Hiya.

Hoping all these symptoms will add up to an easy, (if not easy to fix) diagnosis.

Some time ago I started noticing a breathy/raspy sound when I put my foot down, but I'm not sure where exactly it's coming from.

This was followed by a gradually increasing loss of power.

Now, I'm starting to smell an occasional smell. It's hard to describe, but I would say it's more of a chemical smell than a hot smell, but I could be wrong.

Finally, it's started to smoke. Not all the time, mostly black smoke and mostly when the engine is being pushed. However, the other day it did belch out a really rather impressive cloud of white smoke whilst I was pottering along at 55.

Looking forward to your suggestions.

Best to get some tests done.
Compression test etc..as it could be the head gasket failing..
As a worst case scenario..

Which engine?

Black smoke is usually a sign of incomplete combustion

IE - lack of oxygen to burn fuel
Fuel is just a blob instead of a fine mist
A poor spark - causing a poor flame spread within the cylinder
Low compression = Lack of pressure = poorer quality burn

White smoke - Really really excessive oil, seen a few petrol when oil is poured into cylinders that smoke like crazy till it burns off,
But normally White is water, which could be a sign of a HG

We need to know what engine you;ve got as well
Got any warning lights?

Ziggy

Hi. Thanks for your replies.

The engine is a 1.3 diesel JTD. Should have thought to add that bit of info initially, really.

Haven't had any engine-related warning lights at all.

There's no mayo in the oil as far as I can see ...