Does anyone know of what the problem might be with my 940GLE 2.4TD, I have had a lot of work done including a new cylinder head replaced at only 64K miles.. intermittently the engine will start to knock loosing power totally and begins to emit white smoke from the exhuast. Than suddenly everything is normal..this has happened twice since the head change and done about 4000 miles. Any ideas from someone who is an expert on diesels?

Had an old diesel many years ago! Have you changed or cleaned the fuelfilter?

Hi Mike,

Firstly, I'm not a diesel expert but white smoke in the exhaust is usually indicative of water getting into the engine's cylinder/s.

You say you've had some cylinder head work undertaken - was it skimmed to ensure that it was perfectly flat before refitting? Also you mentioned knocking - a split or leaky head gasket would also account for the loss of power.

Given the short description, I'd say that the head work ws not satisfactorily completed and I'd take it back to the garage for remedial work at their expense. It may even be a simple case of re-torqueing the cylinderhead down, which is usually recommended 1000 miles after refitting a cylinderhead.

All the best,

Uel