Very rough running

[libbydiesel]

How did you paint the accelerator levers and not the springs without removing them?

Working on a car when you are 'tired of working on it' is pretty much always the time when you make inefficient choices or mistakes that make you spend much more time working on the car.  When I feel that way, I take a break, regroup, get my priorities sorted, and work on the big picture rather than the short term.  In many years of working on cars I've found that gives the best end result.     

[RunninWild]

I used a small brush and paint that came with a caliper painting kit that I had left over. I didn't take it apart because I had no idea what I was doing and didn't want to mess it up. I'm not the kind of person to just rip into things. I like to have a good idea of what I'm getting into and have a plan on how to get it back together. As far as I'm concerned injection pumps run on magic and I wouldn't feel comfortable doing anything other then minor adjustments (lda/fuel screw) without a lot more research and new seals/parts on hand.


Is what I used to paint it. I didn't take many close up pics because I didn't want to show off my overbrush marks.

[RunninWild]

Just drove to work in it. High egt temps 750f (before engine was fully warmed up) up hills with white/blue smoke and it was low on power. So it's looking like I should advance the timing a bit see how that goes and then play with the throttle linkage.

Some good news for once though. My phone is saying it's only 2c outside and the truck started almost instantly. I know it's not really cold enough to tell but it's looking like compression is good!

[air-cooled or diesel]

it seems your playing/adjusting other things than the fix, they can balance out some, but the throttle shaft would seem the place to start, or another problem in pump that comes up with a similar problem. perhaps when you painted the pump you clogged throttle shaft??just a guess; other than that, you may need a pro diesel shop to check, adjust pump, may be a quicker diagnosis, and less pain.
you say you have 1.00mm on the advance, that should be more than enough timing, and sounds right on,

[vanbcguy]

750F is not really high for EGTs on an uphill pull... But yeah, advance the timing some and see if the smoke clears up.

You were asking earlier if Giles might have put the accelerator lever on wrong - really not possible.  When a pump shop assembles a pump they run it on their pump dyno to verify it is outputting the fuel that it is supposed to and they adjust things till it does.  It isn't a 'just stick the accelerator lever on, it's probably right, ship the pump out the door' type of thing.  I can guarantee that Giles calibrated the pump before it left his shop.

From your video the accelerator lever is DEFINITELY not in the right place, so I do not believe your pump was actually fresh from Giles when you bought it.

[RunninWild]

I know 750f isn't very high but it wasn't a very steep hill and the truck was struggling to do 70km/h. So I think in that circumstance the temp was high and a sign of lack of combustion. Especially with the blue/white smoke I'm getting. I'm pretty sure I need to advance the timing a bit. The idle literally sounds like crap and like it's going to die with the cold start off. Its much smoother with it on. That video I posted was with the cold start on. I'll take another one tonight when I have it fully warmed up and hopefully it'll give a better indication of how it's running.

[burn_your_money]

I can't see a pump with the throttle lever on the wrong spline coming out of the shop. That's not one of those mistakes that make it through the test bench. Did it have a yellow paint dot on the top of the throttle assembly before you painted it?

[RunninWild]

Seller send me that pic of what it looked like before he shipped it and I believe that's how it was when I received it. The only thing I did was swap the cold start mechanism the lea cap for one with a standard nipple fitting and painted it

[Tylenol]

Could the lower compression from the AAZ head and using the 1.6 injectors be causing this? I know the AAZ injectors are 2 stage injectors and the AAZ injection pump has a totally different camplate in it?

[RunninWild]

Went for a 10 min drive after work and let it get to temp. I've got a better idea of how it runs now.

Still a lot of white/blue smoke when idling but it's not that bad when driving.
Power is there and runs decently but feels like it's lacking a bit of top end thinking this is related to the throttle issue like it's only opening 80 or 90%
Starting is still a bit rough. It'll start fairly easily but it won't rev right away and will stumble and die occasionally. Takes a few tries before it'll rev and idle smooth. I also noticed some air bubbles on my line going into the pump so that could contribute to the starting issue. Maybe the injectors are getting some air bubbles in the lines from sitting?
I've got a different style of fuel filter I might try and install. This is the one I pulled with the engine A few months back and I never changed the filter.

I think the lack of power going up the hill this morning had to do with it not being fully warmed up and less of a timing issue. I don't think the timing is that off. I think I could advance it a bit but I think my smoke issue is unrelated. But I can give it a try if you guys think it might help?

So onto the smoke issue. What causes white/blue smoke? Obviously unburnt fuel but what would be the likely cause at this point? Injectors? If you guys suggest it I can bring it to a shop on the weekend and have them give it a compression/leak down test but I'd rather save the $100 at this point. It is starting in the cold fairly easily which is making me think the compression is good. I'm thinking all of my issues are related to fueling to be honest.

Kinda wish I never sold my 7 spare injectors 😡 that was a pretty dumb move not waiting until I had the engine together.

Anyways here's a vid of it warmed up showing the smoke and the effect the cold start has on it. If anything it sounds like the cold start made it run a bit worse.

[ORCoaster]

What a smoke bomb!!!   
 If I had that happening here my neighbors would run me out.  Unless the mosquitoes were biting. 

