Turbo lifespan

[gords]

Ah, so that's what that thing is!

For the 12,000 mile service, they recommend taking it off and cleaning it internally. I assume you can do that without draining the fuel tank?

Anyone know? Can you remove the fuel sedimenter without all the diesel from the tank pouring out? :?

[seph234]

sorry cant help you with that question but im sure i read some where that it can become brittle and something  on the sedimenter  breaks off quite easily so be careful. if only i can remember where i read it(poor memory sorry) ](*,)

[Wanderer]

The sedimenter being removed can start to syphon out the diesel.
Take care around the pipes going into the sedimenter. They can rust and allow air into the fuel system if disturbing them causes any pinholes.

Some people bypass the sedimenter altogether.

Ed

[Darren]

Hi Gord,

How long have you had the bigger tyres fitted? They will have raised your gearing by about 10% and this can make a huge difference to performance with a tdi engine in standard form. You might well find that there's nothing actually wrong at all and you just need a bit more power to pull the higher gearing.

[gords]

I think (?) I would have noticed if the performance dropped that much after putting the tyres on. In fact, I seem to remember not noticing a huge difference!

The problem seems to have been gradual - but right at this moment it seems as though the car is constantly towing a whopping great big caravan :shock:

As I said previously, it struggles to 70mph on a flat motorway and the slightest hill or headwind can easily knock 10 - 20mph off

Coming back from Wales at the weekend, I drove most of the M40 with my foot flat to the floor - which equated to no more than 75mph!

I appreciate the tyres will have an effect, but I can't believe (yet) that it is the problem...

I shall drain the fuel sedimenter and clean the intercooler (and check the hoses) and see what effect that has. I also have a boost gauge coming...

[Darren]

Fair enough. Sounds like hoses and filters are the most obvious things to check next then.

(BTW, the description of cleaning an intercooler quoted earlier was mine :) )

[TimM]

Coming back from Wales at the weekend, I drove most of the M40 with my foot flat to the floor - which equated to no more than 75mph!

Mine is a whole year newer than yours (wow!), but the engine etc will be the same (the only difference is my EGR is disabled already), 75 comes and goes with no problem on standard gearing and standard wheels/tyres.

I've checked mine with my GPS reading, and although they are not identical, the GPS agrees with much more than 75.

I don't drive that fast normally because fuel economy is non existant at that speed, but the potential is there.

[Mace]

Gords, my 300 tdi is a lower spec than yours but they are all much of a muchness when it come to engines. Since I've put my 235/85's on I too struggle up hills, always changing down and sometimes working hard on s teep hill to keep 50 mph. That said I don't have any problems getting to 70 on a flat (on the clock), but as soon as a slight incline comes up the speed drops.

Your tyres will be the primary cause for the feeling of loss of power but I do suspect there's also something else not quite set right which has been amplified with the over gearing of the tyres. It's probably something simple but I'd be very interested to find out what it is, as I too could do with some extra legs up hill :-)

Keep us posted.

[gords]

OK - the boost gauge has arrived ... and the fitting instructions are, well, crap :roll:

Where should I connect the supplied t-piece?

[TimM]

I think you are in the same position now as I am.

The 200 series engine has a pipe which you can add the T-piece too, but I can't find one on the 300 engine.

I think you (we) need to tap into the inlet manifold (my guage came with a threaded adapter for this), but I'm not brave enough to do that.

[TimM]

arightpest has one plumbed into his 200, I'm going to have a look shortly (or at the next glass meet).

[gords]

I plumbed in the boost gauge, went for a drive and I get a tad over 1 bar at 2500rpm (ish) and full throttle. So can I assume the turbo is fully functioning?

I tried to get the plastic plug thing out of the sedimenter, it turned a bit each way but didn't feel like it wanted to actually undo 8-[  I so did not want it to snap off, so I've left it for now.

Is it a plastic screw into the metal body of the sedimenter? Any suggestions for ensuring it comes undone without breaking?

[Xtremeteam]

stop messing about with the sedimentor as it will start to cause you more problems than you will cure if you disturb the pipes,if its doin over 1 bar or 14.7 psi its boosting slightly higher than spec

[davidlandy]

I would suspect that its not the turbo being faulty though.

see !!

Im am not completely Fick!

[gords]

I would suspect that its not the turbo being faulty though.

see !!

Im am not completely Fick!

Did someone say you were? :?

Surely it had to be the first thing to test and eliminate?!  I shall give the intercooler a jolly good clean over the weekend ... fingers crossed!

