Hot answers tagged diesel
18
Inside the car:
Manual: Check the manual for the service history. Was it services regularly at a authorized dealership?
Ash tray: Smells like cigarettes? The previous owner was a smoker, dealbreaker for me personally.
Interior: Does the amount of wear correspond with the expected amount of wear for a car of that age and mileage?
Trunk: Spare tire ...
8
A glow plug is essentially a resister and is tested the same way:
Disconnect wire to the plug.
Remove the plug.
Clean the thread of the plug to make for a good test connection.
Use an ohm meter to check the resistance between the thread and the connector.
Resistance should be below 6 ohms or so. It may be very small (under 1 ohm).
High resistance or ...
8
It's a Diesel, which means that you usually have a high detergent oil in an engine that dumps combustion by-products like soot into the oil as part of its normal operation. Given the age of the vehicle I'm not surprised that the oil has noticeably darkened after 10 miles - one of the older Diesels I owned a while back did that during the time it took to run ...
7
Another difference is that the diesel engines cost more to produce and to maintain. So the diesel version is almost certainly more expensive to buy than the equivalent petrol car, and it usually costs a bit more in servicing. So the rule of the thumb is to buy diesel if you're going to drive more than ~10000km per year or so, depending on fuel costs, taxes ...
7
As an everyday buyer you won't be interested in the high performance end of diesel or petrol, so here goes:
Diesel engines typically rev lower and have more low speed torque - so you are less likely to stall off the line, for example.
Petrol engines usually rev higher and get more power at 3-4 thousand revs
Diesel seems to be getting more expensive - ...
6
Besides the weight, be sure that you buy oil with one of the "C" codes in the service symbol. The top half of the ring should say "API Service C-something".
Update: The Logo looks like this one:
5
These are things I check before buying a car (in addition to Alex's advice):
Make sure it has radiator fluid (at a proper level). If the radiator fluid is empty, it probably has a radiator leak, they probably have not been watching it, and the engine probably has heat damage. The thermometer won't work without radiator fluid so they won't see that the car ...
5
You should look for subsidies in your country for diesel, that might make owning an diesel vehicle (and the related extra maintenance costs it brings with it) worthwhile. In India, we usually get a number around 100kms / per day. If your daily commute is greater than that, diesel is economical.
Running comforts: you should know that you can't (or shouldn't) ...
5
I drive 2 1984 Topaz's and one 1985 Topaz daily. The part in your photo is actually the electric vacuum pump. It supplies the vacuum for the brake booster, cruise control, and the injection pump timing. Unplugging it was the cause of the smoke. The IP has a built in cold start mechanism that uses the vacuum to adjust the injection pump timing depending on ...
5
To add to what others have said, diesel lube oil (the code starts with "C", like "CJ") is formulated to hold lots of soot, and after 10,000 miles, there probably was a lot of soot in the remaining oil that got mixed in with the new oil.
When changing your own, never put "S" (for "spark") rated oil in a diesel engine!
4
In short, diesel engines tend to be more reliable and more robust. They're also far more fuel efficient than their petrol counterparts.
Also, diesel engines may be down on power but what they lose in power they make up for in torque. Torque is more noticeable in an urban environment because of the stop and go nature of traffic. You need quick acceleration ...
4
Be aware that a diesel head gasket is not necessarily a job for an amateur. It is generally not as straight forward as a gasoline engine head gasket.
You may need special tools that many amateurs lack -- a torque wrench, for sure.
Be sure to consult a repair manual for your particular engine. Some VW diesel engines will have multiple head gaskets ...
4
By far the most common cause of failure of the gasket is overheating.
So why would it overheat? Check for coolant leaks in the following
engine gaskets
water pump
radiator
pipes
Also check for oil leaks or low oil - these can have knock on overheating effects.
Check your radiator isn't full of sludge - that could be a cause of the problem, or it could ...
3
A good trick is to put a small mark on the filter, e.g. a scratch or bit of marker pen that you can identify, but isn't obvious. When you get the car back, check to see that the mark is gone (i.e. they have changed the filter). If the mark is still there, you still have the old filter, and you know you've been screwed...
3
Because diesel engines are so much simpler than petrol engines, servicing them is a lot easier. There's no spark plugs or timing to worry about, no mixture to set, none of it.
All you need to do is ensure that the fuel and air filters are clean, and change the oil and oil filter regularly. Timing belts are a little more complicated to do because they ...
