Blue smoke on start-up after fitting of recon TD cyl head

andycadabra · Post by **andycadabra** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:09 pm

I've experimented with adjusting the injector pump - because the anti-stall adjustment is linked to the throttle lever, I had been using this to set the slow idle, which was wrong, so I rectified that. While I was doing that, an 8mm black plastic fuel feed hose that comes from the top of the fuel filter to the injection pump had gone brittle on the end that reaches the injector pump, broke and started spurting diesel!. After fetching a cup of boiling water I managed to cut the end off and refit it. Without the boiling water it couldn't have been done, so any BXers with similar engines might be advised to renew this as a preventative measure or get stuck somewhere!
Anyway, something I did must have done something because now, after the initial puff of smoke, the exhaust seems pretty normal.(Unless it's just down to the change in the weather) Still not very happy with the lack of engine smoothness, so maybe I should still get it tuned up professionally.

I have had starting problems but I think it's settled down now

I stated in a previous post that the engine oil had gone down, but it has actually gone down about 8 mm over the last 4 weeks, or 200 miles. I had thought that the fact that the smoke was blue meant it was an oil issue, but as nothing I've done would have affected the amount of oil burnt, it must have been a fuel issue.

Defender - yes Tom asked that, and I did answer him, but not before Kiwi had posted a link to the other thread of woe. Basically a cracked cylinder head and head gasket failure. Tried 'K-seal' and 'steel seal' to no avail, but I can apparently blame 'steel seal' for buggering my 2-year-old water pump which now has a intermittent (but manageable) leak.

thanks for all the advice. I now have to decide whether to leave the video up on youtube or remove it. Someone has already favourited it!. I suppose I should leave a comment that it's been rectified before I start getting hate mail from tree huggers!

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:53 pm

andycadabra wrote:I stated in a previous post that the engine oil had gone down, but it has actually gone down about 8 mm over the last 4 weeks, or 200 miles.

That is what can only be described as "shitloads".

Of all the XUD engines I've ever owned or maintained, only one has ever used more than about 500ml of oil over the 5000 mile oil service interval, and the one that did was a very-buggered-indeed 250k mile square-port engine with no piston rings left.

I'm now wondering if something else hasn't been fixed/fitted properly which means you're burning a lot of oil. When you first start the engine, pull the oil mist pipe off the air filter box. Is the engine passing a lot of oil vapour?

andycadabra · Post by **andycadabra** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 4:08 pm

David - Actually, I've just discovered the dramatic influence road camber has on oil level - about half an inch, as I found out when I parked it facing opposite directions and checked it . So it has gone down but probably only by 3mm, and the new rocker cover gasket isn't doing a very good job of keeping the oil in despite having been tightened, so it could be down to that. I'll check the oil mist pipe anyway - thanks for the tip.

tom · Post by **tom** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 9:57 pm

It could also be described as "excessive". Three millimeters could also be the difference between filling a sump and checking it later, after the oilways and filter are refilled.

Post by **docchevron** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:13 pm

DavidRutherford wrote:
That is what can only be described as "shitloads".

Tom wrote:It could also be described as "excessive".

True, but then Shitload is a standardised unit of measurement!