Is it me or the motor???

Hi all,

took the landy (disco 1, 300tdi) out for our first decent run today (recent purchase) and i'm wondering if they all seem underpowered or if it is just me or a fault on my one?

It drives very much like our old S3 109" - change out of top gear on anything thats not level or downhill, drop to third for even moderate hills, feels like its pulling 2 tons behind it.

Its had a good service, i've washed out the intercooler and all pipes and the breather thingy on the rocker box. The handbrake is free when off.

If its normal then thats fine, just hope it does not notice when i am actually pulling 2 tons behind it, or is there a fault causing loss of power. If it was the turbo not working, i would have thought loads of black smoke but its pretty clean out back.

It will do 70 at about 2600rpm but will take a while to get there, long drawn out hills tend to drag it down, eventually needing dropping to 4th sometimes.

Dave

No i wouldn't have said that was normal iv'e recently got a 97 300 and am well impessed with its performance, obviously it wont win any races from the lights but pulls like a train once it rolling

Get a fuel filter, some oil and a filter and a new air filter. Give it a good service. Then drop the sedimentor and and clean it with paraffin.

eltax91 said:

Get a fuel filter, some oil and a filter and a new air filter. Give it a good service. Then drop the sedimentor and and clean it with paraffin.

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Hmmm, as i said in the original post "Its had a good service, i've washed out the intercooler and all pipes and the breather thingy on the rocker box"

Its had the egr removed some time a go, but the cat's still there.

It had a lot of oil in the intercooler and pipes, could this have blocked the cat to the extent that it restricts flow? There has never been much smoke though, pretty clean.

Dave

I rarely have to change down to third on normal hills, maybe if there's speed bumps up the hill, third is more appropriate at 30, but even quite steep hills I can get up in 5th with all seats full, as long as I'm doing over 50, the speed doesnt drop.
Yours sounds like its quite low geared too, mine does about 2200 rpm at 70mph, I would expect yours to be a bit nippier than mine. It doesnt take too long to get to 70 either.
Do you have any Disco chums nearby? You could try a swap to see how others perform, thats really the only way to make a comparison. If you let us know where you live, someone could meet up with you.

davek0974 said:

Hmmm, as i said in the original post "Its had a good service, i've washed out the intercooler and all pipes and the breather thingy on the rocker box"

Its had the egr removed some time a go, but the cat's still there.

It had a lot of oil in the intercooler and pipes, could this have blocked the cat to the extent that it restricts flow? There has never been much smoke though, pretty clean.

Dave

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My mate's 300tdi fender was like this. Gradually got worse till it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. Got rid of the cat and it was back to normal.

Can the cat really make THAT much difference????

BTW i'm in Bishops Stortford, Herts.

hughesy said:

My mate's 300tdi fender was like this. Gradually got worse till it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. Got rid of the cat and it was back to normal.

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Could it be that the cat is totally blocked??

If its a high-chance fix then i'll get shot of it but i really dont want to risk bustin my studs unecessarily.

its stuck said:

I rarely have to change down to third on normal hills, maybe if there's speed bumps up the hill, third is more appropriate at 30, but even quite steep hills I can get up in 5th with all seats full, as long as I'm doing over 50, the speed doesnt drop.
Yours sounds like its quite low geared too, mine does about 2200 rpm at 70mph, I would expect yours to be a bit nippier than mine. It doesnt take too long to get to 70 either.
Do you have any Disco chums nearby? You could try a swap to see how others perform, thats really the only way to make a comparison. If you let us know where you live, someone could meet up with you.

Click to expand...

ever changed a clutch on a 300 TDi ? fancy having a go ?

davek0974 said:

Can the cat really make THAT much difference????

BTW i'm in Bishops Stortford, Herts.

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It can if it's all bunged up. Replace it with a straight through pipe.

Theres a lot of choice, can someone recommend a GOOD de-cat kit ??

Any special tools / gaskets needed??

Dave

In the process of doing the decat myself at the moment
Got a complete exhaus from Paddocks including the de cat pipe.I got the one with tee flexi joint as it should make fitting easier

Most people go for the Defender down pipe. It fits and is only about £20.It comes with a gasket for the manifold end. You'll be popping wheelies before long.

My spelling is dreadful today-thats what you get from crawling under a Disco ans wrestling with the exhaust

Got the bits ordered, have high hopes that this will fix or improve matters

Just the studs come undone.

Dave

The nuts/studs holding the pipe to the manifold are very tight.I sprayed with WD40 first then used a couple of extension bars on the socket from underneath -5/16 by the way in my case.
Then used a small trolley jack on the rachet from underneath to keep pressure on the socket and use a small extension bar on the rachet to give some extra leverage-worked for me

we have a 94 300 tdi, and that was as flat as a fart on power, have done the egr,de-cat pipe,and given it a good service. We have seen a mild improvement, nothing to wright home about thou. Apart from once i had done all that the clutch blew lol, so that was a nice job todo. Going to look at my turbo next,as sometimes it sounds,and feels like its not spining until the engine has warmed up. But from what you say sounds just like ours. nos anyone lol

I cant believe they were built like this, i need to tow a heavy trailer and i am very concerned that it wont have the guts to climb a hill with that on.

I'm hoping to de-cat this weekend, if that dont work then i guess i should have got a series 3, at least i knew they were gutless!!

I would have thought that if the turbo was not running, it would be blowing black smoke. I had the pipe come off my Mondeo once and the smoke was amazing It still run but was gutless and very smoky.

Dave

You've checked the turbo is ok and got pressure build up in your hoses when you rev the engine ? Check the narrow pipe from the turbo [goes round back of engine] to the fuel pump. Take it of and check for splits and blow out any oil. Take the top of fuel pump and check the diaphragm isn't stuck closed. Clean out oil in the fuel pump but dont rotate the diaphragm or it will mess with the fueling. If this is not working right you will have poor performance because you will not get boost fueling . It should make a big diference.

Thats probably the only bit i have'nt cleaned out yet!

I'll look tonight hopefully.

How do you check turbo output?

Thanks

Dave