Power questions

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EUBC

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16
Hello,

Ive got a G reg defender 90 2.5 deisel (just under 100k miles) which i bought 6months ago with the idea of using it solely to do some towing in. As far as im aware there is nothing modified or untoward with it as it has had recent services at a specialist and passed an mot.

What i would like to know is there any way of squeezing more power out of it. The trailer we pull is very very large and living in devon it is somewhat hilly. It just needs some more speed on the hills, and a slight increase in cruising.

I know these things arnt build for speed but long journeys at 45mph are becoming very tedious.

Dont know an aweful lot about diesels as this is my 1st but if there is anything that anyone can suggest i would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers

Matt
 
EUBC said:
Hello,

Ive got a G reg defender 90 2.5 deisel (just under 100k miles) which i bought 6months ago with the idea of using it solely to do some towing in. As far as im aware there is nothing modified or untoward with it as it has had recent services at a specialist and passed an mot.

What i would like to know is there any way of squeezing more power out of it. The trailer we pull is very very large and living in devon it is somewhat hilly. It just needs some more speed on the hills, and a slight increase in cruising.

I know these things arnt build for speed but long journeys at 45mph are becoming very tedious.

Dont know an aweful lot about diesels as this is my 1st but if there is anything that anyone can suggest i would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers

Matt
Click to expand...

:welcome2: a bit more info would be good is it a turbo dizel or tdi ?
if your not sure a picy of the engine will help
be prepared for some **** taking and and ribbing on here thick skin helps a bit too ;)
 
my advice would be buy something more suitable to tow the trailer with.i have a 200 tdi and i tow a large box trailer full of dj equipment,and i tow at 50mph thats about all your gonna get towing summit large n heavy,if you have the td i certainly wouldnt do anything to up the power as there not the most robust engine at the best of times
 
Thanks for the replies.

As far as im aware its neither a TD or TDI, just a standard 2.5 ltr.

Ive heard that getting a more modern air intake system will help aswell as getting the cylinders rebored with new pistons but it all seems a lot of fuss for what i could imagine being not a very noticable difference.

My conclusion was that putting a TD or TDI would be more cost effective. I assume the cassis would take a TDI if i came across one, are they easy to find/fit?

Please do correct me if im wrong!
 
The 2.5NA is a good enough engine.

I ran about in my 2.5NA for 3 years before putting in the 300tdi and it did me fine (not a lot of motorway driving) but it did go well, it was in really good order and it would do 75mph on the flat with a good run up, happiest at about 55mph. It suffered on long hills.

It is not bad for towing as its got good low down grunt (pulls away well - hardly notice the trailer) but it does take a bit of gear shifting to keep the speed up, and its not going to go that fast on motorways with a heavy trailer.

I would first of all check the air and fuel filters, I would also make sure the injection pump timing is SPOT on, get some cheap motor oil and put a gallon of that in on top of a tank of fuel and see if that gives you a bit more power.

Regarding the air intake, just make sure it's got a good clean filter on it - these K&N's and boy racer things don't offer the engine proper protection - you want to see the bores of an engine having done a fair milage using a K&N.

In conclusion - its a good workhorse, just as long as it doesn't have to to go fast while towing.
 
having just gone out to move it to get a proper photo of the engine its given up on me, think the starter burnt out as it started to turn over then stopped, no there is nothing! Day is going from bad to worse i swear!

We do a lot of motorway driving all over the country, the purpose of the towing is for a rowing club, the trailer weighs 3.5tonnes laden and is around 14meters long. Apart from today it has run fine and like you said will reach 70 on a decent motorway straight without a trailer but stick the trailer on and its cruising and hill speed really suffer.

Does the tdi make a big difference?
 
EUBC said:
having just gone out to move it to get a proper photo of the engine its given up on me, think the starter burnt out as it started to turn over then stopped, no there is nothing! Day is going from bad to worse i swear!

We do a lot of motorway driving all over the country, the purpose of the towing is for a rowing club, the trailer weighs 3.5tonnes laden and is around 14meters long. Apart from today it has run fine and like you said will reach 70 on a decent motorway straight without a trailer but stick the trailer on and its cruising and hill speed really suffer.

Does the tdi make a big difference?
Click to expand...


if its a turbo d as apposed to a tdi a great differance for the towing
have a look at the top of the engine has it got a flat ali tube thing with ribs along it to the right of the rocker cover? (top of the engine ) and another way to tell has it got 1 big radiater or 2 (the smaller 1 has a pipe going into it from the tube i said about on the side of the engine);)
 
its a bit dark to go and have a thorough look at the engine now but from what we were told when we bought it and looking at the documents we got with it its neither a TDI or TD im basing this on something on a past MOT test that said.

"its emitting a lot of white smoke for a non-turbo charged engine"
 
I'd ask yourself how fast you want to go with 3.5 tons hanging off the towbar? Yes I suppose a bit more grunt would be useful on hills but too much speed on the flat or down hill with that kind of load is askin for trouble.
 
EUBC said:
its a bit dark to go and have a thorough look at the engine now but from what we were told when we bought it and looking at the documents we got with it its neither a TDI or TD im basing this on something on a past MOT test that said.

"its emitting a lot of white smoke for a non-turbo charged engine"
Click to expand...

well in that case then yer getting a good power output from a n/a dizel !
get yourself a 200tdi engine from a disco will improve it a fare bit
 
why not just get a cheap disco and use it just for towing and use the 90 for what its sposed to be used for.....playing in the mud..i tow my trailer with me 90 only as a last resort if the missus has taken the xtrail shoppin or summit,,a 90 with a 2" lift and insa special tracks makes towing a hoofing big trailer interesting to say the least
 
Yeah its a long old trailer.

Its a club vehicle and was actually chosen and bought by the previous president of the club. If i were choosing myself i would have bought a TD or a disco. However we are pretty much stuck with the defender atm as its been plastered with lots of sposorship and club logos and had a paint job. Dont really want to admit to the sponsors that their money was spent poorly, if you see what i mean.

Its definitely the up hills and a decent cruising speed on the motorway obviously 60 is our limit by law but currently to hit 50 really rags the engine.

Being a rowing club we tend to travel large distances to our races, shortest is often a 400mile round trip, last year we went from Devon to Strathclyde, i'm sure you can appreciate it was a long and tedious trip.

From the predious replies i take it that a 300 tdi would make the world of difference? Easy/expensive to fit? What sort of price is reasonable and anything to avoid?

Thanks for all the help
 
storm99 said:
As a paid up member of the dangerous sports club i'd like to drive your landy downhill with this fully laden, 14 meter, 3.5 ton trailer on the back..

**** me i'd **** a rather large breezeblock!! :eek:
Click to expand...


If i told you the load is often worth in excess of £50,000 i think you would be ****ting a lot more!
 
There is a company down your way that does a complete conversion to a 200tdi or 300tdi for about 1500 all inc. i'll try and find the link for you...but maybe you'd be best buying a 200 or 300 and selling yours...tell the sponsors some white lie maybe...
 
wiltshire landyman said:
and you can only afford a n/a shame on you
Click to expand...

tell me about it!! the boats (what we tow) are worth the money and hence we are strapped for cash most the time as they get damaged etc easily, and like i said before the defender although great fun isnt quite what i would of bought for the purpose, but we are kind of stuck with it for a while.
 
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