How Do I Clean Out Soot Form The Air Intake on Ford Dorset Diesel?

[Shanaly]

Hello - engine had been running fine but started producing grey then black smoke. I think these had been sucked in thru the air intake, in a rather vicious circle. Engine finally stopped and won't start.

I have read a bit about mixing elbows, so I suppose I should take off the heat exchanger and clean it with carby cleaner.?

i suppose the dirt can be much further in also - has it damaged the cylinder head combustion chamber or injectors? how to clean them?

The air intake is via a straight 2 metre long pipe, with a low density filter on it. Is this restricting air intake?

Air intake often expelled dirty air - how to smooth the egress of exhaust gases?

many thanks in advance

[gjordan]

A 2 meter long intake pipe seems extremely long and dirt/crud build up in it could cause the smoking, but I am not sure I understand the air intake expelling dirty air? Remove the intake pipe and see if it is clear, and try to run it without the pipe. It will be noisy, but wont hurt the engine. If it was run for a long time with excess smoke, then the exhaust may be clogged up and need cleaning. Why is it needed to have a filter 2 meters away from the engine? AH!!!!, another idea, is this a turbo engine? It sounds similar to a failed turbo charger. Good Luck_____Grant.

[Shanaly]

thanks for your comments- i have m,ore data now: there was a soft cushion on the intake! black smoke = air starvation. research suggests that the sooty stuff from bad combustion in the chamber is very bad for the piston rings/cylinders , and can't be cleaned out. but i have taken off and scrubbed the intake manifold, and i don't se why i can't spray carboy cleaner into the chambers. I'm also doing an oil change - it went black - and putting scrubber chemical additives in the fuel and lube oil. fingers crossed!

[gjordan]

Motor oil in a diesel will always turn black in short order. That is normal. It might take a little longer with the newer fuels, but it will always happen. I dont think the carbon cleaning spray will hurt anything. If it fires up and runs fairly well, then take it out and run it hard for an hour or more to help clean it out. If it still wont start , then cleaning the whole exhaust system is probably in order. It is also possible for the bad combustion to have coked up the injectors, and make them have a bad spray pattern. Check the cheapest and easiest thing first, and move to the more difficult and expensive things until it runs good again. Good Luck____Grant.