BJ42 3B barely running (solved!) (2 Viewers)

[plink01]

Hey guys i'm at a bit of a loss and just checking to see if anyone has any other ideas I could try before i send my injection pump or the whole car to a diesel mechanic.

So i've owned the 1982 BJ42 (Australia) for about 8 years with absolutely no issues engine related. Engine is (was) super strong, no smoke of any kind, revs quick and plenty of power.

I was driving home after a 4x4 trip and i noticed i was loosing power. Black smoke started pouring out the exhaust and eventually i could only go about 20kmph with an absolute hose of black smoke coming out, worse than a steam train.

I limped it home, i wish i had left it and got it towed, it got probably 3/4 of the way up the temperature gauge going up a steep hill. I hope i haven't damaged the engine. So ****ing stupid, i was really hungover and a massive bushfire had just started not too far from my house so i really wanted to get home as quick as i could.


So next I replaced the fuel filter and governor diaphragm. The diaphragm looked old but it wasn't broken or torn. I replaced both filter and diaphragm with a Toyota and Denso one.

It made no difference, it still doesn't rev over 2k and black smoke hoses out.


I sent the injectors away to get looked at. The injector shop said they were really bad and rebuilt them for me. I re installed them and bled the hell out of it and its still no good. Maybe a tiny bit better. When reving it to 2k there is a ticking noise coming from the top of engine.

The other part i find concerning is the exhaust note has completely changed. Its now twice as loud as it was and sounds super 'airy'. (I don't know how to describe the sound, it sounds like air is coming out, but of course air is coming out, its an exhaust! But it sounds like tons of extra air is coming out and is crazy loud when reved.)


I'm at a real loss, i'm thinking the injector pump must be stuffed and its over fueling the car like crazy. It seems strange all 4 injectors were stuffed at once. The car was running perfect, i would understand more if 1 failed and it started running poorly over time. To have all 4 go at once is very strange. The engine went from perfect to stuffed within the space of 5 minutes.

I removed the rocker cover and nothing appeared too untoward. I don't have a diesel compression tester, but turning it over by hand it sounds like it still has compression with the cover off.

I baby the hell out of this thing and service it properly and only use genuine everything. I have never adjusted the fuel or added a turbo. Air filter is clean, there is no oil in coolant or water in oil.


The only positive i have is it still starts and idles perfect. The engine isn't making any catastrophic noises till its revved to its new max of 2k then i get the ticking. It used to rev past 3k no dramas.

I'm at a point now i think i might just pay a s*** load of money and get it towed to an injection shop. I live rural and the local diesel shop doesn't want anything to do with it, he's worried about opening a can of worms with an engine so old.

Can anyone think of anything else i could do or check??

I have bled the hell out of it, the bleed screw on the injector pump, the nipple at the fuel filter and the injectors themselves. I was blown away how much air there is in there. I will have another go bleeding the injectors but i'm 98% sure there is no more air left.

The short video doesn't really do justice to how the exhaust sounds. And the amount of smoke is about half as much that comes out when you driving it. It easily gets twice as think under load. It never used to make any smoke except for a slight puff during gear changes at high altitude.



If it turns out the engine is stuffed I'm in for a world of pain!

 

[bj70bc]

doubt its the injection pump itself,,
id would check for air in the diesel lines with a clear hose section and verify proper fuel (with no air)
id check that the two hoses to the diaphragm are connected and in good order
id visually inspect the valve train and make sure the valves are doing their thing
id visually inspect the intake and exhaust manifolds
id inspect for signs of headgasket issues, oil in rad/ coolant in oil, the rad pressurizing while running before being hot etc
then id compression test it

 

[duncanrm]

Good advice @bj70bc

I would also take off the air intake hose and see if you can feel a puff of air upwards at all.. this would indicate an inlet valve issue .. if there is a factory sedimenter fitted I would also bypass this temporarily.

 

[bj70bc]

in order of most likely, off the top of my head.....
fuel delivery or air in fuel #1
headgasket or cracked head, other valve train/head issues #2

I would have said diaphragm first if you hadnt said you did it already

 

[plink01]

Awesome thanks for the advice. That gives me a few more things to look at.

It's interesting you mentioned @bj70bc the exhaust manifold. I broke the exhaust mount on the 4x4 trip the day before and the exhaust manifold is 100% leaking. It's super obvious as the diesel smoke is so thick and black it stained the firewall. I can see it coming out when reving in the engine by hand.

Obviously this isn't ideal and I was going to fix it in the future.