[davidlandy]

that wont be it either Gords

i really think its your tyres

[gords]

stop messing about with the sedimentor as it will start to cause you more problems than you will cure if you disturb the pipes,if its doin over 1 bar or 14.7 psi its boosting slightly higher than spec

Just because it's boosting to 1bar doesn't mean it's getting enough fuel through the system - does it?! Removing and cleaning the sedimenter is part of the 12,000 mile service. I am having touble getting the drain plug out at the moment though :roll:

[muddyweb]

Gords...   methodical, logical, test and eliminate...

If everything proves OK.. then you have achieved something in that exercise alone ;-)

[gords]

Gords...   methodical, logical, test and eliminate...

If everything proves OK.. then you have achieved something in that exercise alone ;-)

Yes, Tim, I agree ... the only problem is I'm not sure that I know everything to be checked. Hence my stream of questions on here

Is there anything else you (or anyone) would suggest I check/clean/adjust before concluding that all is actually OK?

[Xtremeteam]

stop messing about with the sedimentor as it will start to cause you more problems than you will cure if you disturb the pipes,if its doin over 1 bar or 14.7 psi its boosting slightly higher than spec

Just because it's boosting to 1bar doesn't mean it's getting enough fuel through the system - does it?! Removing and cleaning the sedimenter is part of the 12,000 mile service. I am having touble getting the drain plug out at the moment though :roll:

Gords:i wish to take back the manner in which the above statement was written & re phrase it in a more suitable manner,

The sedimentor is a known problem area on the discos & when they have been disturbed by the removing of the bung they normally cause all sorts of starting & fuel starvation problems due to the ingress of air in the system,
at the mo im bypassing 3 a month due to the above problems,

ImHO i rekon your problem to be a choked intercooler or something along those lines,if not a choked fuel filter,
the spec acording to auto data for the boost is .7 bar for the discos & just under that for the defenders,

[gords]

ImHO i rekon your problem to be a choked intercooler or something along those lines,if not a choked fuel filter,
the spec acording to auto data for the boost is .7 bar for the discos & just under that for the defenders,

I am rather hoping that it's the intercooler - as that's pretty easy to fix [-o<

Isn't 0.7 bar the rating for the 200TDi? Haynes gives a range of 0.8 - 1 bar for the 300TDi. While driving tonight, the gauge showed a tad over 1 bar ... so I'll take that as a positive  :lol:

[TimM]

I plumbed in the boost gauge

I've been stuggling with mine for ages, can you tell me how you did it?

 [-o<

[gords]

I plumbed in the boost gauge

I've been stuggling with mine for ages, can you tell me how you did it?

 [-o<

It's very hard to see - take off the pipe between the air filter box and manifold/turbo. Behind/underneath the inlet you should see a connection with a pipe going towards the engine and one going off around the back of the engine.

The one going towards the engine is the bigger of the two and is the one you need to connect into. My gauge came with a t-connector - I cut the pipe around the middle and inserted the t-connector.

Next problem - how to get the pipe (to the gauge) into the cab :roll:  I found a grommet right behind the screen washer bottle. I pulled it out and "modified" it with a knife to allow the pipe to also pass through without getting squashed. It comes out underneath the glove box.

Mine is currently held against the CB with an elastic band :lol:  I plan to find a more permanent home soon!

[TimM]

The one going towards the engine is the bigger of the two and is the one you need to connect into. My gauge came with a t-connector - I cut the pipe around the middle and inserted the t-connector.

Thanks,

Glad I can just add it straight into the pipe, I really didn't fancy drilling and threading the inlet manifold (lots to go wrong with disasterous consiquences. )

I definitely owe you a pint (or several!)

 :lol:

[waveydavey]

This is another one learnt on MArine Diesels:

If your boost is higher than anticipated look at where you are taking it, if you are measuring before the Intercooler (which is hard to tell from the description) then you do have a very ggod turbo but the air is not getting to the engine. Basically the airflow is getting choked in the intercooler giving a hight turbo pressure and not enough air to the engine.

[gords]

If your boost is higher than anticipated look at where you are taking it...

It's the pipe to the actuator, I think!? Which is where Mr. Haynes told me to put it

and yes, it's before the intercooler...

[gords]

Well, I cleaned the intercooler today and although it has improved response a bit, it hasn't really done much for the top end. It gets there a bit better and might be able to hold it longer, we'll see.

So, it looks like the only route is an uprated intercooler?

The fuel pump/etc tweaks ... are they effective without upgrading the intercooler?

[davidlandy]

The fuel pump/etc tweaks ... are they effective without upgrading the intercooler?

yes they are , but only to a limit

[gords]

The fuel pump/etc tweaks ... are they effective without upgrading the intercooler?

yes they are , but only to a limit

How do you mean?

[muddyweb]

Do you get a lot of black smoke when on full throttle Gords ?