The continued woes of the CFCA

[Twigtreep]

Hi all,

Thought I’d make a post as there is quite a lot of contradicting info about these, with little first hand experience, and the D type coolers with many thinking the degradation issue has been solved.

Despite having a the block replaced at 50k and the d type cooler fitted, I opted not to blank the EGR. 80k fault free miles on it and this summer I have begun to lose oil at a rate of knots and the van has started behaving a lot more inconsistently in terms of power.

I do have a visible oil leak, so there is some hope but I think that may just be a symptom of the engine beginning to fail.

Hoping I can find an issue with the PCV/rocker cover or one of the engine seals. Will update as I make progress in fixing it or saving for the inevitable replacement.

Certainly am feeling stupid for not blanking and remapping (£400) versus potentially replacing/rebuilding (£10000).

Don’t make my mistake!

I love this van and hope never to be rid of it, but at the same time spending that kind of money is daunting on a 13 year old vehicle.

 

[DXX]

The revision D EGR cooler is an improvement on the previous but definitely not a fix.
It’s my understanding that instead of being bare aluminum alloy construction it is plastic coated.
This coating degrades and then the aluminum oxide is created and ingested.
You can do a Miller oil analysis for £40 and this will give you the confirmation. I think it’s 95% guaranteed the bores are damaged.
There are only two preventative measures:
1. Replace the EGR every 40K miles.
2. Blank the EGR and install the Tafmet kit or similar.
No harm in going down the oil separator route but be aware that because the bores are worn the excessive blow-by will no doubt carry more oil past the PCV.
Mod’s: perhaps merge with relevant CFCA content?

 

[Twigtreep]

I’m praying for a miracle, it went from burning/losing basically no oil. To losing around 500ml/1000km accompanied with a visible leak in about 2 months.

Turbo is still making strong boost, MAF is on the lower end of healthy. Very little variance from each of the injectors. Van still pulls hard but is just inconsistent in pulling away. Sometimes in launches sometime it eases away.

Local specialist ‘didn’t really want to get involved’ so I’m debating chucking some parts at it or buying a suitable long reach compression tester.

 

[DXX]

Oil analysis is far quicker and easier than a compression check and will tell you what you need to know.
You can also do a quick crankcase pressure check by removing the oil filler cap with the engine running (not driving!).

 

[Twigtreep]

Just changed the oil yday so will wait a bit before sending in sample, will probs take another one 1k later to compare.

Below some videos with symtoms.

- exhaust smoke -

- blowby-

Cleaned up the area of oil leaks and then took for a spirited drive. Mostly seems to be stemming from the intake manifold and dripping down. Seems to be some sort of pcv issue, I’m hoping this isn’t because of bore score but probably quite likely.

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Removed what I believe to be the outlet for pcv/ccv. No signs of cracks in the pipe. Under revs no real mist and no oil splatter which I wasn’t expecting. Inside of the pipe lightly covered in oil.

 

[DXX]

It’s not looking too good. Have you got Carista or similar to monitor the DPF and re-gen’s?

 

[Twigtreep]

Just a cheap reader, Dpf seems to regen fine last one was last night. Can thankfully say I haven’t had any issues before in that regard.

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[MarcisB]

@Twigtreep did you solve it? Was it an engine-out job and a remanufactured short block in?
I'm currently on the same page as you started, and it will be the 2nd overhaul (3 different heads in between) for the 2012 reg 270tkm CFCA.
Today, it was diagnosed with:

• Excessive blow-by = pressure is building up in the crankcase.
  
• The valve cover is leaking around its perimeter, gunk in the ventilation pipe after PCV.
  
• The heat exchanger cooling hoses are deteriorated/damaged by oil = will rupture at some point.
  
  Had a helping hand in this myself by leaving oil cap somewhere else after filling the oil. Not once but twice already
  
• Due to blow-by oil going to the turbos has a hard time getting back to the crankcase = starts being pressed into the turbos
  
  
• The diesel particulate filter (DPF) has a crack and contains oil.
  

Last "overhaul" was done 65tkm ago with EGR blanked off... In my case, it is a poor job from the shop that did the overhaul. I already had injectors flying out due to the stretch bolt snapping because reused and not changed.
Fun fact: injectors flew out only 100km after I got the car. The previous owner drove ~12tkm after the overhaul, had an oil change, then 1tkm more before I got the car. These were some of my main selling points - the car had an overhaul, EGR was blocked, and it had already driven 1 oil change (small issues would have been resolved).
The culprit

The setup
-20°C + dad's old car on a trailer.
The result
T4 always gets the job done! Had to leave the T5.1 midway there.

There were apparently also wrong parts used in the head, at least I was told that. The seller replaced the head because they couldn't get it running after placing the injectors back.

I think it was related to the high-pressure valve in the diesel ramp that I replaced later, or the ECU "forgetting" the settings because the injectors were removed. I also read somewhere that CFCA's ECU may randomly forget the calibrations.

BTW
Maybe someone has an overhauled short block without the head ready to go? Or has he seen somewhere?