300tdi injection pump problems

After numerous days trying to find the cause of my mysterious power loss problem, I have put it down to the injection pump. Guy who I got the engine off openly told me he tried turning fuel pump up for more power and cocked it up! The power is fine bottom end with only minimal smoke, the problem arises as it seems to lose power around 30/40mph.. am I correct in thinking it would be the diaphragm that needs adjusting to try and correct this? Please correct me if I’m wrong

Is your throttle cable set correctly?

you want minimal slack in it on the pump.

If it is the pump settings then you will need to check what was done, but there are some things to look for,

Has it got a boost pin fitted?
Has it been fitted correctly?
Does the pin that actuates against the boost pin actually move ?or is it jammed?
Have you actually got turbo pressure?


Cheers

Throttle cable is fine, there is boost pressure at the pump, seems enough. No boost pin fitted also yes that pin is free.

Acceleration up to 30mph is good, anything after that it starts losing power and takes forever to get to 60mph. I was under the impression adjusting the diaphragm helps with “top end” fueling. But I do know the little tamper proof collar on the fuelling screw on back of pump has been removed so that has been adjusted

Has the top cover on the diaphram cover been removed and put back?
Is your std boost pin set in the best place? with the most stroke available on the eccentric centre line.

Wind the starwheel in by 2 full turns and see if it improves.

You may find the previous owner has wound the max fuel screw on the back of the pump so to reduce the fuel available. IF they messed with it , it got too smoky and they panicked.

All you can do is adjust one thing and see if you feel an improvement.

The other option is that the pressure regulator is not working correctly.

If I was you I would be fitting a turbo gauge and seeing what you got when on full boost.

Cheers

You need to fit a boost gauge to confirm what is or is not there boost wise, the turbine can shift shed loads of air but actually make very little boost, a 200/300 with the little black pipe disconnected to the top of the inj pump will struggle ti get past 60 on the flat, pipe cna also kink/split or get trapped under a fixing etc.

Have you had the injection pump supply and return banjos out for any reason?

Checked and double checked the intercooler hoses?

You asked this question before and then said on Friday that the lift pump solved the problem.

Cheers

I recorded my 0-60 speeds so I had a reference to go off, fitted lift pump and it seemed faster than before the lift pump, so was chuffed and thought it solved it, until I referred back to my recorded times and realised it was no better haha. I did have a boost gauge fitted and was reading 1.1 bar, this wasn’t at the manifold though was a T PIECE from the pipe from turbo to injection pump. The guy told me, he adjusted all 3, diaphragm, smoke screw on top aswell as the star wheel and then that is when this problem occurred and so he left the Land Rover parked up and scrapped eventually (that’s where I acquired the engine). So, I have not touched the injection pump as of yet, he did tell me that the little plastic collar that sits inside the diaphragm spring has been removed so just waiting to get my hands on one so I can try get the pump back to “standard” and go from there. Like I said, acceleration up to 30mph is faster than a standard 300tdi, yet anything over 30 it starts to lose power - 0-60mph in 31 seconds.. I have checked literally everything I can think of, smoke tested full intake system, removed the pipes and inspected visually, cleaned intercooler, wastegate is free, pipe to wastegate is fine, pipe to injection pump from turbo is fine…and loads more. Im at the end of my tether with this Land Rover now, the problem is where I’m located Land Rover specialist are either a fortune or cowboys! Sorry for the long message

Also just to add - the LR I’m having trouble with is a discovery 1 auto, if I remember correctly the engine came out of a manual defender…

If you're still running the auto, then a standard FIP will struggle to give you much in the way of acceleration - this is why LR introduced EDC ...

Have you connected the kickdown cable using the right bracket ?

I suggest finding a local Bosch VE specialist and getting them involved - the standard pump can be set up to provide 140 HP in relative safety, with the addition of a full width intercooler, and an EGT gauge - my own D1 auto is set up to 145 HP, and is no slouch, but, the EGT's can get pretty high, quite quickly - the aluminium alloy used for the cylinder head anneals at 720 Centigrade - and it will spoil your day in short order ....

Quick crude test def 200 tid this morning, route slight uphill for 300 yards then down hill, counting 1 thousand 2 thousand etc etc I got to 16 thousand as the speedo hit 60, tbh think speedo reads a bit fast but it is still way quicker than your 30 seconds!
That plastic washer wont make any real differance, Iirc the reason behidn removing to was to increase the boost pin stroke, or preload it I cannot remember which!

After doing a bit research after disco1BFG comment, I believe that the standard injection pump can’t supply enough fuel top end for the autos hence why EDC was introduced. I have also noticed that my kickdown cable is non existent so this could be a lot of the troubles! Going to put a EGT gauge in and tweak the pump, but if that fails then I guess I’ll have to live with it until I get my hands on a manual box to do the conversion! Thanks for your help everyone

Clarky321 said:

After doing a bit research after disco1BFG comment, I believe that the standard injection pump can’t supply enough fuel top end for the autos hence why EDC was introduced. I have also noticed that my kickdown cable is non existent so this could be a lot of the troubles! Going to put a EGT gauge in and tweak the pump, but if that fails then I guess I’ll have to live with it until I get my hands on a manual box to do the conversion! Thanks for your help everyone

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I think EDC engine had 122bhp versus the std tdi 111bhp.
They did the auto pre EDC in 200 and 300 versions.

This discovery was EDC original but before I bought it someone had converted to normal pump. I have noticed it has no kickdown cable etc so I do wonder if that has anything to do with it! I guess I’ll just live with it for now she only for off roading!

Iirc kickdown cable only went to the linkage on the inj pump, can't be to hard to bodge summat up for testing?

Clarky321 said:

I have noticed it has no kickdown cable

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Which is a very bad idea - cf Ashcroft.

Here's a pic of the pump with the two brackets fitted FYI:-

Have you checked your EGTs?? I'm having a similar problem, good power on low speeds, but dead on the motorway. My EGTs are terribly high. I'm planning on fitting a new lift pump, but seeing that it didn't solve your problem is a bit discouraging.
That kickdown cable is only needed for autos, right?

Im currently waiting for a egt gauge so I can’t really answer your question. I got my 0-60 time down to 16 seconds now which is a huge improvement compared to 30 seconds. But, once past 60mph it is gutless, I am just living with it at the moment as it is very rare I need to be above 50mph.

Discocallum147 said:

Im currently waiting for a egt gauge so I can’t really answer your question. I got my 0-60 time down to 16 seconds now which is a huge improvement compared to 30 seconds. But, once past 60mph it is gutless, I am just living with it at the moment as it is very rare I need to be above 50mph.

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16 seconds is really good. Does yours struggle with the inclines or does it not lose speed?

Sorry just to add, this is also my thread just for some reason it locked me out the account so had to create a temporary account. I wouldn’t say it struggles with inclines, but you have to prepare for them if you get my drift.