1984 300CD - 200,000mi

Here is the scenario:

Two weeks ago I had my valves adjusted. The car ran great for a week. Before driving to Cape Cod, I did a diesel purge. The car ran great on the highway for an hour and a half, then suddenly lost power and began billowing white smoke.

I pulled over, changed both fuel filters, but that didn't help. The smoke is white- not blueish white. It smells like fuel. I don't think i'm burning oil or coolant.

One of my cylinders was not firing. To determine if it was the valves or fuel related, I cracked all the fuel lines- they are all delivering fuel to the injectors with good pressure. However, cracking the line to the first injector did not cause a drop like the others did. I let the car run, and that injector did not get hot. You could grab it indefinitely when the others were too hot to touch for more than a few seconds.

I decided the problem was most likely a clogged injector caused by freeing up carbon with the diesel purge. I want to pull the injector and try to clean it, but I can't find a deep enough socket. I tried Lowes, Home Depot, ACE, and Autozone. I found a 3in deep 27mm, but the return line spouts stick up too far.

I tried a second diesel purge when I failed to find a deep enough socket to pull the injector, and the car seems to run marginally better. It blows white smoke with a puff of black when I get the throttle wide open.
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So, where do I go from here? Bring it to a shop and have the injectors pulled, cleaned, tested, and adjusted? Try to do it myself?

Either way, should I replace the nozzles as long as I'm pulling and cleaning the injectors?

Let me know what you think!

Hi, Harbor Freight has a metric deep socket set at a good price and the 27MM works fine for the injectors. You could try swapping injectors to see if the miss changes cylinders after the swap.
Joseph

It sounds like an injector problem to me. I had a 300D for a while that had a bad injector. It blew white smoke like nobody's business. It was embarrassing to drive. I pulled the injector and put in a different one and the smoke disappeared. Sounds like you've got in narrowed down to the injector but I would consider pulling all of them and cleaning them at the very least. If you have a shop near that can test them you might as well have that done while they are out. If the car has never had new nozzles, at 200k miles they are due. They will make a world of difference. But at the very least get the #1 pulled out and look at it. It could just need cleaning or maybe the pintle broke off the nozzle. I use a 1-1/16" deep socket to get my injectors out. Works great.

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... adjusted valves, and a week later white smoke?
uh, go adjust the valves again. odds are good a lock nut came loose, and you aren't getting any air in #1 intake valve may drop if that's the case, don't start the car until you have verified the valve is OK.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

already drove half way from amherst to cape cod and back!

I didn't want to risk it, but the lock nuts were loose when we pulled the valve cover off to adjust them- I decided the injector was a much more likely culprit , especially considering the condition hasn't been constant. I haven't been driving it since I made it home, but I didn't really have any other option than to get it back here.

The injector seems to be spraying something, when I crack the line now there is a much larger drop than before. It is also heating up. I wanted to swap injectors and get that test out of the way before pulling the valve cover again.

Also, How important is it to replace the heat shield if i'm just swapping injectors around for testing?

Definitely check your valves again. It's free, you're not going to hurt anything, and only take a little while. If you put a new gasket on when you didn't then previously then you can reuse it.

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It will not cause and problems if you do not change the Heat Shields during the the test.
Unless you are a high milage driver you could change the Heat Shields a Few weeks later.
Not replacing the Heat Shields is mostly a problem in the long term like carboned up Heat Shields that will not come out and where they seat on the Nozzles can gradually burn away.

When I got my Volvo Diesel that uses the exact same Heat Shields I pulled the Injectors, rebuilt them and re-instlled them. I did not even know the Heat shields needed changing.

Over 2 year later I had to pull the Cylinder Head and the Headgasket/Vlave Cover Gasket Kit came with new Heat Shields. That is when I realised the needed changing.

I had no running issues or Injector Removal Issues with my Injectors due to reusing the Heat Shields.

However, having 2 vehicles using the same Heat Shields I decided to buy enough from my favorite internet seller to do each engine x2 at close to $1 each.
This way if I have trouble or just want to tinker around I am ready to change them

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Having ANY valve adjustment nuts "lose" is not something you see every day, and you had more than one lose? As others have said, look there first.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Ive heard the Craftsman 27mm deep 1/2" deep socket clears all the obstructions too.

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

This is most definitely your valves,either no air entering the cylinder or the exhaust is slightly open.

The white smoke is unburnt fuel which is being injected into the cylinder but not being burnt.

Injector trouble will often show up as a knock and you do not mention it making any noise and you would feel a harder pulse through the injector line when holding it if the injector had gone bad.ie it is blocked and cannot fire.

I was down at OSH Hardware (over the weekend) that sells Craftsman Sockets and unfortunately the newer Lazer Etched Socksts are not the same inside as the old ones.

If you get a Craftsman check the numbers on it.

The one in the Tumbnail is the same as mine 1-1/16, 1/2 inch drive and total length 3-1/4 inches. The numbers the socket are 47532.
I have been using the same 1-1/16 socket on Injectors and other things since 1975 with no issues at all. It has even survived some occasional Impact Wrench use.

I do not know what numbers are on the 27mm versiong but I do know the Lazer Etched 1-1/16 Socket was not deep all the way down like mine is and it also had a different number on it.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I got a 27mm deep socket at Northern tool that works fine for the injectors,does not interfere with the nipples and was very inexpensive. Don

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Red Green "This is only temporary,Unless it works!"

97 E300D 157000 miles
87 300TD ?141k? miles

#1. I agree the heat shield can be re-used for brief testing.

#2. Error, the name is the function = it protects the injector nozzle from excess heat = incorrect face seal between the center of the shield and the injector nozzle = a burnt nozzle..

#3. Error, Incorrect face seal between the center of the shield and the injector nozzle = a burnt nozzle = seriously reduced nozzle life...
Example: 50,000 mile life versus 150,000 mile life.

Note: The secondary job of an injector heat shield is to form a compression seal between the pre-chamber and injector.

I use a 1 1/16 With no problems

I didn't want to wait for the socket to come in the mail, so I took off the valve cover to check up on things. The valves seemed good, but I checked it warm so i'll need to double check.

With the valve cover off, I was able to get at the injectors with a wrench. The first injector was encrusted with carbon, the nozzle was seized in the body and entirely black. A thick ring of carbon fell out of the space around the nozzle.

I checked the second injector, it looked good but I cleaned it anyway. When I put everything back together again, the engine slightly better but still pretty sorry. I'm going to pull all of the injectors and soak them over the weekend.

Can i get away with just cleaning them, or should I go ahead and replace the nozzles?