Poor power and loosing my mind

Hi all,


I have a rater annoying problem. One that has been spoke about a million times on here and other forums (but we don't speak about those haha).


My disco 1 300tdi will barely go above 50 she revs great when sat still, turbo spools up and sounds ok very little play in the turbo. but when actually driving her she is just meh. Also there are no big plumes of black smoke we all love so much.


So far the things I have done are as follows.


Removed sedimentor and ran a whole new fuel line to the lift pump.

Replaced lift pump

Fitted a boost pin (have not messed with the cog in the pump)

Fitted a decat pipe

Replaced fuel filter

Replaced air filter

Checked the oil isn't slugded up in the diffs

Flushed out the intercooler inside and out.

Replaced the turbo pipes incase if delamination.

I have also fitted an inline clear fuel filter in the new hose I ran.


When I rev the engine I can see tiny air bubbles in the new inline fuel filter. I can do a video if needed but they are very small. Is this normal? Would/could that be the issue? I am fairly confident that they are not getting in where I have joined the hoses. I have also had the boot floor cover off the sender unit (not removed the sender) and cleaned that up best I could and whacked a load of silicone over the hose connectors just incase.


I am at my whitts end now, any ideas are welcomed at this point.


Thanks in advance

Check the small pipe that runs from the turbo charger around the front of the engine to the top back of the injector pump it is 6 mm diameter

Edit to add when you fitted the new Boost pin what is the fuel pin fully home before you fitted the boost pin?

Thanks for the reply bud.

Yeah the boost pin was fully home. I know the needle can pop into the chamber and stop it sometimes.

It's interesting you mention that pipe. There was a small amount of oil ontop of the diaphragm in the pump and if could only have come from that pipe. It's the reason I tested/played with the turbo. What should I be looking for? Leaks breaks? Or oil on the diaphragm haha? Can I blow it out with the compressor to see if it makes a difference?

Thanks again

Basically you need to make sure the pipe is clear and has no leaks or splits only takes a little air leak and you are down to 50mph flat out
Is the cut out in the boost pin facing the fuel pin?
Lift pump okay?
Bit of oil no worries, people always think its their turbo whereas normally its the breather pipe spitting some oil fumes into the trunking between air filter and turbo.
Does the turbo actually spin?
Intercooler pipe off and rev engine, and there should be loads of air coming out

Lift pump is bran new, fitted it on Saturday. The one I removed had only covered about 1000 miles. (That broke when I was helping a fellow landie that was stuck in snow. It physically snapped the input pipe off the housing) the turbo spins fine, like you said pipe off and rev and there is loads of air. I don't a pressure gauge to measure how much but it's definitely there. Yeah the cut out is facing the fuel pin.

I'll check that pipe this morning and report back. Thanks again

Ok update.

After going to investigate the hose (all seems ok with that) I have found that the actuator is not connected to the waste gate! And more to the point, it must never have been connected! It looks like someone has messed unless I am missing something. Where the pin with the clip goes through the atcuator arm and then into the wastegate there is no hole in the wastegate arm. Or something has been a very tight fit and fused in there. The normal pin that takes the clip was on the actuator arm but it doesn't seem long enough even if there was a hole for it to go into. It's not snapped either as the grove for the circlip is there. I will have to get the turbo off this weekend and have a play. Maybe drill out the wastegate leaver and reconnect it.

Thanks for your help

A better photo of the arm

It seems at some point the circlip had popped off. And instead of replacing it, the pin has been turned upside down and then welded through the waste gate arm. Proper cowboy repair. Anyway ordered some new clips and I'll hopefully be able to strip it down at weekend. And find out is the actuator has seized lol