Sluggish disco.........not any more!

I've had my 300tdi auto for a few months now and have had to put up with it beign like a snail setting off,so bad when cold I've had to put it in low to get up the hill out of the street!
So after searching the web and reading all the info I decided to "tweek" the injector pump, and all I can say is "wow!". What a difference,it's like a different motor now. Before it was pathetic, even dangerous setting off and up hills it was terrible,put your foot down to keep your momentum and it would not have enough guts to keep it in top gear so it would kick down a gear which is great,ease your foot off and it would go back in top a little too early and you'd have to kick down again and so on and so on, so you can imagine what it was like up a long hill.
Now it's got lots more pulling power so setting off is totaly at the other end of the scale,it goes like stink! And it's definitely got more grunt all through the revs so uphill you don't need to put your foot on the throttle as much so kickdown isn't used as much.
As for fuel consumption it seems to be the same,I've done the same 60mile journey to work and it dosn't seem to have used any more.

Definitely worth thinking about and it only takes 20 mins to do!

do tell more...........quite interested in this.

have yu decatted and de-egr'd it?

The Mad Hat Man said:

have yu decatted and de-egr'd it?

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I blanked the Egr and that made a noticable difference,then I did the de-cat and it didn't make any difference at all but when I opened the cat up to have a look it seemed fairly new.

Here's some of the info I looked at

http://www.landroverweb.com/Pdf-files/Tuning_Land_Rover_Tdi_engines_Rev_2.pdf

Dividing Creek Imports - Injection Pump Tuning tips from the web

How To Increase The Performance Of Your 200/300tdi - LR4x4 - The Land Rover Forum

when I'm back home on Friday I'll take some pics so people know what to fiddle with.

The things I didn't do are the full power adjustment on the back of the pump (aparently this will give a big power increase but will use more fuel) and I didn't alter the boost on the turbo,I was going to but the results from the pump tweek are a big improvement so I've left that alone.

Here's Some pics of what I did to my injector pump

just a word of warning, if you do these mods be aware that you could potentialy damage your engine if not done correctly and the pics are of what I did to mine so please don't blame me if it all goes tits up, thanks

looking from the drivers side wing you will see the top of the pump like this



Under the cap in the middle of the cover is the smoke screw, this will affect low boost and is a must for all autos. Lever the cap out then mark the torx bolt in the middle of the locknut to the pump body, loosen the locknut so the bolt will turn free and turn the torx bolt in 1 1/2 to 2 turns clockwise then tighten the locknut. Try it up the road to see if it smokes too much, if it does back it off until it stops smoking.

Once that's done remove the 4 screws from the top of the cover( mine had 2 screws and 2 torx that hold the throttle position sensor on)
The cover should pop up on it's own, try not to twist it side to side as you don't want to alter the position of the diaphram that's below it.
Move the cover out of the way and leave it hanging on the pipe to reveal this



you should see a little pop mark on the inner part of the diaphram mark this to the pump body so you know where to put it back to.
Pull the diaphram out and you will see it looks like this,the score mark on the taper at the end is where the fuel pin rides on,if there is two marks it has been adjusted before



then if you look in the pump where you took the diaphram out you will see a spring,plastic collar and the star wheel like so



take the spring and collar out and for fcuks sake don't loose them!*
Mark the star wheel to the body so you know the original position and turn it clockwise 1/4 of a turn at a time(you'll have to build it all back up and try it up the road) if it dose'nt smoke turn it another 1/4 of a turn.
I turned mine one full turn (360 degrees) any more and it started to smoke too much. To turn the star wheel put a screwdriver between the star wheel and the pump body and gently flick it round.

The star wheel adjusts the automatic fuel control



Now you need to take the cover off again and turn up the full load fuel delivery by adjusting the diaphram. It needs to be turned clockwise between 90 and 120 degrees,start at 90 and see how it is if it dosn't smoke too much go some more.

I moved mine from this position




to this




and that's it,easy!

you could do all these adjustments at once but if it smokes badly you won't know which to back off

It's still too early to tell but if anything I'm getting better mpg although because I've loads more power now I've got my foot down more! So when the noveltys worn off I'll be able to work it out better

If you look at the links I put in post 4 it explains it all in detail and will give you a better understanding of what to do
"Happy tweeking!"

awsome thanks jon!, any chance of making this a sticky ?

Lyndon said:

awsome thanks jon!, any chance of making this a sticky ?

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No probs,have you done it yet?

Hi,
I was interested in doing this to mine, but I was told by a Land Rover 'specialist' garage that as mine was a 'fly-by wire' auto, then not do it (mine is a 1996 300 Auto). So is yours a fly-by auto? As if so, then I think I will get out my spanners at the weekend

Excellent post Jon, my type of mod, cheap and effective by the sounds of it, my Disco suffers in the same way and I'll give this a go ASAP

Just done this mod to both of my 96 discos an the difference is quite astoundin -
takes litterally 5 mins - took me longer to get my tools out an back away than the actual work - its 100% worth it !!!

StuRox said:

Hi,
I was interested in doing this to mine, but I was told by a Land Rover 'specialist' garage that as mine was a 'fly-by wire' auto, then not do it (mine is a 1996 300 Auto). So is yours a fly-by auto? As if so, then I think I will get out my spanners at the weekend

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Mines not fly by wire, don't think you can do it if it is.

Damn....was hoping there was a glimmer of hope of getting a little more ummppphhh.......

Only way you can get more go from the EDC 300 after de-egr/decat etc is with an intercooler and chip. I spent countless minutes searching for options that weren't so expensive but no such hope!

Don't think I will spending that much on a bit of performance....not worth it given its a 2 tonne brick - not designed for speed....unless it was a quick turn of a screw

I have not had much luck finding a place to chip my 300 tdi auto,

it seems the controller has to be removed from the pump and a fair bit of work has to be done inside the ecu.

All the places i spoke to just do cars where you can plug a lead in and download a new program.

So, after a month of driving with all the extra power I've finally settled back to driving normal and fuel consumption is really good,the run I do every week to work and back used to cost me £40 in diesel but now I'm only using £35 for the same run!

would i notice a difference if i just adjusted the smoke screw in the centre?

disco2shaun said:

would i notice a difference if i just adjusted the smoke screw in the centre?

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you may find it pulls better pre boost but thats all - just do the whole lot its well worth it .

disco2shaun said:

would i notice a difference if i just adjusted the smoke screw in the centre?

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Going by your sig. and avatar your have a td5? don't want to try these adjustments on one of them. A remap would be far better for a td5

gooselogan said:

Going by your sig. and avatar your have a td5? don't want to try these adjustments on one of them. A remap would be far better for a td5

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good spot -
right too