300tdi no power on start up

hi guys and gals

recently fitted a new engine into my discovery 300tdi.
whilst the engine was on the stand it had new:

headgasket
cylinder head
lift pump
cambelt (full kit)
assorted gaskets
heavy duty clutch and arm

so engine fitted and fast forward 2 days to now, originally it started and sounded like a tractor, my cock up fuel pump just needed timing.
today i jumped in it to move it (first maiden voyage) on initial start up the idle was very low and it refused to rev up, bit of pedal pumping and it started to rev up about 10 seconds after start up, proceeded to run fine.
on its first run it felt gutless in comparison to what it was before, and when trying to pull away it involves accelerator to the floor to get any power to even pull away.

I fitted a see through pipe from the return on the injectors which appears to be full of air, ive bled the injector side but done seem to be able to shift the air out of the return pipe. how do i do this?


also would there be anything else to consider as to the low power im getting from the thing at the moment.

in the last 2 months its had new injectors fitted, silicone boost hoses for i.c setup and obviously the parts listed above whilst i rebuilt the engine.

help needed desperatly before i strip it for the good bits and push it into a local field and burn it :flame:

You sure you've got the timing right now?

clear pipe needs to be on inlet to pump not leak off

storm, i stripped the whole of the front off the landy, to get into the cambelt area.
wound her round to tdc at crank and timing line on cam was spot on, span it through four times by hand every time it ended up perfectly on the timing marks. checked the pump with a 9mm drift which was out so locked it all off and moved the pump (advanced) till the drift went in smoothly. if thats incorrect then im truelly screwed.

james, basically the black pipe that would be at the front of the injector line (leak off pipe) was split so i disconnected it and fitted a clear pipe to the same mounting points it was originally run to (hadnt removed the pipe prior so i dont think ive cocked that up either)

jimbell said:

storm, i stripped the whole of the front off the landy, to get into the cambelt area.
wound her round to tdc at crank and timing line on cam was spot on, span it through four times by hand every time it ended up perfectly on the timing marks. checked the pump with a 9mm drift which was out so locked it all off and moved the pump (advanced) till the drift went in smoothly. if thats incorrect then im truelly screwed.

james, basically the black pipe that would be at the front of the injector line (leak off pipe) was split so i disconnected it and fitted a clear pipe to the same mounting points it was originally run to (hadnt removed the pipe prior so i dont think ive cocked that up either)

Click to expand...

it should be 9.5 and turn big pump nut against pin clock wise whilst you tighten 3 bolts ,have you set tappets

James has forgotten more than i'll ever know...do as he suggests.

shall get a 9.5 in there then (is .5 of a mill really that bad?) i did hold the 22mm nut whilst tightening the 3x10mm's on the pump but if as you say it should be a 9.5 and its that sensitive i shall redo it, thankyou .
tappets are set to the book at 0.20mm and it doesnt sound like a sewing machine so i was impressed with myself on that one.
as for leak back pipe should it have air in it at all? other thing weve noticed is it seem to backfill and bubble like crazy, my concern was the pump being full of air, i know they dont like that....

to get it perfect you start with 9.5 then go 9 then 8.5 etc etc till engine get diesel knock then go back one drill bit till knock just goes thats optimum timing varies slightly on every engine , 9 jusy fitted without holding nut clockwise might be slightly retarded,pump will self bleed but you need to know air is entering pump not leak off pipes which often have bubbles ,lift pump is a common cause of air

hummm, so could new lift pump be at fault here?
shall alternate the sizes of pegs for the pump as recommended, cheers for that.
and some air in the pipe is ok?

on return not on in

cool stuff looks like i got that right then

Try running a short bit fuel hose from a Gerry can of diesel to the injection pump. Then run it and see if you are getting any air, my guess will be the air will stop and that you are drawing air somewhere along the furling system.

Cheers mark

jimbell said:

storm, i stripped the whole of the front off the landy, to get into the cambelt area.
wound her round to tdc at crank and timing line on cam was spot on,

Click to expand...

surprised no ones mentioned the flywheel timing pin to get tdc.
did you use it?
does sound like air in the system to me tho, but timing also needs to be right.

flywheels was at tdc buddy, pin used.

verdict.....

it appears that diaprahm in the fuel pump (the one you turn to tweak) was at fault, swapped it out to the one off the other engine and it runs right as rain.
was a bit gutless so ive tweaked the star wheel and and smoke as well as the diaphram and its tonnes better.

also i checked the fuel pump timing with everything to tdc on the flywheel this morning, and a 9.5mm drill bit slotted straight in, so im quietly relieved and pleased about that.

just put 30 miles on it without a single hitch so fingers crossed until the next disaster i'll be ok.

well done