Injection Pump Timing Issue

[kdiesel]

All,

I have a 1.9l TD, and recently had the timing belt off.  I put it back on, timed the cam/crank (using the timing tools), and went to time the injection pump.  Here's the problem--the dial indicator reads .05!  Rotating the injection pump to the furthest points results in reading between .05 and .40 on the dial indicator--way out of spec.  Repeating the timing procedure has identical results.

I'm thinking that I have the timing off a tooth.  Anyone have any other ideas as to what it might be?

[fspGTD]

It could be off by a tooth... but here are some other things to try.  When you rotate your injection pump, make sure you loosen all 4 mounting bolts (don't forget the one on the bottom opposite end of the belt drive) plus it helps to loosen the fuel line connections to the pump a bit so they don't bind when you are rotating the pump.  The pump should rotate freely within it's range of motion and you should feel it solidly stop when it reaches the ends of it's range of motion.  Also, make sure the cold start advance lever on the back of the pump is all the way back until it hits it's stop before you zero out your dial indicator.  If after all that, you can't get more than .05mm advance, then sounds like you'll need to loosen the timing belt and rotate the pump pulley by a tooth.

[kdiesel]

So it turns out that my problem was with the timing.  Seems that there was a little play in my camshaft-locking tool, enough that when I torqued the cam sproket, the camshaft rotated just a bit--enough to be out a tooth, I suppose.  Once I shimmed up the tool, and timed it again, I got great readings on my dial indicator.  Thanks for the input, Jake.

But now another problem has come up.  I was getting a lot of blue smoke--so I pulled the breather that fits in the valve cover, and plugged the hole to the intake, and voila, no more smoke.  But I am getting a good bit of what looks like dirty smoke out of the breather.  I've heard that bad rings can cause excessive blowby, but this engine only has 10,000 miles.  I'm hoping that bad rings is not the problem.  Anyone have any ideas as to what may be causing this?

Thanks

[fspGTD]

Shoot - hate to say it but, 10,000 miles after a rebuild is what is going to start separating those rebuilds that are truly "men" from the "boys".  At about that mileage, the hard chromium-coated rings should be seated in pretty well if the honing was done right, and blow-by should be at pretty much an all-time low.  You shouldn't have any noticeable change on oil level on your dipstick.  So, hate to say it but maybe your hone job wasn't done properly?  That said, there engines on good sealing stock rings do make some blow-by with some oil vapor in it... it should just be a very small amount though... IE: not enough to make your dipstick level change or cause visible blue oil smoke, but do expect enough to coat your intake with a film of oil though.  Did you have your blowby baffle opened up inside the cam cover when you had your motor rebuilt?  The guys who are good and really know VW motors will during the standard course of a rebuild, open those up and clean their insides and then re-weld them shut as part of their rebuild service.  Guys who rebuild chevy V8s most commonly, etc might not know these sorts of tricks though.  The baffle cleaning might help some, and there are other things you can try to reduce oil vapor in the blowby gasses (plastic cam cover, extra crankcase oil vent, installation of an external oil separator, etc) but, I hate to say it but going back to the bigger picture that your engine was recently rebuilt, I think that blue oil smoke out the tailpipe at 10K miles since rebuild is a sign of a larger problem... and I would suspect proper ring seating, and question if the honing was properly done.

[kdiesel]

I didn't get the engine rebuilt--I installed a new 1.9 AAZ that I got from Parts Place in Michigan.  At least, they claimed it was new, and it looked new.  Then again, this doesn't mean that it can't be my rings.  But I'm REAAAALY hoping that it's not.

You said that there should be a thin film of oil in the blowby baffle and the hose connecting it to the intake.  That's what I have, and no change in dipstick level.  And it wasn't blowing any smoke at all until I had this injection problem (rear bolt broke off, pump shook itself loose on 2 of the front pulley-side nuts, and broke #2 injection line.  I put it back together and timed it...that's when she started with the smoke, but it was clear sailing before)

The only change I made was that I advanced the timing from .80 to 1.00, could that have an influence?  Assuming it's the rings, could they have gone bad that suddenly?  I was under the impression that bad rings was a gradual and progressive problem, not a sudden one.  Could it be anything else?

[fspGTD]

Hmmm.... new engine from overland seems like it should be a pretty good quality source!  (hard to fathom a higher-quality engine than a brand new imported one!)

You mentioned that it didn't used to smoke until you adjusted your timing.  That is a good sign, as if it were the rings that were causing the smoke, it seems like they would be smoking from the get-go.  They wouldn't be clear and then start smoking, I don't think.  Once they're seated I think they would stay seated.

I have seen smoking increase before when timing is advanced.  I have also heard stories of fuel-related smoke being blueish in color (even though I usually see black/grey-ish smoke from overfueling.)  So based on what you said about the blue smoke starting when you advanced the timing, that's likely what I think is causing it.

[fspGTD]

Here we go... some good reading on smoke color diagnosis:

http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4037&t=723

[web]

FWIW, my car used to make a large cloud of blue smoke on cold starts, before I "found" the cold start lever :oops:

So in my case, a few degrees timing advance cured it, but it is of course an entirely different situation. Just goes to show pump timing can indeed cause blue smoke.

[addautomotive]

Before I changed the glow plugs in my mother's 92 TD, it would blow a disgusting cloud of blue smoke, until it was firing on all four. I think that unburned, or incompletely burned diesel DOES give blue smoke. In fact, now that it's getting cold, I'm having difficulty starting my '96. It's also making a cloud of blue until it is running smoothly.

[web]

which is fairly confusing really, you will have NO idea when to change the valve seals...