I think I have narrowed my problems down to the timing being too far advanced. The symptoms are heavy white smoke at idle, both cold and warm, especially at startup, and nailing/missing sounds at idle and upon acceleration. Does this sound like a too fast timing issue? If so, how do I correct it on the 6 cylinder? I have done a search, but keep coming up with info on how to adjust the 5 cylinders. I know that I checked the ignition timing when I put the new chain on and it was dead on, I don't know how it would have become advanced, it would make sense that it would be retarded, but through extensive searching on this site it does seem like that's not the case. Any help would be appreciated!

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87 300D - Running on Veggie oil; 260,000 plus miles; Original #14 head

Is the heavy white smoke cause by oil consumption?

You can smell the smoke for oil residue and the need for oil would be 1 quart every 500 miles..........or less.

If the timing is off by six degees or less, you'll hardly notice it once the engine is fully warmed. It won't cause the white smoke.

If you set timing when you replaced the chain, it could not have advanced itself.

Wear with time will always retard a pumps timing in relation to the crank I believe. The only hope is someone advanced it too far at one time.

I don't think it's oil consumption, I know it does lose about 1 quart every 1,000 miles, some of it is through leakage around the egr valve though. But the smoke reeks of diesel smell, so I am assuming the smoke is fuel related. If it's not a timing issue, what else could it be? Would dirty injectors or prechambers cause these symptoms? I drive it every day like this, but it gets embarrassing with all the darned smoke. Plus I can't imagine it's good for the engine with all the nailing and missing that it's doing. By the way, I've ran straight fuel injector cleaner through it with no luck.

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87 300D - Running on Veggie oil; 260,000 plus miles; Original #14 head

I agree.......it narrows it down to fuel distribution.

If it misbehaves at idle, try cracking each injector, in sequence, and see if you can isolate the problem to a single cylinder. If so, then swap injectors and see if the problem moves with the injector.

I'd be leaning toward an injector or prechamber problem.

White/Very very light blue smoke usually indicates Unburned/only partially burned fuel.

The cause could be Diesel Injector faults, Timing related issues or more probably lack of compression. How does the engine start?

If it only does this when first started from cold and dissappears soon after it could be something as silly as a faulty heater-plug or two...

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http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...0TDnoplate.jpg

Alastair AKA H.C.II South Wales, U.K. based member

W123, 1985 300TD Wagon, 256K,
-Most recent M.B. purchase, Cost-a-plenty, Gulps BioDiesel extravagantly, and I love it like an old dog.

W114, 1975 280E Custard Yellow,
-Great above decks needs chassis welding--Really will do it this year....

Well, it starts right up, but I do know there is an issue with the glow plugs because the light stoppped working back in December, and when it's really cold I have to keep the plugs on for a long time, and it's very rough running for the first 5 minutes or so. I've been meaning to replace all the glow plugs, but it looks like it's going to be a pain on this engine. The smoke does get better when warm, but never goes away completely. I guess I am going to have to really check out the injectors now. Do these injectors require a spline socket to get them out? If I take them out, do I need to buy new gaskets before putting them back in? And if I can isolate the problem to a single injector, what's the procedure for cleaning them, or is it better to get new ones? I see ********az has injectors for this car for around $35 each, that seems like a good deal.

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87 300D - Running on Veggie oil; 260,000 plus miles; Original #14 head

Depends how much money you want to spend. If you narrow it down to one injector you could just take that injector to a service shop. New nozzle seal should also be installed. They are basically a one shot item on any pulled injector.
The injector just takes a deep regular socket. The splines you mention are on the delivery valves in the pump.

If I crack open the injectors as mentioned above, will I damage these seals? Maybe it would be a good idea if I just buy all new injectors and seals? One other question, I've also noticed that it is very hard to get black smoke out the exhaust on this car, and that's even with the ALDA removed. Could this also be from clogged injectors not letting enough fuel into the engine? The car also doesn't have the kind of power that it did when I bought it a year ago, it almost feels like a clogged fuel filter, but they are both new so I know that's not possible. I guess that could be from clogged injectors also?

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87 300D - Running on Veggie oil; 260,000 plus miles; Original #14 head

What seals?

There are no seals on the end of the tube where it meets the top of the injector. It's a compression fitting, effectively.

Ok, so will this compression fitting need replaced?

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87 300D - Running on Veggie oil; 260,000 plus miles; Original #14 head

Nope, it's part of the hard lines. Just tighten it till it's snug and you're all set. Don't overtighten them.........it's not necessary.

A little confusion here I think. The seals are only involved if you remove an actual fuel injector. Just loosening the line on the top of the injector has no seal.

Thanks for clearing that up, I was thinking I had to loosen the actual injector.

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87 300D - Running on Veggie oil; 260,000 plus miles; Original #14 head