Click and Clack's diesel diagnosis
 

Anyone listen to the tappet brothers this weekend? Guy called in from Chicago with an 83 300d. Had added anti-gel in the cold weather and afterwards can started missing at lower rpm's with white smoke. Cleared up at higher rpm's but always returns at lower rpm's. Car has 125k on it. Brothers diagnosed a blown head gasket. What does everyone think? Guy said he had a coolant leak somewhere since he could see it on the ground.
I think blown headgasket's on 617's are pretty rare so I'm not confident in their diagnosis. I was thinking perhaps an injector problem of some kind.

I heard the show.

Those guys are diesel haters. Probably lib'rul Democrats. :D

I agree, sounds like maybe an injector problem.

It was a grandma car. 125k, as I recall.

Fuel filters and valve adjustment wouldn't hurt either.

This is what I think of Click and Clack's advise:thumbdown:. That is the first time I've heard someone with a 123 call in. And they got bad advise. They were too quick to say bad compression or a blown head gasket. Anti-gel should cause either one of those things to happen. I too put my money on a bad injector.

I'm a lib'rul and I own three diesels.:D

I'm a lib'rul and I own nine diesels including my JD 855.:eek:
Not a "stir the pot type" but I just couldn't resist on this one.

I missed the show this weekend but I usually try to listen to it on Monday at work. The "Tappet Brothers" are good mechanics but they are also trying to make snap diagnoses over the phone to mostly clueless (mechanically) people. What kind of accuracy do you expect.

Good entertainment for the most part though. Except for the incessant snorting laughter by which brother I can never remember.

I use to like to listen to those guys. I never hear them much anymore. They are shooting from the hip in most instances. Heck it's free advice, why not.

I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive. :D

I heard the show. They didn't ask the right questions but the owner probably wouldn't have been able to answer the right questions anyway. C&C have talked about Mercedes diesels in the past and have gotten it wrong then, too (something about biodiesel, as I recall, they thought it was the same as WVO).

Anti-gel would not cause a blown head gasket or cracked head (especially in a 617) but then again, it could have been a coincidence, the owner might very well have some kind of serious problem that happened about the time he added the anti-gel.

Jeremy

They were surprised it had 5 cylinders. They need to go back to MIT.

They are very entertaining and they freely admit that sometimes they get lucky and give out the right answer.(stump the chumps) Click and Clack are a welcome relief from all the dismal news that is in the media these days. They make their listeners laugh or feel happy. They show a working knowledge of thermodynamics and physics. Could be MIT? I like them.

Green party, 1 diesel starts, the other doesn't, but I'm thinkin' 'Yes we can!'.

Blown head will show in the coolant.

Bad injector can be isolated- idle, crack a injector line, observe smoke, tighten, proceed to next. The one that turns the smoke on and off is bad.

Tom and Ray, alias Click & Clack, are great diagnosticians. If you listen to the process they use to diagnose a problem, it will be helpful in diagnosing your own. I haven't listened in a while, mostly because when they say at the end of the show - "Well, you've just wasted another perfectly good hour . . .", I usually am thinking, yea, I could have been gettings some other stuff done. I do really enjoy them when I am driving but am not usually driving on a Saturday morning when they are on. I especially like the puzzler and the credits at the end of show.

I have never heard them talk about diesels but wish I was listening to this one. I see you can listen online so I'll have to check it out. http://www.cartalk.com/ct/review/index.jsp

I think Tom is the snorter. He just looks more like a snorter to me, and I think I have heard him snort when Ray was talking.

ROFL
 

I suspect that is the Chicago owner I spoke with the following Monday..

Turned out the anti-jell was for gasoline engines = alcohol based.
Alcohol and diesel oil (unlike gasoline, which can be blended) do not mix



:D Tom and Ray are wonderful people, and freely admit their show is entertainment with the best diagnosis time allows.

They have xxxx seconds for each call, glad it is not me.. :eek:

I really enjoy listening to them (and have since about 1988), but I think they blew it on this one. I have it on most Saturday mornings when I am generally working on..you guessed it..cars anyway...so its not a waste of time. In fact, listening to them and the problems makes me thankful that I have a fleet of third world cars that respond well to my knowledge and tinkering. I find lately that I guess along with them pretty well.


Rick

I considered this the second worse diagnosis I have ever heard from them. The worst was a couple of years ago when a guy with a jeep cherokee called in. He said he was towing a large trailer and during long steep grades he had white smoke coming from under the car.
Click and clack thought it was an intermittant leak in the transmission cooler:stunned: . It seemed fairly obvious that the guy didn't have a transmission cooler and he was boiling fluid on long grades. They said to check the fluid level regularly and not worry.
That guy probably has a new tranny by now. Hoperfully the rebuilder recommended a cooler.

Come on people! It's a comedy show about cars! I'll quit listening when their humor quits making me laugh. I used to listen to a show called Goss' Garage, and it was dry as toast. Plus the guy has an ego the size of a small planet and a whiny, grating voice that just bugs the hell out of me. Sure his advice is probably better - but that's why I buy the FSM for.