Retarded Express Van?

[nokivasara]

What are the symptoms of a slightly retarded timing?

I have:
*black smoke even with moderate load, pretty smokey at wot pulls..
*low power, especially at low revs, gutless if cruising in high gear/low revs and try to accelerate
*a bit hesitant at cold starts
*high fuel consumtion, 35-40mpg

This is in a Ford Express 1.8TD -99
It has a Lucas-Cav IP without boost enrichment, no IC.
Max boost is 0.8 Bar and it does build boost nicely from low revs. Fueling and boost is stock.

I can't figure out how it can smoke AND feel gutless 
Is it retarded?

[snakemaster]

retarded timing blue/to white smoke , i dont like the cav pumps , you could put a bosch pump on + the injectors , by the sound of it that is the best it is going to run , i have had a few and thay old tractor engines (crap)  get a golf tdi van

[nokivasara]

I found a lot of crap in the EGR holding the valve slightly open all the time, cleaned it and put a block off plate and reassembled.

The smoke is black, like if it was overfueled but as slow as it feels it can't be 

Will a Bosch IP fit the bracket for the CAV, is the TB sprocket of the same size? Does all Bosch IP's fit?
Would be great to get rid of the solenoids that the cav use, maybe it's the solenoid that's giving the poor low rev performance? It does make a clicking noise when the ign is turned on though, I guess that means it works?

[snakemaster]

I found a lot of crap in the EGR holding the valve slightly open all the time, cleaned it and put a block off plate and reassembled.

The smoke is black, like if it was overfueled but as slow as it feels it can't be 

Will a Bosch IP fit the bracket for the CAV, is the TB sprocket of the same size? Does all Bosch IP's fit?
Would be great to get rid of the solenoids that the cav use, maybe it's the solenoid that's giving the poor low rev performance? It does make a clicking noise when the ign is turned on though, I guess that means it works?

your van should be 75hp with the cav pump , you should be able to bolt a bosch pump on with no prob the pully may be out of line ,
your cav pump should have a  boost enrichment fitment looking from the front of your van it will be on the left botom side close to where the HP lines come out and you will see a line comming from the inlet man to it

if it were my van and i wanted a bosch pump i would see if i could get on of a pug 306 / 405 1.9 td the lines and injectors to

ment to say the diethram in the  boost enrichment bit on the pump can burst but it would give you no black smoke and it would feel like your turbos not realy comming in ,  is your turbo good ?

[nokivasara]

Cleaning and blocking the EGR helped the mileage quite a bit! It's also less smokey than before.

This one does not have the boost enrichment on the pump, it's just like a Passat Eco-diesel 

Before I swap in a Bosch I'd like to see if the CAV can run better than it does right now, is there a way of testing the timing advance solenoid?

[nokivasara]

Replaced the air and fuel filters recently.
I'm mostly curious of the solenoids on it, and what exaktly they do. One of course is the stop solenoid, then theres one on the side of the pump (facing forward in the car) that I believe is called Light Load Advance solenoid or timing advance solenoid.
Light load advance sound to me as if it doesn't work properly the timing gets retarded during light load conditions and maybe that would cause the low power at times.
That's why I want to know how to test the solenoid, all I know is that it clicks maybe 10 times when the ignition is turned on...

Most of the exessive smoke seems to have dissapeared after the EGR blocking and a few italian tune ups