3
Yes but as of present there are no US based tuners that provide a DPF delete kit or engine tuning (reprogramming) to allow the safe removal of this device. They exist overseas in the UK and Europe but I would hold off until someone in the US provides a product specific to the US car. Also the US spec 335d uses a DEF (diesel exhaust fluid, adblue, urea ...
3
It was crud in the fuel pickup tube.
First, I switched a jerry can into the fuel line and the engine (after priming) ran perfectly.
Then, I used a priming bulb to force air back into the tank. It took several vigorous squeezes to blow the crud back into the tank from the pickup tube (and possibly the tank selector valves and the other lines.)
3
Does the gauge ever read less than maximum? If not, I would suspect a bad gauge or sender.
EDIT to follow-up on comments: check for a kink or other problem in the wire. The wire from my oil temperature sender passes over a piece of plastic sticking up from the drip tray. Over time, I lost one wire to relentless wear - rubbing clean through the insulation ...
3
The key differences between petrol and diesel engines is the method of combustion.
Petrol ignites with sparks or with compression. Diesel doesn't ignite so well, but burns much better through compression.
Petrol engines inject the air/fuel mixture and then use spark plugs to ignite the mixture just after a piston reaches top dead centre.
Diesel engines ...
3
Two possibilities occur to me: a too-large turbo or a too-loose wastegate.
when I press the accelerator there is no power until the rpm
tachometer reaches 2500
This almost sounds like the replacement turbo is too large.
when I press the accelerator there is no power until the rpm tachometer reaches 2500, then I need to release the accelerator ...
3
Four months went by between when you last ran the vehicle (December) and when you tried to start it (April).
Just like gasoline, diesel fuel can also "gel" and clog up your fuel filters. As a first, low-cost troubleshooting step, change both of your fuel filters. You can use some starting fluid to try and start the vehicle after changing the filters.
If ...
2
I have had the same problem with my boat (sail of course). Bought a fuel transfer fump and water separator/filter for the SUCTION side and recycled fuel from the inspection port to the filler, I couldn't believe the crap that filled the bowl of the filter. Took three filter changes but it is finally clear. Had to clean lines as well and now use fuel doctor ...
2
Everything S_Niles says is correct, but you can save yourself some hassle by checking the resistance before you remove the glowplug(s) from the engine blocks, by touching one end of your ohm meter to the end of the glowplug (after removing the wire/harness from the glowplug), and the other to your engine block. Do this to all of your glowplugs. The ...
2
Several printable checklists to consider:
Autopedia Used Car Buyer's Guide
MSN Auto AIS Used-Car Pre-Purchase Checklist
Samarins.com illustrated used car checklist (notice it has 2 pages)
2
Here is some preliminary research:
Peugeot specifically allows 30% blend. Article on green-car-guide.com claims that all Peugeot HDi engines (since 1998) can use UK B30 blend without modifications. That also means same for other customers using PSA (Peugeot Citroën S.A.) diesels (Ford and Volvo in Europe).
VW UK issued a statement (PDF) in March 2010, ...
2
I'm surprised this has not been mentioned.
Have a compression test performed on the engine. This will expose many major engine problems like head gasket leaks, damaged valves/valve lands or rings. It is a simple, inexpensive test that can save you from some of the most expensive repairs a vehicle may need.
I would consider a compression test absolutely ...
2
They may have replaced the vacuum solenoids but it sounds like the wastegate still isn't opening smoothly. If you can see the wastegate, apply vacuum slowly to the vacuum line and see if it moves smoothly through it's motion, especially when initially opening. If not, it probably still needs cleaning.
Under acceleration it needs the boost, but under ...
2
Pinhole leaks in the low-pressure lines from the tank to the pump can cause this - the pump sucks in air through the hole instead of fuel from the tank. Check the condition of all the fuel lines, and the connections between rubber flexis and solid lines. Check any seals on the filter for the same reason.
2
Do you have a multimeter? You should be able to check whether they are getting any voltage by measuring their feed. Assuming that they are not, you can then try and trace back the circuit.
Being an older car this should be quite simple as the wires will be colour coded - there will be a wiring diagram in the back of the Haynes manual. I don't know if ...
2
It's possible that the smoke you're seeing isn't indicative of any major problem. Some of the VW diesel engines have a tendency to build up unburned fuel and other deposits on the exhaust side of the engine if they're driven for short trips and driven too gently.
I don't have direct experience with the SDI engine, but this is a real problem for the TDI ...
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