On my way to work my 87 300 sdl turbo began losing power. I had to limp to work and back. I thought it was clogged fuel filters. I changed both of them. The car loads up when i hit the acelerator and a bunch of very smelly whitish smoke comes from the tailpipe. I took the aircleaner cover off to make sure it was getting enough air. That didn't help. I checked the vacuum lines to make sure i didn't have any leaks. Any ideas?

MIke

did you overheat it?

White smoke that looks like steam? Could be a blown head gasket or cracked head.

Do a compression test... always take two readings on the compression test, 1st stroke and total compression. 1st stroke tells you how well you are sealed up, i.e. good rings, valve guides, etc. The total tells you if you have other problems like a blown head gasket or burnt valve.

Have a cylinder or two with low first stroke, check for blow by. Start the car and take off the oil filler cap. If you feel pressure blowing in and out, you have bad rings.

Check for bad exhaust valves, hold a piece of note book paper in front/behind the exhaust pipe at the rear of the car. If the exhaust blows the paper away all the time, the exhaust valves are most likely OK. If the paper is sucked back to the exhaust and than blown away, and back and away... then you have a bad exhaust valve.

Good luck, nrk

You can check this without doing a compresion check: Head gasket problem; see if you are getting bubbles, dark scumy discoloration, or an oil slick in your coolant (while the eignie is running look for the bubbles) and of coures is your coolant level dropping.
There also used to be a kit to dip into your coolant to tell if combustion gases were getting into the coolant.
Different engine and IP (Volvo diesel). I manged to install the pump with the timing late and it had alot of pure white and a little fluffy smoke comming out of the tail pipe. When I advanced it it cleared up to normal. If something caused your IP to go out (like timing chain jumping a tooth and causing late timing) of timing it might do the same thing.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

some blow by is aceeptable. If you do the cap dance( loosen the cap and let it sit on the opening), and the cap gets blown off(to where you have to catch it).. you have issues.

the car starts and runs at idle normal without any white smoke. its only when i give it some gas that it starts to load up and the smoke comes out. it is definately smoke and not steam. i can only get the car to go 30 mph. i would i check to see if the timing is off? there is not pressure when i take the oil cap off. i also checked the coolant level and it is fine. it is hard to see if there is any oil in it due to the way the reservior is mounted.

Mike

you mentioned that the white smoke was smelly. does it smell like fuel, or sweet like coolant. is there any stumbling or "missing" while its idling?

try this, with the car cold, check the upper radiator hose for pressure (should be soft), then start car. now monitor the upper hose for pressure, there should not be any until after the engine has come up to temperature. if pressure develops while the hose is clod, then you are leaking combustion gasses into the cooling system and may have a cracked head.

__________________
Dean

the smell is definately not sweet. its very foul. I will try the radiator trick in the morning. the car starts fine and runs at idle very smoothly with no white smoke. The way it loads up i was thinking it was the turbo but the white smoke is confusing me. its like it is getting to much fuel. after reading one of the other posts i'm also wondering of the timing chain skipped a tooth. would it run in idle o.k. if that happened?

Mike

what about your IP or ALDA? These seem the more likely culpret.

This is kind of a long story, but when I put my 603 back together after a head repair, my chain was off a tooth and it seemed to run like crap from idle to WOT. but it was steady,it didn't "build up".

Your description would lead me to the ALDA or even the EGR valve.

Have you had your intake or cross over pipe off lately?
How gunked up is your intake system?

__________________
Dean

It's not getting too much fuel..............it's getting oil...........and hence the reason for the "foul" smell.

Pull the crossover tube and check the inside surfaces for a thin coating of oil. If you find it..........change or rebuild the turbo.

The lack of power in the vehicle also points toward the turbo as the culprit.

Turbo was what I was thinking too.

Tom W

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Sounds like the turbo.

The lack of power, and smoke would point to that.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

thanks everyone for your help. i'll check out the turbo. i don't have much experience with them, any advice on where to start?

Mike