Navara D22 QD32 hesitates & white smoke - SOLVED

Hey guys pretty new here as i just bought my D22 2000 navara with a QD32 in it and it seems to not be running 100%, here is my story.

But mine will miss and hesitate even in neutral, as soon as it hits about 2200-2500 it starts carrying on, doesn't matter whether its in gear and driving or just free revving out of gear, it also blows out a fair bit of white/grey smoke and smells like crap when the whole missing/hesitation is happening.

The guy I bought it off said there is a crack in the exhaust after the manifold, and when I got it home yea it was stuffed to I've replaced the two pipes that were screwed and now there are no leaks This didn't solve the issue thou

I've since then changed the oil and filter, air filter and fuel filter, tested it running on new fresh diesel rather than what ever was sitting in the tank in case it was a bad batch from god knows where.

It idles fine, and up to 2000 rpm it seems totally happy, it start first kick regardless of being hot or cold.

I checked to see if the banjo bolt filter going to the IP was blocked but it wasn't in there, and have heard about some diesel mechs pulling them out when repairing or servicing them.

I'm starting to lean towards getting some reco injectors, as i can get them for the same price as just getting my current ones tested.

I spoke to one diesel shop who said they charge $275 for diag and testing, but another $150 for a engine comp test, I asked them about testing the injectors and he said they usually don't pull them out, so I'm wondering if they don't even bother doing a comp test as a normal diag or pull the injectors out, what can they really test? Sounds like a load of crap, I'm no diesel expert but this whole car is pretty much run mechanically.

So I'm just wondering if there is anyone else on here that has experienced the same issue or heard of someone that has fixed their or thinks that swapping out the injectors would be a good next move?

Can you describe the smell when it's smoking? Diesel? Oil? Coolant?

It could be a number of things, injectors, pump, injection timing, valves not closing, head gasket, rings, we need more info.

I'm pretty sure it smells like diesel, I am thinking of changing the injectors as I am unsure of their age, and it will cost me as much to get them tested as a set of reco ones anyway.

nedm1989 said:

But mine will miss and hesitate even in neutral, as soon as it hits about 2200-2500 it starts carrying on, doesn't matter whether its in gear and driving or just free revving out of gear, it also blows out a fair bit of white/grey smoke and smells like crap when the whole missing/hesitation is happening.

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White smoke is generally oil, as Dion said, something sticking or something ****ed. burning oil does smell like crap.

black smoke will come with your normal diesel smell, n is pretty easy to identify.

perhaps they remove the glow plugs and test compression that way?
either way, seems cheaper to go get a compression tester and do it yourself.

with new injectors i think you need to get the pump retuned, if you care that much. if you dont care that much, remove the injuectors and clean them yourself. ive read a few threads that people have done self cleaning of injectors, remove them, soak them ina solvent and use a thing wire brush softly to remove any major buildups.

I'll buy a diesel comp tester next week and see what I find from checking that, also if my injector(s) are stuffed I'd rather get reco ones as they usually would have replaced the nozzles. I'll let you guys know how I go, do the glow plugs in the QD32 stay on after starting? Or are these ones just for starting?

White smoke - or light grey smoke - is usually from unburnt fuel but is sometimes from water (not a good thing in a diesel). Black smoke is partly burnt fuel.

It sounds to me more like a leaking injector at higher pressures. I doubt it's the CAS out of alignment if the engine runs smoothly below 2,000rpm but I wonder if there's a chip on the engine - if so, disable it and see what happens.

Compression tests on diesels are done by removing the glow plugs, not the injectors. Particularly on common rail engines, you don't want to remove injectors all the time because of the extraordinary pressures in the rail. There's nothing wrong with doing a compression test, I just doubt it will resolve this issue. This sounds more like an injector that is being forced open by the pressures at higher engine rpm, either caused by wear or deposits on the injector.

QD does not have a CAS, its fuel pump is similar if not identical to a TD27...

good point, check for water in the fuel filter.

perhaps bleed the system, while running, crack each injector slightly and let the air out and then tighten it. thats how i do mine anyway

It doesn't seem to have lost any coolant, I know this doesn't substitute a compression test but I think it's fine in that aspect, but still could be a lifter or valve, should get the reco injectors next week sometime.

