2.25 diesel swb series 111

[spudfan]

My 1982 2.25 diesel series 111 swb is fitted with a Rocky Mountain overdrive.She does 22/23mpg.I think she should do better than this.Any ideas what she should be doing if 22/23 is a little on the low side.
Pistons and rings were replaced about 4 years ago.Will cruise comfortably at 50mph.Smokes a little especially on hills.Would changing the injectors help?.Can't speak highly enough of the Rocky Mountain unit.

[Psycho Sarah]

sounds about right.
my siii swb petrol fitted with a superwinch overdrive gets about 22-25mpg when i'm on motorways at 50mph.
around town it's much less.

[fosters ice]

Hi spudfan

you don't run it on low sulphur do you.

cheers graham.
____________________________
1962 2a 88 van.
2 fast and 2 furious 2a :D:D

[Drovers]

Hi,
my series 111 1972 2.25 diesel does 24 mpg on a run without a overdrive and also smokes blue/white constantly.
David

[spudfan]

Running on Shell diesel.Have cleaned the engine breather this evening.I'll see if that makes much difference.Had thought of just changing the injectors as it is a fairly low cost action.Might get the distributor pump tested.22/23 mpg does not seem quite right.Regarding the smoking-she passes the emissions test every time.
Just a note-I was looking at the cost of reconditioned engines just in case etc etc.There is an awful difference between Paddocks units and Turner Engineering units in price.I know Turner's are ment to be good but does this price differential mean that the Paddocks units are best steered clear of.
Probably should have put this in a new thread.

[Rich_P]

You should be able to attain at least 25mpg with the 2.25 Diesel.

[secondjeremy]

White smoke is unburnt diesel, black is partially burnt. Blue is generally lubricating oil.

Diesels shouldn't smoke much. The correct adjustment (of what amounts to the throttle max opening) is so that the thing just doesn't smoke at max throttle.

So if its still smoking - why?

Injectors wear eventually - and can benefit from overhaul by a specialist or replacement. When they need overhaul they will not atomise the fuel as well which will show up as difficult starting, rough running and smoke especially on startup.

Diesels require accurate timing. Over the years the timing chain will wear and stretch and this will allow the timing to retard slightly. Incorrect timing will produce smoke and also change the engine noise. (retarded - quiet, advanced - noisy - very roughly)

Smoke is unburnt fuel as so is wasteful as well as socially undesirable.

[Lightweight]

22 to 23 MPG with an overdrive is a bit on the low side for a diesel. There are many things that will effect this. All of the above, plus the state of the running gear. make sure the gearbox transfer box and axles all have had their oil changed regularly, also check all breaks function properly with none sticking on after the application of the breakes. How are your tires, do you have road tires or aggressive mud tires? The latter will be detrimental to your MPG.

You say the engine has new pistons and rings, but hows the top end. Does it have good compression still?
if everything is A OK then maybe you could do with some new injectors, but Id make sure the timing is correctly set first, incase itsd that rather than the injectors.

My 2286cc diesel can get up to 30mpg on a run with overdrive, she will cruise at 55 to 60 ish ok.

[Canadian_Para]

Is it a three bearing or five bearing crank and does it have an intake type servo fitting?

The old three bearing engines smoke, always have done, even from new. The 2.00 Ltr was even worse.

anything from 20 - 30/32 MPG was expected of them.

Lots of factors determine individual fuel / mileage return. Unfortunately,it is hard to figure out correctly without the proper equipment.

If you rely on a simple calculation like fuel in divided by miles travelled via the speedo you will undoubtedly get it wrong.

[spudfan]

Thank you all for the above.She does about 2000 miles per year and is serviced twice in this period.Timing chain and adjuster were changed about 4 years ago so should be ok as she has only done about 8,000 miles since then.Tyres are Sime Frontier 205x16 m+s and not over aggressive.Gearbox and diffs etc have their fluids done every 18 months.Engine oil is semi synthetic.It is very hard to say if she is using oil as as it is changed roughly every six months and milage is low.Everyone-mechanics included- rave about how smoothly the engine ticks over .
I suppose as most of the journeys are short and not long runs this could account for it too.This week I will be out on a 140 (approx) mile journey.I will leave the 110 TDI at home and take the 88.I will post the results.

[spudfan]

Cleaned out the engine breather cap in diesel and straightened out one of the linkage rods on the breather system.Filled her up and hit the road.Massive improvement.Hills normally taken in 3rd gear (or 3.5 with overdrive) were now taken in 4th gear.Smoke well down.Can,t say if it is gone completely but it is well cleared.Average speed kept about 50 mph.
Filled up at a garage on way home.Came in over 32mpg!Accepting the vagaries of the neck to neck filling and dividing the milage by gallons used, it is a massive improvement on what she was doing.I also had a passenger.
Moral being - check the simple things first.Thanks to all who replied to the initial quere.

[RUXY]

2.1/4 diesel - the benchmark is 28 mpg and this is not very good because of the high potential investment in a cylinder head or fuel pump etc. if it fails.
Low 20's can be obtained with a good petrol (and it is all DIY) - with the higher cost of DERV and SVO overall running costs seems to be tilting towards petrol.

[shinais]

Mine is smoking a lot (blue smoke) at idle speed, due to wear in the timing control parts. Smoke disappears during driving. A very common problem as I have learned here at the forum.
Still passed the emission test since this they measure at max free running speed, which will be 4400 or more..:eek: