Freelander loss of power at 70mph

Hello Everyone,

Hope you can get this problem sorted once and for all. For your information I needed and had fitted a new turbo before this final filter problem was discovered. At the garage they showed me the old turbo and explained that the lever that adjusts the vanes would only go so far and would not travel the full distance. They thought something inside the turbo was causing the problem and that it was not a repairable thus requiring a new turbo.

With hindsight ( a wonderful thing) I think my engine was "breathing" for a long time, slowly gunging up the turbo and slowly reducing performance. A new turbo improved things for a while but the breathing issue got worse and worse until we eventually found the root cause of the problem.

Therefore I wonder if you go through all this do you need a new turbo if the fault persists.

It cost me £895 for a new turbo from an independant 4x4 whilst my local dealer quoted £1700 if I recall correctly.

Hope this helps.

Merlinghnd

I experienced the loss of power problem as some of you know.

After local LR dealer could not find the cause I resorted to an independent.

I wrongly understood that the first thing he looked at and replaced was the depression limiter valve (this is at back of engine and is readily found once the accoustic cover is removed).

This wasn't the case but he replaced some hoses that were split etc but during a test drive afterwards the turbo blew. Cause appears to have been that the turbine bearings within the turbo seized due to lack of lubricating oil reaching them.

After the turbo was replaced this cured the loss of power above 70mph issue but I still felt that the engine struggled when in 4th or top gear and I tried to accelerate from say 40 mph when in the past it would do this without problem.

Anyway my vehicle had to go back to the independent for its 84k service so I mentioned this to them. Turns out the cause was yet another split hose. After this was replaced the car seemed much better.

Shortly after I had to get my car MOT'd. The garage wouldn't perform the emission test because they said I had a serious engine problem, oil was gushing from the engine dipstick holder.

I witnessed this myself.

I was directed to the LR dealer in Stirling where someone was kind enough to start up a TD4 Freelander and extract the dipstick to show me that oil should not gush up from the holder.

My independent was adamant that there was nothing wrong with my car but having been given the demo at the LR dealer I knew he was wrong so it went back to him the following day.

He had done further research because when I took my car to him the following morning he said he had spoken to various engineers/technicians etc and had obtained the bit he thought was the cause of the problem.

When he showed me the part I recognised it to be a depression limiter valve. There is a filter within it but as it is a non service item you have to buy the whole valve assembly. It costs about £20 + VAT.

I watched while the old one was removed and the new one fitted. It took the engineer no more than 30 minutes to do it. The filter within the old one was totally gunged up.

When the engine was started up and the dipstick removed lo & behold no oil gushed out. Problem sorted. And I had no problem getting car MOT'd.

So the depression limiter valve is an important bit of kit and I recommend you have it replaced periodically.

This improved the performance of the car dramatically. But I am still not 100% happy about engine performance beyond 80mph. If it was a petrol engine I would say the engine needed tuning. Can you do this with a diesel?

Since then the gear within the offside front door has had to be replaced as the window would not go up and down. Fortunately it stopped working when the window was in the full up position. So if you hear a nasty grinding sound coming from within your doors then this is likely to be a sign that failure of the cable within is imminent.

I am having a new windscreen fitted tomorrow. A crack appeared in the top right corner last week and has progressively spread and is now in my line of vision.

Can't be much more to replace!!!

Regards

BA Bell

Hi all,

Is there, by any chance, someone able to take a picture of these

engine breather filter

and

depression limiter valve

in their natural habitat ? This in order to know the exact location of these items ?

Cheers.

pm me your email address and I'll send you a picture off the "Rave" disc

Its too big to post on here

Hi glynw,

Done and tnx.

Hi I have a Freelander 1998 2.0 Diesel. Recently it has started lossing power so I changed the MAF sensor but the problem didn't go away. I have also disconnected the MAF sensor but still the same. I have noticed that the problem happens mainly when I switch on my lights and also if I drive over 70 mph. I am soon giving up on the Car. Any advice would be greatly apprecaited!!

glynw said:

pm me your email address and I'll send you a picture off the "Rave" disc

Its too big to post on here

Click to expand...

Hi glynw,

As you can see in the "black smoke" item I changed today my engine breather filter. You and the others in this thread gave the first impuls to me in order to have this changed, thanks.

hy i've had the same problem and when i opend the trap there was a problem with the tube that enters into the turbine (the air was leaking ) i fixed the tube much better and now it's working perfectly(no power loss at all).

check the forum TD4 Turbo Cutting Out i had the same issues but got it sored that hard way, hopefully you guys can go straight to the problem

Having read all your threads, and having had the same problem myself(power failure at 70mph with 2002 TD4), I find it unbelievable that L/R dealers can turn around and act like they have never come across this problem before. They charged me £40+ for a diagnostic test, and told me "we are not sure but we think you need a new turbo, it will cost £1000+ plus labour".

I fitted a Roverron tuning box and it appears to have cured the problem, no more power loss at 70mph for over 6 months now.

