Iltis engine pull from Bosnia

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Stuart Fedak

I am working on an Iltis engine that was in a crate that was returned from Bosnia. The joy of the engines that were pulled on deployment, is trying to figure out what was wrong that caused it to be pulled in the first place, and what needs to be replaced/restored.

When I pulled the head, it was noted that there was a lot of black carbon in all of the pistons. There was also a lot of carbon in the input manifold. The spark plugs were fouled with black carbon.

Hi Stuart,

My experience with army exchange engine units stems from British forces. I have seen removed engines returned for rebuild with minor ailments that should have been rectified in the field, but possibly due to pressure at the time, and lack of diagnostic expertise, a replacement unit was easier. Usually, a defect report was returned with old unit. I can say that I have seen at least one instance that a Land Rover petrol engine was replaced because it was smoking, only to find the new engine did the same.........due to refuelling with diesel instead of petrol. Perhaps this is the problem, not being familiar with Iltis, is it petrol?