is metered by the pump and doesn't adjust itself for over-richness like a petrol would. Hence the overfuelling.
Lots of oil being used, could be cause for concern.. Do you get much grey/whiteish smoke at all? This would indicate burning oil.
I'd check for any substantial leaks first. Camshaft oil seal, Vacuum pump seal. even the sump / rocker cover gaskets. If it's a high miler it could be the turbo, or possibly cylinder bore wear.
But they don't call Diesels oil burners for nothing.[:)] Oil in the intercooler is nothing to worry about either, a certain amount of oil vapour is passed back into the intake system, the oil then condenses and causes sometimes alarming amounts of oil to be present where you would not expect them. If this is the first time you have looked at the inside of the I/cooler, it's to be expected.
The difficulty starting, more than likely the glow plugs on the way out, but if the high oil consumption is linked, it may be the poor compression associated with bore wear causing the starting problem. Yet, again the fact it doesn't burst into life instantly is no cause for concern.
My ZX TD has 174,000 miles on the clock now, and it takes a few turns to fire up even on a cold morning, but it still starts!!
Hope this has helped a little, there are loads of variables to your problems this is just a quick guess as to possible answers.
As for the spelling, no need to apologise..this is a forum not an 'A' level exam...[:)]
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MountainMan
- Posts: 26
- Joined: 04 Nov 2003, 18:16
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars:
Thanks for the info.
My ZX has done 103K with a filters change about 2k ago, I have no idea if the pump has ever been adjusted (its a bosch type) do you know of instructions for carrying this out.
The smoke is blackish (rag over exhaust) but when driving it could be described as grey, on further playing this afternoon smoke can be seen when at low speeds off boost, starting from cold.
With regard to oil leaks the engine is tight, the only small leaks were from the inlet manifold / intercooler D seal and cam cover. Both have been sorted.
Probably a good idea to get a compression test done.
My ZX has done 103K with a filters change about 2k ago, I have no idea if the pump has ever been adjusted (its a bosch type) do you know of instructions for carrying this out.
The smoke is blackish (rag over exhaust) but when driving it could be described as grey, on further playing this afternoon smoke can be seen when at low speeds off boost, starting from cold.
With regard to oil leaks the engine is tight, the only small leaks were from the inlet manifold / intercooler D seal and cam cover. Both have been sorted.
Probably a good idea to get a compression test done.
103K is nothing for these engines. Jon will tell you of a customer of GSF who is still using a 84 (I think) BX 19D with 900,000K on the clock and its still considered viable for daily use. I think he said the head was taken off at 450K. My own BX TD has apparently done 191K and does not use oil. However a couple of years ago I had to have the injectors cleaned bue to excessive smoke and the head gasket promptly failed, revealing a cracked head.
Your starting may be something simple like a failed glowplug or alternatively the waxstat cold start device has failed. There is a cable leading from the thermostat to the pump and this should be tight on the pump when cold and slack when hot. Your idling speed should rise to about 850 when cold and drop back to 750 when warm. This is controlled by the waxstat which usually costs less than £20.
The turbo's don't seem to give much trouble but if the seals did go you would expect blueish smoke.
Generally if you've got ring or bore wear or damage the engine will fume and leak form all its covers, vent pipes etc as well as fuming vigorously from the filler cap when you remove it.
If the filters are clean and the engine is getting proper boost but still producing black smoke I would suspect black smoke but its worth trying to adjust the maximum fuel delivery screw on the pump to see if this resolves the problem. I think this screw is situated as a throttle stop screw. If this is the problem then the adjustment is quite sensitive and a little too much won't damage your engine but will dramatically cut the power.
Another easy thing to do is to disconnect the pipe from the intercooler to the injection pump. This has the effect of disabling the device which dds extra fuel when the turbo is running. If all is suddenly ok but the car is very slow then the extra fuel device may be faulty but this may simply disguise the excess fuelling if that is the problem by allowing excess air for the fuel to burn fully in.
If the engine produced black smoke at idle and with the pipe disconnected it would seem to be bad atomisation and suspect the injectors.
Jeremy
Your starting may be something simple like a failed glowplug or alternatively the waxstat cold start device has failed. There is a cable leading from the thermostat to the pump and this should be tight on the pump when cold and slack when hot. Your idling speed should rise to about 850 when cold and drop back to 750 when warm. This is controlled by the waxstat which usually costs less than £20.
