L322 TD6 Lack of power

Hello all,

I'm at my wits end so I'm hoping you can all help!

I have a 2006 Range Rover Vogue TD6. About 6 months ago it starting developing a problem (first noticed on a motorway drive) where it started lacking power. My foot would be to the floor up a gentle gradient and I would be slowly dropping speed. When bringing my foot off the pedal there would be a short sharp 'judder' which obviously rang alarm bells.
The strange thing was though that on some days there would be no issues at all.
The car was taken back to the garage where I purchased it and I left it with them to take to a specialist where they changed the fuel pump, fitted new injectors and renewed a wiring harness on the fuel rail as well as giving the car a thorough once over.
The problem persisted however and has since got worse. As well as the lack of power it now barely gets up a hill without stalling. My foot is to the floor with the engine at 3000 rpm and still it won't pull!
It has been to a automatic transmission specialist who drove the car and said he was certain it was not a gearbox fault so I bit the bullet and took the car to Guy Salmon who basically couldn't diagnose the fault but said that the ecu was sending unknown fault codes back to the computer that they didn't recognise?

Could it be an ECU fault or something more sinister? Or maybe something simple that is taking a lot of time (and money) to find?

Any help appreciated!

There are 3 fuel pumps I believe, but the in-tank one is known to cause limp mode symptoms when duff.
I may be wrong but I think it only fires up on demand, like start up and extra fuel demands.

Another possibility is stuck turbo vanes, torque converters also die frequently on these.

Boost pipes burst.....

@holidaychicken has had a play with the TD6.
@Saint.V8 also.

myfirstl322 said:

There are 3 fuel pumps I believe, but the in-tank one is known to cause limp mode symptoms when duff.
I may be wrong but I think it only fires up on demand, like start up and extra fuel demands.

Another possibility is stuck turbo vanes, torque converters also die frequently on these.

Boost pipes burst.....

@holidaychicken has had a play with the TD6.
@Saint.V8 also.

Click to expand...

Many thanks!

Only echoing what’ @myfirstl322 says, It needs plugging in to Range Rover diagnostics to give you a chance.
Is it a TD6 M57 engine ?
It could be the variable geometry turbo vanes stuck, brake callipers not sticking on- I had that as well, turbo pipes split which should show up as low boost on diagnostics as should VGT vanes stuck, intercooler

holidaychicken said:

Only echoing what’ @myfirstl322 says, It needs plugging in to Range Rover diagnostics to give you a chance.
Is it a TD6 M57 engine ?
It could be the variable geometry turbo vanes stuck, brake callipers not sticking on- I had that as well, turbo pipes split which should show up as low boost on diagnostics as should VGT vanes stuck, intercooler

Click to expand...

Its been back to Land Rover who said the ECU was giving them unrecognisable fault codes which they couldn't figure out. Its going back to Land Rover on Wednesday which should hopefully be a more successful visit than last time.
As for the engine I'm not too sure if its an M57? Its a BMW unit but not sure how to tell what exact type it is?

Thanks for the help

If it’s a bmw diesel it’s the M57, TD6. The fault codes are the best place to start or you could end up replacing everything, not saying you won’t do that anyway

Ok so quick update.

The car is back with Land Rover and luckily it was playing up when they took it for a test drive, being down on power and cutting out several times.
They think they have narrowed the problems down to a possible fault on the ignition switch (which is causing the engine to cut out) and they are going to remove and inspect the turbo which they suspect is causing the power issues with the engine. They have inspected all the hoses etc which are fine.
When asked about any possible gearbox issues they were adamant that the gearbox is fine and once the engine is back up on power then the gearbox will fall in line.

So there we stand presently, a little bit closer to a solution and my wallet is quite a bit lighter!

In a effort to save money we’ve decided to replace the turbo ourselves.
We’ve removed it without too many problems, however there are two vacuum pipes we disconnected and can’t remember which one went to the turbo and where the other one went!
Pictures of what I mean are below..

One of these vacuum pipes obviously goes to the turbo and the other I think went to the vacuum reservoir.
Any help appreciated!!

The pipe that comes across the engine from the pump goes into the reservoir , you have a pipe from the other end of the reservoir nearest the windscreen that goes to the solenoid and then one from the soloenoid down to the turbo actuator

holidaychicken said:

The pipe that comes across the engine from the pump goes into the reservoir , you have a pipe from the other end of the reservoir nearest the windscreen that goes to the solenoid and then one from the soloenoid down to the turbo actuator

Click to expand...

Thanks for this!

Did you change your crankcase breather while you were there, ideally for the new vortex type, very cheap and easy and can prevent major problems?

holidaychicken said:

Did you change your crankcase breather while you were there, ideally for the new vortex type, very cheap and easy and can prevent major problems?

Click to expand...

Yes we've changed the crankcase breather and turbo vent filter as well as the turbo and turbo intake hose. We've also changed the oil and filter and the air filter and also removed and cleaned the egr valve as it was completely filthy. Have ordered a blanking off kit to replace this.
Have added a bottle of cataclean to the fuel and been test driving all morning with absolutely no difference made at all to the performance. It also cut out again at about 30 mph.
I'm at a complete loss as to what the problem can be, especially the cutting out. Problem with the throttle body maybe??

And also noticed that the electric seats and wheel adjustment are altered when I come to get in the car, which leads me to suspect the entire problem is electronically related somehow

That could just be the memory seats doing there thing, did you use a different key ?

The live data that faultmate gives is very useful as my mate could sit next to me with a laptop and he could read and save the data if you can access something like that. Shows fuel pressure and turbo pressure and cylinder issues.

You could check the big connector going to the transfer box, that was playing up on my mates TD6.
Did they confirm ignition switch to be ok as they are a very common fail recently?

Injector wiring loom but that would throw a fault and would also show up on live data.

kds said:

That could just be the memory seats doing there thing, did you use a different key ?

Click to expand...

We used the spare key yesterday but the same thing has happened before with the old key..

holidaychicken said:

The live data that faultmate gives is very useful as my mate could sit next to me with a laptop and he could read and save the data if you can access something like that. Shows fuel pressure and turbo pressure and cylinder issues.

You could check the big connector going to the transfer box, that was playing up on my mates TD6.
Did they confirm ignition switch to be ok as they are a very common fail recently?

Injector wiring loom but that would throw a fault and would also show up on live data.

Click to expand...

been on the phone with the main agents again this morning and the technician said he doesn't recommend replacing the ignition switch as the car starts fine (they have replaced a few recently where the cars won't even start).
I'm trying to get an auto electrician to look at it today to check out the ecu etc and hopefully he can monitor the live data if we go for a test run. In the meantime I will fit the EGR blanking off kit and try to check out this connector going to the transfer box.
Thanks again for the help!

good luck, can you still remove EGR kit now with the new MOT regs ?

Is there anybody close by on the lz map who could come by and lend a hand with diagnostics?
With the window open while driving can you hear the turbo whistling?
Has anybody checked the "boost/manifold absolute pressure" sensor just to rule it out?
I hope you have some luck with it!!!

I had a new golf company car that after a year was getting slower and slower, 0-60 took about 20 seconds, it had been to the main dealer a few times and they replaced turbo and exhaust and loads of other stuff but still crap. I went in to the dealer to look at the next car and mentioned it to the young girl on reception about it and she said it would be the air mass meter, but I said it has had everything done to it including the senior technician taking it on, 20 minutes later after she asked them to change the air mass meter it felt like a rocket ship!