My spare minibus, a Mk6 2.4 rwd TDDi 52 plate, ran out of tax at the end of September so I had to move the old tub off the road and put it on the drive. After charging the batteries it struck up after a bit of cranking but it sounds like it has a stuck cam follower..."sounds like" lol. Today I fired it back up and let it idle for 30 mins to warm the engine through and it ran fine during that time. In fact I did a rear wheel bearing on an alfa while the bus was ticking over and the bus exhaust was just a few feet away and I didn't notice any smoking or stink. However, the plot thickens, after about 30 mins I jumped in the bus and picked the revs up to see if the increase in oil pressure and engine speed would "unstick" the follower. That may have been a mistake as it then started smoking (both soot and blue) and it now sounds weak on one cylinder...not a complete misfire but defo lumpy and uneven. If it had been a petrol engine that hadn't been started for 11 months I'd be certain it was a sticky follower but I've not heard of the Duratorq having this problem nor can I find anything on the internet or here that suggests a sticky follower is likely to be the issue.
I don't mind whipping the cam cover off to have a look to see what the issue is but it's an old bus the has done over 200k, it's out of MOT and has rotten front wings so I don't really want to get too involved ...I.E. if it's a little end that sh@gged or something similarly involved and expensive to repair I'll just scrap it. On the other hand, if it's likely to be a fairly straight forward repair then I'll do it as it's actually a nice old bus despite the miles and front wings lol.
I should also mention that before it was parked up last November it ran sweet with no noises or rattles from the engine.
As always your thoughts and opinions are most welcome
