84 Rabbit Too-Too Much Smoke

[shaskill]

Bought this with 288,000 miles. Can't drive my FordPowerstroke diesel truck every day so thought this would serve for work. Live at 3500 ft and go up and down to 1200 every day. The Climb up at one point is steep and I cloud the folks behind me with brow smoke. Gentle on the throttle I get 38-40 MPG. Maybe 1500 mile per quart so not too bad for a 4 speed i guess. Thermostat was dead and car ran cold so replaced it. Put cleaner through the fuel system and was an improvement. Starts instantly so I assumed injectors OK. One of them seems to leak fuel around the base but not enough to see when at a fast idle. Ran it on the interstate at 70 and then in town it didn't gas people bu saw the air skoop at come off and realized the new air cleaner had been installed but the box was loose. Sealed the system up again and now I seem to smoke more. Is the engine worn out or is the injection timing off? I tried (using a post here) to dynamically tune it but could not figure how to rotate the pump. Any ideas in geeral or particular? Thanks. Ex MG Trumph sufferer! :idea:

[andy2]

frist of all what colour is the smoke (black,grey,blue or white) and secondly of all check the engines compression.

[shaskill]

Smoke is only when you over-gas the engine for more speed or lug it up a grade at too low a speed. Exhaust is a very light grey-brown and not really like my tractors give out unde the same conditions. I will get the compression checked but the mileage seems pretty good (up to 43 mpg (us).
Thanks

[Dr. Diesel]

a 5 speed works wonders for a n/a diesel rabbit.
Don't make any assumptions about injector condition!
Checking timing with a dial indicator is a good thing to do.