300 t.d.i auto towing power

Just got back from camping weekend in derbyshire towing my 1200 kg Elddis caravan with my 94 300 auto discn the whole she performed well very stable and pulled away easily.Only problem was as soon as we hit those Derbyshire hills she seemed to struggle a bit .On the A619 coming out of Chesterfield I dropped into third manualy and gave it the juice but started losing speed until auto box dropped into second, revs shot up to 3000, foot on the boards 30 mph.Is this normal. Ive had recon engine 5000 miles ago ,de-cat, e.g.r blank, new turbo hoses cleaned intercooler.Love the disco but sometimes wish she had more grunt.

What kind of performance are you expecting towing 1200kg of caravan? Sounds about right to me.

Ok hughesy, if that sounds about right then Im happy with that.I know you can improve power by tweaking fuel pump and adjusting wastegate.Have looked on steves site and it seems easy enough to do.Trouble is I dont like the idea of getting less m.p.g..Do you think fitting straight through exhaust would give a little more power or would that be to noisy?[dont wont to upset neighbours].

You could always donate the caravan to a local Banger racing club,(Such good fun to watch ! ) and stay in B+B.Then the Disco would be fine.

rollin danny said:

Just got back from camping weekend in derbyshire towing my 1200 kg Elddis caravan with my 94 300 auto discn the whole she performed well very stable and pulled away easily.Only problem was as soon as we hit those Derbyshire hills she seemed to struggle a bit .On the A619 coming out of Chesterfield I dropped into third manualy and gave it the juice but started losing speed until auto box dropped into second, revs shot up to 3000, foot on the boards 30 mph.Is this normal. Ive had recon engine 5000 miles ago ,de-cat, e.g.r blank, new turbo hoses cleaned intercooler.Love the disco but sometimes wish she had more grunt.

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Hiya Danny, are you sure your Torque Converter is operating correctly, because it sounds to me like you are losing too much engine power through the gearbox.

I regularly tow a 2 ton caravan and whilst she doesn't perform as well as when she runs solo, I don't think I'm having the level of performance drop you indicate.

Don't know the territory to which you refer, if it's a long long steep hill well then maybe.

Just an idea, but how about to a test running solo and report back on speed per gear, when they change, amount of torque slip when in lower gears, speed the Torque Converter lock-up, that sort of thing.

Incidently, did the temp warning light ever come on? When was the last gearbox oil change?

Just a few random thoughts - I'll get me coat

Ok went out on motorway today solo ,going up slight incline foot on the boards 65mph.It then dropped a gear and revs shot up to 3500 but didn't seem to be accelerating just same speed.Most of the time it drives fine ,gear changes seem fine,its only going up inclines at speed it has difficulty maintaining speed.Is this normal for an auto.?

rollin danny said:

Ok went out on motorway today solo ,going up slight incline foot on the boards 65mph.It then dropped a gear and revs shot up to 3500 but didn't seem to be accelerating just same speed.Most of the time it drives fine ,gear changes seem fine,its only going up inclines at speed it has difficulty maintaining speed.Is this normal for an auto.?

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Hi Danny, you did today what I was doing last week, sailing along on a motorway in undulating countryside.

The difference is I just gave her a little more, absolutely NOT flat to the boards, and she sailed uphill and down dale.

Something is wrong my friend, you should not need to be changing gear on a motorway in the conditions you describe.

We have the same year Disco an auto, pulling 1375kg and we go fully loaded Dogs, 2 weeks kit etc now i went to Newton Abbott a few months ago there is a hill Telegraph hill it's huge and we struggled big time down to 25mph, on normal roads and un-hitched she pulls ok, anyway i have just myself done a full service all filters ,sedonmentor? oils TX box , gearbox the lot did all that and cleared out cleaned the intercooler and pipes,injectors and fuel pump,new lift pump which had no pressure, just got back from Newton abbott again this time pulled the van up at about 40-45 mph the thing was she didnt seem to be LABOURING this time there seemed to be more there, and she did it in 3rd auto changed i didnt need to do it, it all cost about£120 but just seems to pull better and the turbo is sounding good now.

cossiedreamer said:

We have the same year Disco an auto, pulling 1375kg and we go fully loaded Dogs, 2 weeks kit etc now i went to Newton Abbott a few months ago there is a hill Telegraph hill it's huge and we struggled big time down to 25mph, on normal roads and un-hitched she pulls ok, anyway i have just myself done a full service all filters ,sedonmentor? oils TX box , gearbox the lot did all that and cleared out cleaned the intercooler and pipes,injectors and fuel pump,new lift pump which had no pressure, just got back from Newton abbott again this time pulled the van up at about 40-45 mph the thing was she didnt seem to be LABOURING this time there seemed to be more there, and she did it in 3rd auto changed i didnt need to do it, it all cost about£120 but just seems to pull better and the turbo is sounding good now.

