Hello. I haven't posted for some time. I'm having a problem with my BRM 2006. I have installed PD140, Malone tune, Kerma stage 3 colt cam, deleted EGR (all of it). Driving fine 1 day. The next, no power and black smoke. No check engine light. I checked boost tubes. 2 weeks earlier I blew off the boot tube going into intake. All the vacuum lines seem to be in tact. All the mods were done about 15k ago. I love this car and am scared that the turbo may have gone bad. I read a few things about the vacuum solenoid going bad, thus no waste gate control. Not sure if thats a common problem. Up to this point everything has been working great. With one exception. My clutch was slipping. So I put in south bend clutch and 5th gear mod. And it drove perfect afterwards. Not really sure where to start. Any help would be much appreciated.
No power. Black smoke.
- Thread starter s.janks
- Start date
lemoncurd
Veteran Member
good place to start would be with VCDS. check the engine module for faults, then run some basic settings tests to check for actuator functionality
also investigating all the boost pipe connections is good, you may want to take the turbo intake off and verify the turbo is still ok
also investigating all the boost pipe connections is good, you may want to take the turbo intake off and verify the turbo is still ok
So I ran VCDS. No codes. Which I don't understand. If its stipulating a certain boost value, and the actual value is not the same. Shouldn't that cause a DTC? Also when let the motor wind out a little, I hear the turbo. So I know its spinning. I'm leaning towards the vacuum operated solenoid that controls boost. No I really don't having any concrete proof. Am I going the wrong direction here? Also some tips on how to use VCDS would be great. I'm an autobody tech. So I know a few things about scanning and functional test. But by no means a pro with scanners. Thanks for the help.
454k30
Veteran Member
There are a couple of things that can cause an abundance of black smoke from a diesel. It's not usually a bad turbo as low boost or an oil leak will pour blue(ish)smoke out of the tailpipe. However, a gross overfueling can cause you to roll-coal as well. I think your instinct about the turbo not fully boosting may be a good place to start.
Not every out of spec condition creates a DTC. What sort of boost are you seeing? How far off is that from the specified boost?
Not every out of spec condition creates a DTC. What sort of boost are you seeing? How far off is that from the specified boost?
Hello again. I put a new boost / vacuum solenoid on and didn't fix anything. I even loaded my stock tune just incase it was a bad upload. Still the same. I checked vacuum. Not sure what its supposed to be, but I have 15inches at idle. Could I have a bad MAP? I put a 3 bar in when I did the turbo swap. I feel like a shade tree mechanic just throwing parts at this thing. I also took inlet tube off to check turbo. Spins free with minimal shaft play as I would expect. I'm getting to the point where I might take it somewhere to have it diagnosed. But in all my vehicle's, my whole life, I've never not been able to figure it out. Pretty frustrated.
lemoncurd
Veteran Member
Never done this before, but if I had to guess the procedure would be to remove the intank fuel pump/assembly and inspect it + the filter attached for sludge...
And yes, if it is a sludge issue; having the engine run fine then not at all after having sat seems extremely plausible as when the engine ran it loosened up the sludge. Then when it sat, the sludge collected around that in tank fuel pump leading to this situation
KERMA
Vendor , w/Business number
pull the fuel sender from the tank, it's under the rear seat.
Yes, it fits with "driving fine one day then all of sudden no power and lots of smoke the next day"
It will even stop running altogether or refuse to start. Though that seems to be more of a BEW thing. The BRM usually just have severely low power and lots of smoke. Or just low power. It's kind of strange, and befuddling when it happens.
A good portion of my work day is helping folks figure out what's wrong with their neglected 20 year old car. We see this quite frequently on the PD's. It usually takes some work to convince them it's not because the "tune stopped working". Sometimes it's really hard to diagnose broken cars with an email and sometimes a video, in fact it can be very difficult. So here you have my guess, based on what you wrote, take it for what it's worth.
If you blew a turbo, there would be a LOT and I mean a LOT of whitish blue black smoke. And when I say a LOT I mean fog out 4 lanes of traffic. Clearly something dramatic and catastrophic JUST happened, BAAAAANG --- no question about "something ***BAD*** just happened". It would NOT "sneak up on you" in a stealth way. Then after the turbo blows, the car stops running a few seconds later when the engine hydroclocks and bends rods. Maybe the turbo quietly fails, but that never happens without some other change, like a louder whine for a while (days/weeks) accompanied by gradual, barely noticeable incremental change in power/smoke.