The turbo's don't seem to give much trouble but if the seals did go you would expect blueish smoke.
Generally if you've got ring or bore wear or damage the engine will fume and leak form all its covers, vent pipes etc as well as fuming vigorously from the filler cap when you remove it.
If the filters are clean and the engine is getting proper boost but still producing black smoke I would suspect black smoke but its worth trying to adjust the maximum fuel delivery screw on the pump to see if this resolves the problem. I think this screw is situated as a throttle stop screw. If this is the problem then the adjustment is quite sensitive and a little too much won't damage your engine but will dramatically cut the power.
Another easy thing to do is to disconnect the pipe from the intercooler to the injection pump. This has the effect of disabling the device which dds extra fuel when the turbo is running. If all is suddenly ok but the car is very slow then the extra fuel device may be faulty but this may simply disguise the excess fuelling if that is the problem by allowing excess air for the fuel to burn fully in.
If the engine produced black smoke at idle and with the pipe disconnected it would seem to be bad atomisation and suspect the injectors.
Jeremy
Yep, a compression test might be a good idea.
Something just twigged, when the car is lumpy initially, is there a lot of white smoke/steam, does the engine ever run lumpy at any other times? Have you checked your coolant levels lately? My ZX exhibited very similar symptoms to yours when I first got it. After a month or so, I twigged that the Head Gasket might be to blame. Hope that isn't the case for yours.
As for the Bosch pump there are a few adjustments that can be made to enhance performance, not really for D.I.Y, it buggers up your economy and causes the engine to run hotter. Smoke is also an issue, but by god does it go!!![}:)] I played with my settings on the pump, having researched carefully, scared myself (it pulled up a hill like never before) and caused a smog alert[:)] then I decided economy should win over in the end!
Something just twigged, when the car is lumpy initially, is there a lot of white smoke/steam, does the engine ever run lumpy at any other times? Have you checked your coolant levels lately? My ZX exhibited very similar symptoms to yours when I first got it. After a month or so, I twigged that the Head Gasket might be to blame. Hope that isn't the case for yours.
As for the Bosch pump there are a few adjustments that can be made to enhance performance, not really for D.I.Y, it buggers up your economy and causes the engine to run hotter. Smoke is also an issue, but by god does it go!!![}:)] I played with my settings on the pump, having researched carefully, scared myself (it pulled up a hill like never before) and caused a smog alert[:)] then I decided economy should win over in the end!
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Jon
I would not expect a ZX TD to use oil between services at this mileage, indeed my own car at 126k requires no oil between services, and I've run this engine type in other Cits with no great oil consumption towards 200k miles.
I wouldn't worry too much about some oil in the intercooler, thats fairly typical. More to the point, is there any sign that there is oil entering the Coolant?? Points to look for, black and emulsified coolant which rises in level as the oil gently drops. A classic XUD turbo head failure generally I'm afraid caused by an internal crack in the cylinder head.
Yet again, the best course of action is a pressure test, in this case carried out with the engine stone cold. Head cracks with this engine type tend to contract with heat and very often a "hot" pressure test will reveal no pressure drop.
I wouldn't worry too much about some oil in the intercooler, thats fairly typical. More to the point, is there any sign that there is oil entering the Coolant?? Points to look for, black and emulsified coolant which rises in level as the oil gently drops. A classic XUD turbo head failure generally I'm afraid caused by an internal crack in the cylinder head.
Yet again, the best course of action is a pressure test, in this case carried out with the engine stone cold. Head cracks with this engine type tend to contract with heat and very often a "hot" pressure test will reveal no pressure drop.
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MountainMan
- Posts: 26
- Joined: 04 Nov 2003, 18:16
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars:
Had a quick check last night, no sign of oil in the coolant system, all looks a ok. The oil I am currently using is halfords TD oil (black bottle) I think it's mineral not synthetic.
Also when starting from cold, there is no white smoke / steam, only a grey / black cloud!! (but not all the time?)
I'll check for fumes and operation of the waxstat at the weekend.
Cheers everyone.
Also when starting from cold, there is no white smoke / steam, only a grey / black cloud!! (but not all the time?)
I'll check for fumes and operation of the waxstat at the weekend.
Cheers everyone.