Technical Tipo dieing?

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Technical Tipo dieing?

anoddlad

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Feb 2, 2005
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First, hi all, nice to finally find a site like this. I've owned my Tipo for about two years now and have muddled through problems on my own in the past, but this one is slightly beyond my understanding.
Recently I've noticed some smoke from the exhaust under heavy acceleration. I suspect it's the turbo (engine is a 1.9 TD), as smoke is only noticeable under heavy boost. Unfortunately I can't see the colour of the smoke, as I've only ever seen it at night when it's been lit up by the headlights of the car behind me. Do any of you know what could be causing this, if it's likely to get any worse/terminal etc? I saw some pale looking smoke a year ago, but changed the air filter and that seemed to fix it. I think performance may have dropped off a bit, but I may be imagining that. What's slightly more concerning is that the car uses a bit more oil than I'm used to - perhaps a litre every couple of thousand miles. Which reminds me, it's due an oil and filter change...
A couple of other minor niggles while I'm here - the manual says not to idle the engine after stopping to protect the turbo, which is contrary to how I thought you should treat them. Am I reading the manual wrong, or is the car sophisticated enough to look after the turbo itself?
A couple of weeks back the RHS electric mirror got bashed by the dustmen. Fiat have quoted me over £100 for an entire new unit, but I only really need a couple of bits. I think I can replace the outer shell with a manual mirror I've got hold of (hopefully the inside connections are the same), but I also need a threaded connector pin type thing as I've only got two left, out of four. Are the insides of the mirror shared components at all, because DGT tipos are a bit rare on scrap heaps?
Finally, I really should change the cambelt some time. I don't know when it was last done, and I've had it for two years now, so it must be due. Is it doable by an amateur, i.e. can it be done with the engine in place?
Thanks for your time people, as I said I've fixed some pretty obscure problems myself in the past so hopefully I can help one of you out one day. I really don't want to have to scrap this car until I absolutely have to.
 
Smoke under heavy acceleration is normal for a diesel... it is just excess diesel not being completely combusted - when was the last time you had a service?

If you are losing oil there are a couple fo things to do - number one, check your radator water for traces of oil - if there are any you could have a head-gasket leak - not unheard of :eek:

If you have no h-g leaks, get a compression tester and check your cylinder compression - if that is low, it is indicative of poorly seated valves or worn rings - not the end of the world... if you are going to change your cambelt, it would be a good time to get the valves looked at - not a particularly expensive or difficult job.

I am a firm believer in Slick 50 for engines - it is a PTFE type product that can help with low compression, worn bearings, etc - worth the £15 imho.

It reduces friction, build up wear spots with PTFE and generally helps reduce wear and tear.

I ran my Audi with about 1L of oil for around 50M on the motorway and it survived - even though it was ticking and generally very hot after the run.

It wasn't on purpose, I had an undiagnosed leak. I think that without the Slick 50, it would have been toast!

Another great invention is Red-Ex for your diesel injectors.... cleans them up a treat!
I haven't had the pleasure of changing a FIAT cambelt, but as this kind of thing is fairly straight-forward, any competent diesel engineer should be able to do it at a reasonable price.

Good luck!
 
My 1.9TD has always been smoky on heavy revs since purchase at 100k miles. 50k miles later its still fine ! Fuel additive is very good at reducing the smoke. Did try some slick50 in mine but the turbo blew immediately afterwards !!!
 
all slick 50 does is coat the oil filter.a waste of money.regular injector cleaner in the fuel tank does wonders.always use it on an low tankfor the first time,use two bottles then take it for an italian tune up,that is a blast down the motorway for 15 miles.if this does not clean up the exhaust,then the injectors will need ultrasonic cleaning.after a run on idle,always leave a turbo running for a minute to give the engine time to cool things down.this will save cooking the turbo bearings.and only use good quality turbo diesel oil of 15/40 in it with a high detergent content.castrol for example under there magnatec name make a perfect oil.:)
 
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