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White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby knobby1 » Thu Aug 13, 2026 9:11 pm

Agree with our Airthies...most of those inlet rockers are barely moving compared to the exhaust side ones, especially # 2 & #3 cyls....and you can actually see the inlet side rocker shaft moving up & down....either the rocker shaft itself has snapped, bolts have snapped or their threads have been pulled.

Once again, if the chain has jumped 4 teeth, there has been a coming together of pistons and valves. The valves are square on to the pistons so it would be rare for them to bend...normally they just break bolts or pull the bolt threads and lift the rocker shaft...on rare occasions, rockers can snap...but we can't see evidence of that in your video.

Something is amiss in there.

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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby tranmx2 » Fri Aug 14, 2026 9:02 am

In the vid of the rockers and cam shafts can see the inlet (rhs of vid) rockers/cam shaft is moving up and down as well as from side to side. The camshaft clamp bolts are loose. The camshaft bearings are worn (clamps). The camshaft bearings are worn (on the shaft). Combination of clamp bolts, loose and bearings, worn. How did it get like that? Likely the clamp bolts were never sufficiently tightened.
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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby Excudo » Fri Aug 14, 2026 9:05 am

The verdict is in : the rocker shaft bolts are bent, and the bearing supports are cracked and broken.

The cylinder head is dead.

To be honest, I had noticed that the valve lift was low, but when turning the engine over by hand, you can't see the shaft moving like it does in the video. I thought it might have been because the hydraulic adjuster weren't pumped up when turning the engine by hand.

In reality, the bolts were loose and there was a gap underneath the shaft. I just didn't look closely enough... Easy to say now that I've found the problem. I think I convinced myself that the engine hadn't suffered any damage because I wanted to get it running again.

I now need to find a complete cylinder head because the upper section is matched to the lower section. I imagine these won't be easy to find, as this is a known problem with these engines (a kind of common weakness), so presumably a lot of people have ended up in the same situation as me.
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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby tranmx2 » Fri Aug 14, 2026 9:30 am

Unlikely to be clamp bolts that weren't sufficiently tightened - more like a collet (perhaps more than one) or the like fell down and got just in the right place to cause the cam lobe to ride up over it. Might see damage/indents on the area(s) that the lobs sweep over.
Can see something below the camshaft in the first image looks like the top of a bolt. Are there head bolts below the camshaft?
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Was DRRB 74 KW 100 HP 100 cv. Now CYR5 125 HP. PCM Siemens Continental fuel system.
OBD2 ELM 327 FTDI and Vlinker . Forscan 2.3.46
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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby Airthies » Fri Aug 14, 2026 2:43 pm

Excudo wrote:The verdict is in : the rocker shaft bolts are bent, and the bearing supports are cracked and broken.

The cylinder head is dead.

To be honest, I had noticed that the valve lift was low, but when turning the engine over by hand, you can't see the shaft moving like it does in the video. I thought it might have been because the hydraulic adjuster weren't pumped up when turning the engine by hand.

In reality, the bolts were loose and there was a gap underneath the shaft. I just didn't look closely enough... Easy to say now that I've found the problem. I think I convinced myself that the engine hadn't suffered any damage because I wanted to get it running again.

I now need to find a complete cylinder head because the upper section is matched to the lower section. I imagine these won't be easy to find, as this is a known problem with these engines (a kind of common weakness), so presumably a lot of people have ended up in the same situation as me.
Still a few 2000-2006 2.4 TDDI around, not sure if the heads are compatible with the TDCI version though.

Mostly unavailable as that models getting rare and most engines go for export.

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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby Airthies » Fri Aug 14, 2026 2:48 pm

tranmx2 wrote:Unlikely to be clamp bolts that weren't sufficiently tightened - more like a collet (perhaps more than one) or the like fell down and got just in the right place to cause the cam lobe to ride up over it. Might see damage/indents on the area(s) that the lobs sweep over.
Can see something below the camshaft in the first image looks like the top of a bolt. Are there head bolts below the camshaft?
No loose bolt caused this.

Simple fact that timing chain stretched.
Inlet cam jumped timing.
Pistons hit valves.
Rocker shaft forced up as valves can't go down when cam is trying to open them.
Weak point of cam shaft journal bridge being weakest point and Pop snapety snap.
And shaft bending comes from which piston hits first before they all leave the chat.


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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby dumper » Fri Aug 14, 2026 3:14 pm

Just after I got my 135 mk 6 all the bad news about the engine started coming up hear I changed the timing chain early as it had a very slight chain rattle from cold it never had any pump problems that is another big killer they have I always change the fuel filter for gen Ford tdci one and 6 k max oil and filter change and couldn’t have had a better engine plenty of power and good mpg .
From reading on the forum the tdci cam carrier has a cam sensor that the tddi doesn’t
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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby metalworker0 » Fri Aug 14, 2026 3:26 pm

if you cant find a head with carrier, maybe you'll have better luck, looking for whole used engine

all the best.mark
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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby Excudo » Sat Aug 15, 2026 8:41 am

Yes, now I need to find a cylinder head at a reasonable price.
If anyone has one for sale, I’m interested!
Yes, apparently the TDDI heads don’t have the hole for the camshaft position sensor.
Someone told me that it can be added, but it can’t be easy because there’s a specific angle involved. Not really something you can easily do at home.
I don’t know if that’s the only difference, though... We’d need to find someone who really knows these engines well, or someone who has actually done it before.
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Re: White/black smoke won't rev 135 T350 2.4TDCI

Postby tranmx2 » Sat Aug 15, 2026 8:52 am

Airthies wrote:
tranmx2 wrote:Unlikely to be clamp bolts that weren't sufficiently tightened - more like a collet (perhaps more than one) or the like fell down and got just in the right place to cause the cam lobe to ride up over it. Might see damage/indents on the area(s) that the lobs sweep over.
Can see something below the camshaft in the first image looks like the top of a bolt. Are there head bolts below the camshaft?
No loose bolt caused this.

Simple fact that timing chain stretched.
Inlet cam jumped timing.
Pistons hit valves.
Rocker shaft forced up as valves can't go down when cam is trying to open them.
Weak point of cam shaft journal bridge being weakest point and Pop snapety snap.
And shaft bending comes from which piston hits first before they all leave the chat.


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Thanks for the info'. Weak point of cam shaft journal bridge being weakest point and Pop snapety snap. Can now see/appreciate that.
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Was DRRB 74 KW 100 HP 100 cv. Now CYR5 125 HP. PCM Siemens Continental fuel system.
OBD2 ELM 327 FTDI and Vlinker . Forscan 2.3.46
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