No, I have not pressure tested the cylinders, I was thinking that maybe since the car has alot of power that I could overlook a compression test? but maybe I should....how do you do this on a diesel engine? I would problably need a special compression tester for that high of pressures?

Really, do you think that it is the head gasket ?, cause I have been watching for oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil and have not seen any but maybe I am not looking for the right indicators for that either?

I am going to check that drain hose for the turbo again cause you may be right but I did look at that 3-4 months ago and it was fine. I had that same drain hose on my 1980 wagon leak so if that is what it is then I have experience with that job.
Is there anything else in that area it could be like that little can -looking thing attached to the lower portion of the turbo. Is that the wastegate?

I don't drive the 85 much....which are the pics you are refering to.... so until I started taking pictures, I did not notice the major oil leak under this car. That is no doubt a contributor to the oil consumption.

Today, I took this car out and noticed a new problem, ::upon deceleration it sounds to me as if the engine is missing just slightly. It gets real quiet when I take my foot off the pedal.??? then some irregular firings or nailing?

Thanks for your reply...you still have'nt said what was so funny from my other post or is it that you find this to be an easy problem to diagnose and are amused by my apparent ignorance for the problems I am having ?.
OH well , Thanks anyways... for the help.

mac, sometimes moisture is very hard to detect and may not be visible in your oil. this was the way it was on my son's car. everything looked clean. yeah, you can get a cylinder compression tester on eBay for around $30 and it comes with the adapters for your car. you can check through either the glow plug hole or the fuel injector hole. you can do both a compression test for an initial number on each cylinder, which should be above 350psi with all cylinders close to each other. and then, you can do a compression leak test to determine if you are having a head gasket problem. on the missing issue, when was the last time you looked at your injector nozzles? as to your last question... it just struck my funny bone when you were describing the variability of the white smoke cloud blanketing the cars behind you dependent upon how far you mash the pedal. we've all been there...at one time or another. i had an old 78 VW rabbit and i have a lot of smoke stories on that one. it actually caught fire...now that's a LOT of smoke!

O.k , Thanks very much....you talked me into it for sure I will search around my area first for a comp. tester and when I come up with one will do it.

Will continuing to drive the car hurt anything?

No , I have never looked at the nozzles on this one. I am nervous about dealing with the injectors partially because I don't have a torque wrench, but considering the depth I may be getting into I should search for that as well.

How big of a job is removing the cylinder head on one of these.? Is there anything special I should know or should order as far as parts go. I know I should get a new head gasket of course but is there something that would make the job more productive at the time the cylinder head comes off?

Do i need to buy new head bolts or can I re-use the old ones?

I will have to take that SLS. pump off the head.... should there be some sort of maintenance performed on that while it is off?

Maybe I should have it checked for warpage or cracks?

I am seeing dollar signs with this one, uh- oh.... Like, I should just have it rebuilt if I take it off...never mind the new valve seals I should have someone install new guides if I have to take it off anyways....
then can't have new guides without new valves etc. etc......$$$$... aah #@#@.

I guess I was hoping someone would come up with an easy solution for this cars issues but it is not looking too good.
goin to look for a compression tester
Thanks...I'll be back when the comp. test is done.
what size adapter do I need? $##@$# just the one that fits?

Well, if you are going to test.. .then you really should do a leak down test also...lots of info in the archives... and pretty much use the same fittings as the compression test.... or some of them..

We do not know if it will hurt to continue to drive it...
have you seen the pictures of the center mount that gave way and almost hurt the people INSIDE THE CAR ?

These are not things to rely on forum answers and take any chance with safety...

You can not tell if you need new ones until you measure the old ones..but for me.... I would not do ALL THE WORK of taking the head off and not use NEW ONES myself.... I would consider that penny wise and pound foolish... or the bad drugs again....LOL

REmoving the cylinder head is not too big a job...
UNLESS you want to put it back on after you get it off....
in that case I consider it a HUGE JOB.....
check the archives for all the stuff which can go wrong...
depressing.

for SLS pump check FSM....

ABSOLUTELY have the head checked for flatness.... even more important if you are taking it off due to a head gasket leak....

The only consolation I can offer is this : IF you take your time and do it right it will last the rest of your lifetime.

' Easy solutions ' ..... Don't we all hope that when we start a thread ?

Yes, thanks for the all the help, will post results when I can.

I wonder if there is a kit for rebuilding one of these cylinder heads, like by kit I mean all the parts necessary to purchase if one might want to buy the parts first and then find someone to do the work. I don't imagine it is just any machinist that can do this for me.

Is there a place to buy an already rebuilt head for the TD (sls pump head)?
-what is the definition of a rebuilt head for this? what comes with it or can you buy just the casting and put your old parts back on?
-what is typical of being the weak point for my white smoke condition? cracked? and where? or not cracked but warped.

Is there an instance like this where it could be that the headgasket has just sprung a leak?
Maybe we should not drive it anymore.....I could maybe make a slightly warped head worse? render it unsalvageable?

In any scenario, I am at least looking at a head gasket for sure.
=intake and exhaust gasket.

will this work

nope, it does'nt work.

Hello, I thought to tend to this thread to express to members that replied that their time was not in vain and that I do appreciate the responses...Thank you all very much and this is a grreat forum. I only hope to give back what I have received.
I got a compression tester that did not work through the glow plug holes so I exchanged it for a NAPA unit that came closer but would only do three out of five cylinders through the glow plugs. I went to a hose shop that made me a small adapting hose that would allow me access to the other two cylinders. It worked for one but the other I need to take out the injector or move the injection pump. It just won't do all 5 cyl. through the glow plugs and I don't have crush washers to be doing that on the injectors right now.

Anyways I got between 370lbs and 410 lbs on 4 of the cyl. It has been awhile since I did this so I can't remember which cylinder it was that I could not get to....one of the back three. I did not do a leak test cause the angle that the hose was at only allowed for the compression test...as soon as we stopped cranking the air would escape at the hose to fitting adapter junction cause of the steep angle required to get into the glow plug hole.

I guess without all 5 cylinders it is not a complete comp. test.

I adjusted the valves before driving it and she has been driving it ever since. I noticed that the oil consumption went down and the fuel mileage went up after the valve adjust. I gained 100kms/tank and the whitish smoke went away. The shuddering went away at low speed but came on faintly at around 90 kms/hr.

I have come to the conclusion that perhaps the valve adjustment was the cure and maybe we have a driveshaft bearing on its way out at the same time. I feel silly for not doing this valve adjustment in the first place, assuming that according to the bills that came with the car it was just done before we got it.

Yes, and I would say that motor and tranny mounts are suspect in my mind first second I would put the center bearing support (rubber).

The motor has a normal harmonic vibration that occurs briefly at a certain rpm but in a car with an automatic you normally don't feel it. I feel it in my stick equipped 300 because it has less isolation.

Have you inspected your flex joints. Maybe you should describe the "shudder" in far more detail. It could be something as simple as tires.

Having changed your final drive ratio....
you may have vibrations which are 'covered ' when using stock parts..
you may be accenting it also by your trans not being ' retuned' to shift points which would match your engine power curve needed by the new final drive ratio...

If you coast, out of gear at the problem speed is the vibration there. Try to determine if he vibration is drive shaft related or engine related.
If while coasting in neutral with no vibration bring up the engine RPM to see if the vibration comes back. Check the tack to see if that engine speed relates to the road speed 50 60.
Let us know what you find.