1989 C33 Laurel running rough/smoking badly

[DonRowe]

Hi there, this is my first post on Nico so hopefully this is in the right place to post this thread. If not, please let me know where I should post it.

I have a 1989 C33 Laurel with an RD28 with 230 000km's on the clock, and up until recently it was running perfectly. I bought the car in October '10 and had it compression tested etc by a diesel specialist, he told me it was running like new. Around a month ago it began to both idle and run really rough, at first just after ignition but now constantly. The entire vehicle shakes when idling and it almost sounds as if the engine is knocking. When I accelerate in neutral, it feels as though the car is misfiring and it pours a greyish blue smoke from the exhaust. When I accelerate in gear it also feels as though it's misfiring and large amounts of black smoke comes from the exhaust. I had the car serviced with oil and filter changes yet its still running like this. I have also put a bottle of injector cleaner through it, with no change.

My question is, could it be the glow plugs causing these problems? If not, what else could it be? Also, will it cause a lot of damage to the engine if I drive it in this condition?

Thanks for any replies, I really appreciate your time.

Don

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Yes, it can cause damage driving it like that. It almost sounds like a head gasket to me... I'd get the compression checked again. Highly doubtful that it is glow plugs.

Greyish blue smoke usually means oil and possibly water getting into the combustion chamber, both point to headgasket