Can anyone recommend a good independent landrover specialist in the North-East England, as I had enough being ripped off by the local dealer last time I dealt with them.

Our TD4 has been into the garage now twice with the lack of power/stalling on inclines and junctions now we are getting this same problem... This is quite simply the most frustrating car/thing we have ever owned.

Thought it was just me with the lack of power but the car is less than 3 years old and LR are saying there is nothing wrong with it...

intersting thread, time to call the dealership again, may well give taunton a go this time though.

Cheers

Old thread but I'll reply with my experience - I've replaced both top air hoses on mine - left and right of the engine - as on two separate occasions they split and left me with far less power and lots of smoke. Its an easy fix, jubilee clips and a £15 part each side and would be my first port of call if you have those symptoms.

towlander said:

Our TD4 has been into the garage now twice with the lack of power/stalling on inclines and junctions now we are getting this same problem... This is quite simply the most frustrating car/thing we have ever owned.

Thought it was just me with the lack of power but the car is less than 3 years old and LR are saying there is nothing wrong with it...

intersting thread, time to call the dealership again, may well give taunton a go this time though.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Hello Towlander,

Do you mean you had a previous problem with stalling on inclines/ junctions, and now you have this separate problem of powerloss at 70mph?

When I first bought my TD4, I had the 70mph powerloss problem, especially on inclines. Now, fitted with Roverron synergy and using additive she is flying on inclines on motorways well above 95mph & beyond, but having problem now of dying on me at low revs at junctions.

Was your stalling at junctions issue resolved? fuel filter or low pressure fuel pump problem?

Thanks & let me know how you get on with the stealers!

something that is rarley mentioned, is the map sensor,(manifold absolute pressure sensor)
im not exactly sure of its influance on the td4 but as it monitors the air pressure in the manifold, its must have influance on fueling and egr valve opening ,
it may be worth removing it and see if the small air hole is blocked

Interesting thread, this - my 06 plate Td4 has been sluggish from junctions intermittently since I've had it (was bought at ~12 months old and 14K miles). A few weeks back, I was going well in the outside lane of the motorway, and it coughed twice, then lost all response to the throttle pedal for about 90 secs, and was then sluggish for the remainder of the journey... but drove fine when restarted 2 hours later.
I took it to the local dealers under warranty, who had it for 2 days (and added some scratches, now thankfully sorted out at their cost!) - and said that they thought it could be a turbo modulator problem, but no fault was showing (computer says no...) - so they would leave it as was and see if it happens again...
Still getting hesitation from time to time, but am going to wait and see if it gets worse before taking it back again (I know there may be 3rd party solutions, but I'm going to get full use out of my warranty before I spend money sorting it out myself...)
Will provide updates if I get it sorted...

i had the same problem all it was (on mine 52 tdi) was the fuel filter. changed it the problem has now gone. did the dealer bit could be this could be that. a little back street garage sorted it.......

All post 04 Freelanders TD4's have a new ECU map which over users the EGR valve, filling the engine with dead hot gas, limiting power and consumption. Limiting power, efficiency and often failing at road junctions.

Answer:

Pull the vacuum pipe off the EGR Valve, block it and re fit it. This is a cheap and easy way to isolate the EGR valve.

You will see an immediate change in the vehicle and if like me an increase in fuel economy from 340 miles to 440 miles per tank.

Any donations on savings from your first tank of fuel greatly appreciated

ps on the fuel filter, ensure it is the right way round as some were shipped incorrectly fitted

Hi guys, bin a while since I've bin on ere but it seems the age old problem is still alive and kicking. I had a similar problem with my 2001 TD4 ESX ie black smoke, loss of power etc etc all after having a new clutch fitted. Went through all the usual stuff hoses air filter, then onto a MAF then the valve decompression filter all made a slight difference but still the problem remained. Had it checked/tested at a local ind mech who thought the turbo variable vanes were stuck. Apparently these work by directing the gas flow over the turbine at a variable rate according to the amount of boost that is required eg when accelerating heavily a lot of boost is required so most of the gas is directed straight onto the turbine to spool it up however when cruising the engine requires less boost therefore the vanes direct some of the gas away from the turbine so as the engine doesn't over boost and go BANG ! The vanes are operated by a solenoid type actuater which is controlled by vacuum pressure. Now here comes the cheap repair bit. The vacuum pipe to the solenoid actuator runs along the injector rail and down the side of the engine to the solenoid and is retained by plastic pipe clips, When I removed this pipe I found that it had chaffed through in one of the clips which was fine whilst it remained in the clip because it retained a partial vacuum however when the clutch was replaced the vacuum pipe had been disturbed and the split section was now open to the air reducing the vacuum to virtually nil therefore no movement of the vaines so they were stuck in one postion delivering a constant level of boost. replaced the vacuum pipe wow! flying machine better than ever. Whilst on with the job replaced all vacuum pipes on the engine and found a few others with hole in. For your info the vacuum pipe used is actually the injector spill/return type pipe. Hope this helps as it only cost about £15 and a couple of hours under the bonnet. Sheriff