Could this be a cause you think? I definately didn't think an exhaust leak could cause so much drama. I'd ****ing love to be wrong though! That would be an awesome result.

But it definately adds up, that's the only thing to go wrong lately and it literally happened the day before. I tie wired my exhaust to the broken mount and drove it home thinking nothing of it. Those little exhaust mounts break nearly yearly on my 80 series. I bought a bunch of genuine ones this time to see if it lasts a bit longer.

Very interesting development!

 

[duncanrm]

This isnt a turbo'ed engine is it?

 

[4Ruster]

I don't want to be a bearer of bad news... but..... Check your timing:/

I remember when my timing skipped and the valves bent, the exhaust got all loud, the intake got all loud, and I was chooching smoke like a young daddies money kid with somthin' to proove.

However don't rule out the injector pump, they do fail, but they tend to go out slowly over time.

 

[plink01]

This isnt a turbo'ed engine is it?

Nup no turbo, engine completely stock.

 

[plink01]

I don't want to be a bearer of bad news... but..... Check your timing:/

I remember when my timing skipped and the valves bent, the exhaust got all loud, the intake got all loud, and I was chooching smoke like a young daddies money kid with somthin' to proove.

However don't rule out the injector pump, they do fail, but they tend to go out slowly over time.

Haha well those are 100% my symptoms. It's the thickest possible black smoke, looks like it's sooting pure diesel.

It leaves a film of diesel all over my shed when I start it.

While bleeding the injectors I was breathing a bunch of it in.
I had black snot when blowing my nose in the shower that night. Probably shortened my lifespan by a few years.

And the exhaust is easily twice as loud as normal.

 

[-MaTTi-]

How about the diaphragm? If if’s broken, you’ll get overfuel situation.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

I don't want to be a bearer of bad news... but..... Check your timing:/

I remember when my timing skipped and the valves bent, the exhaust got all loud, the intake got all loud, and I was chooching smoke like a young daddies money kid with somthin' to proove.

However don't rule out the injector pump, they do fail, but they tend to go out slowly over time.

Skipping a tooth on a timing belt in a 2L might be possible, but B engines are gear driven so I'd say there is zero chance of the gears skipping.

Are you getting a lot of vapours/smoke out of the ventilation pipe? If so, you may have holed a piston.

But I'd be following bj70bc's advice and bypassing the fuel system with diesel straight to the pump to check for air coming into the system.

 

[dirtyham]

Fuel return pipe down to injector pump can crack and suck air, cracks at the edge of the mounting tab plate.
Hand primer pump can suck air, don't bother with genuine only use a Bosch item.
Lift pump can fail, easy change and genuine available.
Tried running it with the intake pipe removed checking it for restrictions and correct butterfly movement.


Sorry for the late reply.

 

[dirtyham]

And don't stress about the running hot part, I ran mine over 3/4 temp for 2 hours straight and she is still running fine.

 

[plink01]

Ok I've done some more investigating.

This is where I'm at:

Compression pretty good. 380, 350, 350, 380. Toyota manual says as long as its between 427 psi and 284 psi. And no bigger psi gap than 28. I have 30 psi difference but I doubt that's enough to make the engine completely un driveable.

I've adjusted valve clearances. I did them after the compression test so that could explaine the slightly low numbers on cylinder 2 and 3. All good.

I've replaced govnor diaphram. All good.

Brand new genuine fuel filter.

Airbox is off so not possible to have air restriction.

Checked little filter in lift pump and its all good.

EDIC motor appears to work fine. The rod moves to the 3 positions without hesitation.

Replaced leaking exhaust gasket. No longer ticks which is good.


So none of that fixed it. It still hoses black smoke and exhaust note sounds way off.

Tomorrow I'm gonna check the Fuel Control Relay. Apparently if faulty that can cause overfuel. But I'm thinking because the EDIC rod appears to be moving fine and looks like it stops where it should I doubt there is anything wrong with it.

I've just been reading about the lift pump. Could a dodgy/stuck lift pump cause an overfuel??

So that leaves just the injector pump, which seems most likely culprit.

Has anyone removed one out of the BJ42?? Do you need to remove the guard/wheel arch??
I'll probably remove it anyway so I've got a clear line of sight at what im actually doing.
Is the consensus that I need to check the timing at end of installation? Or do I be really carefully and mark everything and I should get it back to where it supposed to be??

Thanks for any ideas! Been awesome help so far.

 

[-MaTTi-]

Ok I've done some more investigating.

