another td5 with power loss

2001 defender td5. owned 12 months. in this 12 months this problem probably occurred three times, but of late it has become a regular feature, or maybe i just notice it more now.

symptoms in general are power loss, as if the ecu has gone into a safe mode. no power at all , through all the gears,(as if the turbo is not working)and will max out at about 60 mph. this instance usually occurs when under full foot to the floor acceleration in third. - joining slip roads accelerating up inclines etc...its as if it chokes. in normal operation it runs smooth, starts fine everything is fine, even when in limp mode it still runs very smooth and solid, my thoughts have been fuel starvation,if i pulled over and stopped the engine for 20 seconds and the restarted it again, then it would return back to being healthy. i renewed the fuel filter, the air inlet pipe to the air filter had come loose but this fix made no difference either, i have inspected the wiring harness at the ecu end and its all clean and dry. i dont want to go down the route of taking it to a garage for them to try fleece me with new injectors and airflow meters, i think the solution is there in front of me and simple , the fact its at top end acceleration is making me think fuel, but ive reved it in lower gears and its seemed to come through ok, just prolonged acceleration in third / fourth.
i intend to try check for obvious split pipes but its a young vehicle still so these should be fine. i have had waxyoil done last year. maybe its clogged a crucial breather?


any ideas or home tests advice would be appreciated
a guide on specific breathers or pipes to check more closely too.




any idea of costs for having it hooked upto a diagnostics set or anyone near middlesbrough with a home kit to help find the fault

thanks pjb

sounds like its going into overboost and then the ecu kicks into safe mode until u restart.
mine was doing exactly the same, turned out the turbo boost [mine bust and i fitted a 2nd hand one] had been fiddled with.

check out the adjuster rod on the waste gate....normally a paint seal mark on it....pretty easy to see if its been fiddled with to increase boost

i am the second owner, first was a female vet.....bad to pidgeon hole people i know but i am thinking she will not have tinkered with it. it had a decent service record upto the final 12 months she owned it, but to be honest when i got my hands on it, i would have guessed stevie wonder had been carrying out its service. when it happened today, i could sense it was going to fail , so i tried to do it by just flooring it off a roundabout and sure enough i was able to recreate it. i would love a diagnostic done on it to point me in the right direction, but time off work is money. there are a couple of landy place near me, but ive heard bad tales of their credibility so i am reluctant to have them go fitting new parts until its fixed, i can do that myself. i just want to eliminate the cheap and easy options first. any checks to tell if its a turbo boost issue. fuel pick up pump was mentioned too, but it was like a gusher when ive inspected it.

its difficult to tell unless u got the diagnostics. only thing i can think of to eliminate the overboost question is ta make a mark on the wastegate rod, then adjust yer boost down by a quarter turn on the wastegate and take her 4 a spin. i found a thread in here about exactly the same thing, followed the advice, and problem was solved.

i was told by my dealer, that my injectors are screwed and $10000 sg will fix the problem. i tried another workshop and told me the fuel pump was spoilt.

it turned out to be my MAF sensor was not working well, that's all. how to tell, you unplug the MAF sensor and run the car, if it runs fine, the sensor is not working. you have 2 choices, change it or live without it. it doesn't harm the engine in anyway.

i am warming to the idea that the waste gate is sticking, its something that i havent looked at and would be consistent with it having sat in a garage forecourt for a while, plus its general neglect with stupid things when i bought it. i will try look at the W.G tonight and then have the run to work as its try out tomorrow, i will then try your maf disabling for the next days run, dont you just hate sitting at work with lots of ideas to try out buzzing round your head.....i want to get dirty!!!...its embarassing when you dont have the gusto under your right boot to even contemplate overtaking a lorry!

one story on the maf i have read on the forums was a guys was clogged badly on the inlet side, but thats a job for the weekend. oh and dont get me started on the number of bolts that have become stuck or snapped!! as i continue to tinker with my this unruly child.

Just done mine, similar probs. Turned out to be engine harness, £26..and an hour to fit.

the harness renewal is my "maybe to do" list, but i am put off by the fact i ran it for 12 months with only a few power issues, which i had put down to me being paranoid. its the fact i can recreate the problem easily by hitting the gas in third, i would of thought a harness contamination would be more sporadic in its symptoms. its done 71k and is pretty tidy in the engine bay, though very neglected in the greasing/cleaning dept. its as if the hood has never been up....that is until i got hold of it. i may remove the bonnet permanently to save me time when tweaking with it...hopefully come tommorrow i will have more to report...success i hope,,,,and the odd lorry overtake....maybe the colder and wetter weather is bringing out the problem more. it ran pretty much perfect through the summer.

tha harness normally gives you a sort of missfire, feels like a petro when u got a ferked plug that keeps breaking down.

ok...i peeked quickly at the waste gate linkage...too dark and cold to be properly playing around with it but i could get my hands to it...... should i be able to use my fingers to move this linkage freely. i was unable to move rod either way using decent sensible force. i have lubed it up for the night and will try again tomorrow, is it possible to move this by hand or is it mechanically controlled, i didnt get chance to get the manifold coveroff to have a decent look at it. all advice is v. appreciated

shud not move freely....shud b pretty hard ta move. mine is impossible ta move with yer fingers. need pliers ta do that

its vacuum controlled

power loss update. checked the waste gate out and it was smooth in its operation. cleaned a few associated connectors up, even though it all looked fine. now this is the biggy, i had an EGR bypass/removal kit pending installation and i decided to fit that whilst it was laid up on the driveway and come todays trip,,,,,early days i know, but i was back upto full power and it never even felt as if was going to fall back in to limp home mode. i gave it full boot to the floor up a hill and it was fine. will give it a few days workout on that hilll each day this week and see if thats fixed it.

Could be an intermitant problem with the fuel lift pump. My 2002 td5 90 had a problem with the lift pump that only starved fuel when it was pushed hard in 3rd gear. Before renewing harness it might be worth ruleing the lift pump problem out. You can pay £25 for a plug into ROVOCOM at a dealer with out any commitment to any further work. This will tell you the problem.

Hi vengeful, I always work from simple to more complicated stuff. start by checking all the pipes connected to your turbo, between the intercooler, turbo, inlet etc. Check all clamps and check for any leaks, splits or misalignments. Also check the small clip and pin connecting the turbo actuator rod with the wastgate. Also check to see if there is anything "choking" your air intake, like a flap of something being sucked up to block off air supply at higher revs. Good luck.

thanks all for the tips, i am pretty sure i am there now, back to full power and it feels as though the engine is strong again now. not %100 sure what the fix was, because i did have alot of pipes and peripherals off when fitting the egr bypass. i had checked the pipes and connections prior in my search for its fault and they all checked out. the rear box of the air filter is prone to pop up when messing around with the outlet pipe and maf areas, but again this was spotted and the error still occured. anyway i am happy now, bring on some snow-i am ready.£46 for the bypass kit which i was going to do anyway, so better than a garage trying to have my eyes out and doing no different to me. i am thinking of investing in a nanocom i had it in my online basket before i backed out and decided to continue fitting the egr unit, phewww

Bushtoy said:

its vacuum controlled

Click to expand...

Do you want to think again about that ?