Heat shields, did you reform them or put new ones in after the exchange of the injectors.  They need to be cupped to touch the bottom of the injectors and then they press to the head to make good contact. 

Timing, I still say you have a timing issue.  OR, OR!

You have injectors that have air in them at start up.  Whether that is from the pump or the leak from those tiny hoses or something else.


The only time my engine smoked and lopped along like that is when I had a huge amount of air in the system.  But a few good revs took care of it for me. 

The way you have to twist that throttle to get it to rev up is totally unknown to me.  I barely touch mine and it is on its way up.  So maybe another notch on that spline?

Are you sure it is diesel burning there and you are not sucking oil from the intake manifold into the engine?  When I had a bunch of blowby one time I would get oil pooling in the intake and when I would get to a high rev situation, drop to third and hammer it to get past some yahoo doing 62.3 in the passing zone. At about the point I would be cranking past them a burst of smoke would come pouring out the tail pipe almost as if I dumped something in the exhaust.  As soon as I upshifted it would be gone. 

Is this vacuum pump the diaphragm style?  Is that pumping oil?  Those have a tendency to do that. 

That's my iders for the evening.

[RunninWild]

No I didn't reform the heat shields I was going to order new ones could that add to the smoking? How do you reform them? They were new but I've obviously played with the injectors a few times and I cant source them locally. I don't remember for sure but I don't think the engine was smoking so bad after it warmed up on my original test drive before I started playing with the injectors.

Would leaking drain lines on the injectors cause problems? I don't think mine are leaking but the hose I got on them is quite a bit thicker rubber and I couldn't get them down all the way so they could have a slight leak. I'll order some better hose. That's the only fuel hose the local store had in that size.it could be air in the system but that video was after driving pretty hard on it and I'd expect any air to have been forced out by then.

I'll pull the (pcv?) line off the head and see if it's full of oil tomorrow. If it is venting a lot of oil does that mean the rings are toast? Could the issue be resolved by making a catch can and venting it to atmosphere?


Another symptom I didn't mention is when it's warm it doesn't shut off instantly when I turn off the key. It'll idle for a second or so. Could that be oil in the intake? I was under the impression a runaway makes it rev out of control and not just idle longer then expected. Blowby? My original gas engine did this in the car as well but it only did it when it would be reving really high. The carb was in really bad shape and it occasionally would idle at like 3000rpm and the shut off issue only happened when it was doing that so I doubt it's a reserve charge in the cutoff solenoid or anything like that.

I'll bring my timing tools to work and advance the timing a bit more and see how it runs. I hate working on it in my lot. I live above a store and it's a public parking lot and I always get people trying to talk to me about it.

The blueish tinge to the smoke has me worried. I did a bit of googling and that is from oil being burned. The engine didn't do that before I swapped the head. I don't see how the rings could have suddenly worn to the point of creating excessive blowby from swapping the head. Its not like I didn't clean/lubricate the cylinders and the head is brand new so I don't know how it would suddenly burn oil.

Anyone have any input on prothes injectors? I know most of his parts are scrap but some of his stuff has to be decent no?

[burn_your_money]

How were the cylinder walls when you swapped heads? Overheating can glaze them which could contribute to oil consumption.

I think the smoke is mainly going to be from the lower CR of your engine. I'm pretty sure smoke while cold is common on franken engines.

Did you swap the whole top piece of the LDA or just the nipple? If it was the top piece you swapper put the original one back on and give that a try.

When you pull the cold start out, does your idle increase? If not, manually increase the idle by moving the lever on the back of the pump on the LDA and then see if your throttle response is any better.

In the video it sounds like one of your cylinders isn't running right. That could be causing a lot of your issues.

The pump does look "factory fresh" in the picture you posted so I would be hesitant to change more than you already have before ruling out engine issues.

[burn_your_money]

Porte parts are garbage. There is no reason to expect anything else from any of his parts.

[RunninWild]

It was the lda cap I swapped, not the entire lda assembly. The old one is gone so nothing to change it with. Are you thinking there is a boost leak or something in the cap?

Yeah the cold start slightly raises idle but it's more noticeable when it's cold. Maybe it's just the advancing timing making it run smoother causing it to idle higher?  I tried to get the throttle apart today but I didn't have a torx set on me. It looks fairly straight forward on how to adjust it but I'm kind of worried about not getting all the springs back the way they are meant too. I hate spring loaded things as they are always a pain to put back together again!

Here's a pic of the cylinders. I don't have much experience but they looked alright. You could still see Crosshatching and there was no obvious signs of damage.

Being that the one injector came apart should I just order a new set? New injectors are going to run something like $250ish. Where I'm at right now it's either low compression, too little advance on the timing or bad injectors that could be causing this correct? I'll try and advance the timing more as that is free. Getting a shop to check compression is probably going to run about $100. I'm on a limited budget at the moment and it's either a compression test or injectors on this coming paycheck. Thinking injectors might be a better idea as then they are completely ruled out and I'd get something out of it rather then just information?

Would 1.6td injectors on the aaz pump be contributing to the smoke?