Strange 300tdi engine problems?

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1996 Disco 300tdi. Manual box & throttle cable, (so no fly by wire & EGR).

Fuel filter changed about 10 days and 600 miles ago. Tank not gone dry, 9filled up with 1/4 tank left).Reecnt new throttle cable.

Today whilst accelerating up to speed on a duel carrageway it suddenly started losing power, like it was mis-firing but actually wasn't. At the time I was reving it up to around 2750rpm before changing up.

In 3rd at around 2500rpm it suddenly started to lose power. I lifted the throttle to halfway, squeezed down again, but no response.

Hazards on, layby 200 metres ahead, lifted off the throttle completly. As I approuched the lay-by, I gave the throttle another little sqeeze, just to get me there, but again nothing. Once at the lay-by I switch the engine off and open the bonnet.

Water temp OK, oil level OK, no signs of smoke from the exhaust. Throttle cable itself all good, (not catching anywhere). All hoses showing no signs of damage or ageing, coollent level good.

after 5 minutes of checking and head scratching, I go to start the engine again. First time it turns over but wont fire up. Wait a minute and try again, this time it fires up on the button, ticking over smoothly and reving freely through the rev range.

On the 6-7 mile drive home i try to replicate the exact same circumstances as when the problem started, but it just wont do it again.

Another thing that i should perhaps mention is that the other night I called in at the corner shop for some fags. In and out in two minutes, but when I went to start the car first time nothing, second time it turned over but wouldn't fire. then sat and had a fag, locked and unlocked the doors on the remote blip and tried it again. This time it fired up as normal. The alarm / immobilsor is, as far as I am aware, the standered factory fit / dealer fit Land Rover / Rover one.

About two years ago it used to sometimes just cut out and not start for five minutes. Turned out it was a faulty fuel pump soluniod, (I think?). once that was changed I had no futher problems untill now.

I'm thinking intermitant imobilisor fault? Do you chaps have any other ideas?

In advance, many thanks.
 
Dunno about immobiliser, I've never had issues with it but the spider is a known problem area .. google for a few sites with fixes for it, re-soldeing, removing altogether etc.

Another few things to check are the air inlet hoses, especially to the turbo and intercooler. They de-laminate inside (happened on mine) giving very similar effects. The de-lamination happens and the hoses feel very soft. When it gets bad a flap can 'fall off' inside the hose and sometimes blocks the inlet almost completely, again giving very similar symptoms, but can then straighten out, again giving symptoms of staopping/starting, low power then normal power (can't really say high power!!) and hard starting, 'specialy when hot.

Injector leak-off hoses can also give 'odd' power characteristics I guess they let too much air in when cracked, so well worth checking these.
 
Dunno about immobiliser, I've never had issues with it but the spider is a known problem area .. google for a few sites with fixes for it, re-soldeing, removing altogether etc.

Another few things to check are the air inlet hoses, especially to the turbo and intercooler. They de-laminate inside (happened on mine) giving very similar effects. The de-lamination happens and the hoses feel very soft. When it gets bad a flap can 'fall off' inside the hose and sometimes blocks the inlet almost completely, again giving very similar symptoms, but can then straighten out, again giving symptoms of staopping/starting, low power then normal power (can't really say high power!!) and hard starting, 'specialy when hot.

Injector leak-off hoses can also give 'odd' power characteristics I guess they let too much air in when cracked, so well worth checking these.


Thanks Paul. Will look into that.

Cheers.
 
However, I went to change the old intercooler pipes today, and came across this problem.....

They are a little different. On the original ones there is a junction with a pipe going off to some sort of valve. On the new ones there is no such junction.

So, what is this valve? What does it do? What happens if I blank it off?


Old top pipe in place with new pipe next to it.
P3020057.jpg


The junction on the old top pipe going off to a braided hose and whatever this bloody valve is.
P3020058.jpg


The valve.
P3020060.jpg


Closer shot of the valve.
P3020061.jpg


In advance, cheers. :thumbup:
 
That's the egr valve .. just junk it all, blank the hole in the manifold, block the vacuum pipe and enjoy a tad more power, smoother running and better breathing !!
 
Well, the bloddy thing did it twice again today.

So, really rather irked, I returned home and donned my Sherlock Holmes hat and did a bit of internet digging.


Alarm Spider. Thats what I reckon the fault is. The bloody alarm spider.


What do you chaps reckon?
 
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