I will try and bleed the injectors tonight as I haven't done that yet.

I haven't seen the water in the filter light come on, but I know this is just a float that sits in the bottom of the filter, I'll drain the bottom of filter and see what I get.

One thing I never found out was, how can you really test how much water is in diesel? As in from home and without expensive test equipment lol

I was looking at making a pop tester, so that I can see how the injectors are, but still have to read the guides a little more as I still don't understand how they mod the bottle jacks, but that's a different story, I just would like to do that to confirm if the opening pressure is way to low, or the pattern to wide and weak or if its nearly clogged.

Wow, was reading an old post about a 2.5 having the same issues as myself, and it was reel-sensation that posted in that thread about a fix he had done to his QD32, it was that air would sometimes get through where the water float wires would come through the bottom float setup on the fuel filter.

Filled the whole area where the wires go into the bottom plate with 5 minute epoxy, and the issue is nearly gone, it has a very slight hesitation but it has nearly been solved, so I will still do the injectors I think, as it won't actually hurt to do and I then know its been done and shouldn't give me any trouble for another 100,000 k's

Whoah...

Good pickup. Glad to hear it's sorted

Yeah that would have taken forever to find. Will keep this one in mind hehe

The car now barely hesitates down low but wont rev much past 3200rpm in the lower gears but seems to still be hesitating a lot when moving faster in 5th after about 85 kph.

I did a test with my brothers help with the car and i was pumping the primer while he gave it a rev in natural, while doing this we actually got it to 4k, which it was unable to do either free reving or via driving the car.

I'm thinking of taking it to a mob in yennora called "the diesel experts" heard some good stuff about these guys so hopefully they will be able to sort it out, as I don't want to spend an arm and a leg on this thing, I was to take it away when we go hunting next to the farm.

I'll let you guys know how it goes and what they find. Hopefully it's just an injector service.

Have you got a genuine or aftermarket fuel filter in it? People on here seem to have issues with the cheaper aftermarket filters leaking around the seal to the housing. Another thing would be checking the housing for cracks in case there are any which could also be leaking air.

Have you tried clear hose on the inlet and outlet to the filter housing to see if you can pick up any air there?

The filter i took off wasn't genuine and it had that issue and now i've got a ryco on there, so I can always get a nissan one and see if it solves the issue, also I have put clear line on both sides now and will keep it there, to monitor, there was a bit of air initially as i changed the hoses, but there were small amounts getting through, but not coming from the tank side inlet.

Might get my brother to pick me up a genuine one from nissan on Monday and also check the housing at the same time for cracks, i've found a 2nd hand housing on Ebay so if mines stuffed I'll but this one i've found.

You should be able to tell revving it if there's air getting through, that does sound like the problem though if pumping the primer helps... Good luck with it

Hey guys sorry to dig this one up, I had running fine since my last post after pumping the primer while revving after sealing up the water float sensor wires in the bottom of the filter.

Today after I had fitted some new spotlights I started it up and my dad said he could see air coming from the filter to the pump line, I put clear fuel hose on last time so I could easily see if I was having air issue.

No air coming from the tank line just out of the filter, I'm going to try and get my hands on a nissan fuel filter and see if that sorts it out, as I am thinking it's either the seal on the filter either top or bottom or the diaphragm for the primer is stuffed and leaking air in.

Has anyone here had issues with ryco diesel fuel filters? I've heard one or two bad things but figured it was just the odd chance someone didn't lube the seal or it was just unlucky that it wasn't 100%

I've done all my own services for the last 60 000k using Ryco's brought from supercheap and never had a problem. Like you said just be sure to lube the seal.

Our GUD replacement diesel fuel filter does not seal properly. I always have to use OEM.

Always used OEM; no issues.

It seemed to always suck in air when pushing the primer so I figured it was the primer diaphragm, I bought an after market cav assembly with a 296 filter, it seems that it still lets a little bit of air in but when when priming it but just as the car is running.

I will re-tighten everything tomorrow and see what happens, I just can't believe how hard it is to find a diesel filter assembly that doesn't leak.