This is where I'm at:

Compression pretty good. 380, 350, 350, 380. Toyota manual says as long as its between 427 psi and 284 psi. And no bigger psi gap than 28. I have 30 psi difference but I doubt that's enough to make the engine completely un driveable.

I've adjusted valve clearances. I did them after the compression test so that could explaine the slightly low numbers on cylinder 2 and 3. All good.

I've replaced govnor diaphram. All good.

Brand new genuine fuel filter.

Airbox is off so not possible to have air restriction.

Checked little filter in lift pump and its all good.

EDIC motor appears to work fine. The rod moves to the 3 positions without hesitation.

Replaced leaking exhaust gasket. No longer ticks which is good.


So none of that fixed it. It still hoses black smoke and exhaust note sounds way off.

Tomorrow I'm gonna check the Fuel Control Relay. Apparently if faulty that can cause overfuel. But I'm thinking because the EDIC rod appears to be moving fine and looks like it stops where it should I doubt there is anything wrong with it.

I've just been reading about the lift pump. Could a dodgy/stuck lift pump cause an overfuel??

So that leaves just the injector pump, which seems most likely culprit.

Has anyone removed one out of the BJ42?? Do you need to remove the guard/wheel arch??
I'll probably remove it anyway so I've got a clear line of sight at what im actually doing.
Is the consensus that I need to check the timing at end of installation? Or do I be really carefully and mark everything and I should get it back to where it supposed to be??

Thanks for any ideas! Been awesome help so far.

Check the pump hoses, the rear one which is connected to the diaphragm.

 

[Ragnaroek]

Does it stay running without holding the throttle down? Or does it die when you let off?

I had that happen once on a customers Deutz tractor. The gear for the IP sheared the key off and slipped on the shaft, causing it to run super retarded, smoking like crazy with absolutely no power and a wierd thumping exhaust sound.

 

[plink01]

Check the pump hoses, the rear one which is connected to the diaphragm.

Yup I've checked them. Still original but they arnt damaged or torn. The photo makes them look worse than they are. I can blow air straight through and if I block one end it is sealed.

Thanks!

 

[plink01]

Does it stay running without holding the throttle down? Or does it die when you let off?

I had that happen once on a customers Deutz tractor. The gear for the IP sheared the key off and slipped on the shaft, causing it to run super retarded, smoking like crazy with absolutely no power and a wierd thumping exhaust sound.

It starts perfectly and idles perfect. The exhaust still sounds crazy at idle though

You and @4Ruster have both said something similar and it describes my symptoms probably the best out of all the replies and info I can find.

I havnt checked timing yet. Being gears I thought it would be unlikely timing would be out. But I'm running out of possibilities and it definatly matches the symptoms.

Considering I'll already have pulled half the car apart getting to the injector pump I might as well take the radiator out and take the timing cover off and have a look.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[plink01]

I just finished opening up and inspecting the fuel control relay.

It looked fine in my opinion. Only one spot that had a tiny bit of powdery substance but I don't think it was anything.
You can see it in the first picture, it's in the middle of the board to the left.

It's definatly never been submerged in water and I doubt it had been opened before.

I gave it a squirt with contact cleaner and it should be ok I think.

I think if it wasn't working or faulty the EDIC arm wouldn't move or would be moving incorrectly.

 

[plink01]

Ok the 3B is fixed!

So I was fully convinced either the injector pump had failed or the timing gears had somehow failed.
I was about to start pulling half the car apart and I thought I better ring the injector shop first to check how long their wait time is.
I ran him through the symptoms again and he wasn't convinced the pump or timing had failed, the symptoms weren't right.

He suggested check the exhaust. I had already replaced the exhaust manifold gasket. I thought it's worth a shot.

So I pulled the exhaust off and started it up and it works!
Turns out the muffler had collapsed internally and must be blocking the exhaust.

It was a massive relief but I feel a bit embarrassed. At the same time ive never heard of a muffler failing and blocking the exhaust. I love this stupid car and take it camping a few times a month, it's been off the road for at least 5 months now and it's been doing my head in.

I was convinced before the compression test that the motor was cactus, I was searching all over Australia for 3B's, 13BT's, 15BFT's and 12HT's and it turns out all I needed was a new muffler! Probably saved me $15,000 dollars!

It seems obvious in hindsight. The only thing that went wrong during my last 4x4 trip when it s*** itself is I had broke an exhaust mount a few days earlier. I tied it back on with tie wire to get it home but the extra rattling must have finished off the muffler. That's probably why the exhaust gasket also blew because of the back pressure.

Incredible result! I'm the happiest 40 series owner in Australia right now. I had 10 beers last night to celebrate.