Quote:
Originally Posted by Diesel911
I did not take the time to spell check:
Good job troublshooting.
When you swapped the Injectors and there was no changed as you said that indicated it was not the Injector.
You took the compression test and found a low cylinder.
You put Oil into the cylinder (which normally is not done on Diesel Engines because there is a chance that Oil pooled on the top of the piston could ignite a bit and ruin your compression tester gauge). So I think you have found evidence that it is not the rings/piston/cylinder.
Becaue normally oil in the cylinder would raise the compression if it was an issue with the rings/pistons/cylinder.
All that I can think of that is left is an issue with the not seating well or a head gasket leak.
If you have an Air Compressor (better if it has a water filter to keep water out of the compressed air) you could mod your compression tester adapter so you can apply compressed air into the Cylinder with the valves closed and it is supposed to be at TDC or close to that.
then you listen for leaks in the intake or exhaust maifold to see if it is a valve seating issue.
I am not sure how easy it is to here if air is leaking into the crankcase for a rings/piston/cylinder issue.
If the headgasket is leaking out side you might here the air hissing out.
If there is a head gasket leak into the coolant after you drive the Car sufficently get it good and hot; shut it off and park it for 2 hours or more. Afterwhich squeeze the upprer radiator hose. If that hose feels hard and inflated you have a head gasket leak into the coolant.
You also might be able to see bubbles in the coolant recovery tank or it could have that burnt combustion smell.
If everything is OK in the above tests all that is left is the Fuel Injecion Pump. Perhaps some issue inside the #2 element (if you have an MW Fuel Injection Pump don't loosen the 2 13mm Nuts on each side of the Element).
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thanks for the advice, funny you should mention the 2 13mm nuts... I know NOT to touch them but when i went out to tinker with the car tonight I saw cylinder 2's look like they have been loosened recently. there is even a clean spot where it looked like the washer/nut used to be tightened for many years but were recently shifted to the side. could this be the cause of all my problems? what exactly does that have to do with the pump and how sensitive is it? I still have around 300psi compression on that cylinder but looking around it seems like other peoples high mileage engines operate fine with that low of compression on all cylinders... so maybe i do have a small issue with it (bad valve seats etc) but maybe the compression isnt the root of my problems after all...
Tonight I played with the rack damper bolt and looks like i need a new one of those. tightened all the way in did not really do anything for idle and engine still starts right up. I raised the idle to about 800rpm to try and mask the misfire and it seems to be mostly firing on all cylinders now but at this point is smoking grayish-black smoke just about all the time. low compression can cause smoke too though correct?
Thanks and sorry for the giant walls of text, just like to put as much info out as i can.