Yes, it fits with "driving fine one day then all of sudden no power and lots of smoke the next day"
It will even stop running altogether or refuse to start. Though that seems to be more of a BEW thing. The BRM usually just have severely low power and lots of smoke. Or just low power. It's kind of strange, and befuddling when it happens.
A good portion of my work day is helping folks figure out what's wrong with their neglected 20 year old car. We see this quite frequently on the PD's. It usually takes some work to convince them it's not because the "tune stopped working". Sometimes it's really hard to diagnose broken cars with an email and sometimes a video, in fact it can be very difficult. So here you have my guess, based on what you wrote, take it for what it's worth.
If you blew a turbo, there would be a LOT and I mean a LOT of whitish blue black smoke. And when I say a LOT I mean fog out 4 lanes of traffic. Clearly something dramatic and catastrophic JUST happened, BAAAAANG --- no question about "something ***BAD*** just happened". It would NOT "sneak up on you" in a stealth way. Then after the turbo blows, the car stops running a few seconds later when the engine hydroclocks and bends rods. Maybe the turbo quietly fails, but that never happens without some other change, like a louder whine for a while (days/weeks) accompanied by gradual, barely noticeable incremental change in power/smoke.
lemoncurd
Veteran Member
id imagine cleaning up the fuel sender, and collecting the sledge with a net of some kind would be sufficient
Nevada_TDI
Top Post Dawg
I'm just going to throw this out there...
You mention you have 15" of vacuum, generally 22' or more is the standard.
Start checking solenoids on the passenger side for possible vacuum leaks,
In theory, the vanes are set to be fully closed somewhere between 18" and 20" of vacuum at the actuator; your 15" is not going to be able to fully close the vanes thereby producing a lot of black, partially burnt fuel and very little power as well.
You mention you have 15" of vacuum, generally 22' or more is the standard.
Start checking solenoids on the passenger side for possible vacuum leaks,
In theory, the vanes are set to be fully closed somewhere between 18" and 20" of vacuum at the actuator; your 15" is not going to be able to fully close the vanes thereby producing a lot of black, partially burnt fuel and very little power as well.
I have a pd140 turbo. So if I'm correct there are no vanes, just waste gate. That being said. Does a waste gated turbo need the same inches in vacuum to operate? Also my measurement was at idle. Would it go up if I Rev the engine?
lemoncurd
Veteran Member
BRM / PD140 turbo is VNT AFAIK..
I big huge thank u to Kerma. I took the sender out, cleaned it. It was an absolute mess. And now it's all good. When u 1st told me about the sludge, I had my reservations. But I was wrong. Thanks again. Next issue. A/C. not sure if I should be posting here, but this seems to be the place that knowledgeable people find fixes. My a/c sucks. Crazy thing is that I was driving home today and all of a sudden it's blowing 38* air. Which from what I've herd is an act of God. But then for no reason it went all the way back to 60* air. It happen so fast that the thermometer I had in the vent fogged. I put a new metering valve in the compressor. And charged it with R12a. What the heck k is going on? I've read all the post on how bad these cars are for a/c but isn't their a fix?
So my problem is back. I took the sender back out and cleaned again. Made no change. If I hadn't already changed the turbo, I would put money on the vane controller being bad. It acts exactly the same. Should I be looking more towards only having 15" vacuum being the problem? I am overwhelmingly frustrated.
dieseldonato
Veteran Member
You should have like 23-25" of vac.
lemoncurd
Veteran Member
So after what has been an exhausting investigation, I have finally found the problem. The turbo. Yes a PD140 with 20K has failed. I tore it apart and found one of the 3mm allen head bolts laying down inside the vanes. It bent 1 vane which made contact with the compressor wheel. The other 2 allen head bolts I unthreaded by hand. I contacted Kerma via email. Sent pics. I'm out of warranty on the time period but well within on the miles. I'm hoping they'll stand behind it. What a nightmare.