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If you haven't already considered it, think about getting rid of the cat in the exhaust downpipe.

My car just sailed through it's MOT showing only a quarter of the permitted levels of smoke so no probs there, but the increase in efficiency is really noticeable - improved performance and or better mpg for only £21.25+vat.

If you need to know more just ask - it's a real must-do modification.

Cheers
Dave

Dave forgot to mention also had a new exhaust last 2 sections anyway, i had thought about the cat but worry about MOT Mate really did EGR Last year, i dont really want a flying machine just a steady powerfull car.

cossiedreamer said:

Dave forgot to mention also had a new exhaust last 2 sections anyway, i had thought about the cat but worry about MOT Mate really did EGR Last year, i dont really want a flying machine just a steady powerfull car.

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You did make me laugh " i dont really want a flying machine just a steady powerfull car" Fantastic!!!

The only way a Disco will fly is if you chuck it out the back of a Hercules

If you want more towing power, do considor the downpipe mod - there are NO mot problems and it makes a significant difference, especially when towing and mounting hills.

Go on, you know you want to "just a steady powerfull car"

Cheers
Dave

Thanks for advice everyone.Like I said the engine seems sweet and she drives nice, its just this lack of power at speed and towing on hills.Have done a bit of research about power loss .One thing that can happen is the diaphragm in the fuel pump can get stuck open.This means you only get "off boost" fueling.Posted about this yesterday but so far no replies.I can live with the going slow bit,but with the engine reving high in low gears it means I'm burning more precious fuel

Just reporting back from latest camping trip .Changed fuel filter and air filter even though they hadn't been on long (air filter was full of black bits and flies.)New axle oil ,it hadn't been done for a long time by the look of it.Much better on hills.Went up that long hill out of Chesterfield (A 623) .This time doing 40 mph in third .Auto box only changed into second near the top and it slowed to about 30.Did 188 miles over pennines and back to Stockport ,used 41 litres staight shell dozel worked out 20.5 mpg.Quite happy with that ,she did well .Engine was humming away nicely.Might try cut exhaust middle box out next.

Weve just got back from Devon exactly 181 miles mainly on the A303 WE GOT 25.5 MPG and an average off 49 mph pulling the van and we were fully loaded i also am happy with that.

cossiedreamer said:

Weve just got back from Devon exactly 181 miles mainly on the A303 WE GOT 25.5 MPG and an average off 49 mph pulling the van and we were fully loaded i also am happy with that.

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Well done guys.

Out using your Discos' and giving feedback - excellent stuff

Cheers & good luck

Dave

Dave,

Just experience a strange one on 300tdi Disco, went on a 40 mile trip and its really hot here !! When flooring acclerator the kickdown works and then loses power quickly after, it seems to drop down to 2 an then up to 4th ?
If I accelerate slowly it seems fine, just on kickdown, so a real pain on hills !

Any ideas ??

pezza said:

Dave,

Just experience a strange one on 300tdi Disco, went on a 40 mile trip and its really hot here !! When flooring acclerator the kickdown works and then loses power quickly after, it seems to drop down to 2 an then up to 4th ?
If I accelerate slowly it seems fine, just on kickdown, so a real pain on hills !

Any ideas ??

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Hi Pezza, for a start you have to bear in mind the speeds at which the gears change normally and how the Torque Converter(TC) works.

Whe you floor the accelerator, two things will happen simultaneously

1. You drop out of TC lock-up mode, this can give the impression of losing power

2. You will drop at least one gear, depending on road speed.

I find with my Tdi300 auto that the gears change up rather earlier (into 4th at 28mph) than I would like, particulalry when towing, up hills. I therefore manually select third gear and find this is the best way to take control of the gear/roadspeed/available power scenario.

However, as this is happening at full throttle I would be inclined to make sure that sufficient fuel is being delivered via the sedimentor and fuel filter.

Have you checked the sedimenter/fuel filter recently?

Have you checked the rubber turbo hoses, internally, for any obstructions or collapse?

Just random thoughts really, getting ready for my bike trip tomorrow - to the Alps !!!! and Camping Moto !!!!

Cheers
Dave

I now agree with the BIG LAD manually drop to third it really helps.

Thanks again Dave, Just done some more testing and it seems to loose power at 2,700rpm in ALL gears, it will rev freely up to there and then just DIE...once under 2,500rpm it will hold nicely again. When it dies it seems to almost backfire and you have to remove foot of pedal.....any ideas ??

Dave enjoy the Biking !!!