Sudden loss of power on 300tdi

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douglasfaulkner

New Member
Posts
26
My 1994 300TDI defender 90 pickup keeps loosing all power. i think the best way of describing it is that it feels like the accelerator cable has snapped and therefore you cannot rev at all.

this has happened about four times in three months and it is happening close to home so before the engine is at running temperature. when it does this it plumes out blue smoke.

recently done head gasket and got the head skimmed. am aware that the bores are worn but if that was the problem then i feel there would be a constant loss of power.
checked fuel tank and the fuel is reasonably clean so that's not the problem. noticed once that the battery and oil indicator lights came on on the dash so replaced battery connectors and cleaned terminals. still no luck. also didn't replace fuel filter too long ago.

any suggestions would be handy. cant think what the problem would be.
 
its unusual to find much wear in tdi bores ,check good feed to solenoid ,try it with plunger removed from solenoid will need to stall it to stop it,put clear plastic pipe in between fuel filter and front banjo to check for air ,its better done dynamically,check turbo hoses arent collapsing(been sucked in )
 
hoses can delaminate internally and still appear good, sounds more like a fuel blockage the smallest bit of crap can give the symptoms u describegetting sucked over fuel pickup and held there when running and drawing fuel once switched off... no suction... drops away until next time it gets close to the pickup... had this for two months and kept finding the odd bit of grass in the lift pump... after half a dozen times it didnt happen again (touch wood) own fault for putting filler cap on floor when filling with veg oil

cheers steve
 
took lift pump off last weekend and found it wasn't pumping anything.
assume this is the problem
she is running a lot better now.
thanks for the advice everyone
 
Just finished replacing engine. Rather than fixing the one in it
I overhauled a second engine. It turns out the bores are
very worn and there was an inch missing off the top piston ring
on cylinder 1. Still have the problem of an air block in the fuel system
though. Can't understand what it is. All the pips now have dubilee clips
on lift pump has new olives yet still somehow every so often I get a air block
in the fuel line
 
is the there is no muck in fuel is the fuel tank breather working?

also if there are any rubber pipes in the fuel lines make sure they havent gone soft and are colapsing under sucktion

you could buy a vacume gauge and test to see if engine is definatly starving of fuel
 
Had another look in the fuel tank and foundva large
price of rubber that might be causing the problem
Will have to wait and see. Thanks for everones help
 
Is it cutting out or losing grunt? Ours was cutting out and initially would restart immediately. As time went on it would be longer and longer before it would restart. Symptoms were similar to issues with the stop solenoid.

Not sure if you're landy has an immobiliser but that was the problem for me. The solders deteriorate with age and the circuitry becomes more intolerant to heat.

I initially resoldered the connections which temporarily fixed it. The fault was with the 'alarm spider' which you'll find in the battery compartment. Problem came back again - land rover recognise the issue and produced a bypass. It cost about £5 and 20mins work and has fixed it.

May not be your problem but such an easy fix if it is. Search for the 'definitive alarm spider' post if it is... can't remember if it's on this forum though - maybe google it.
 
No it's not that. I don't have an immobiliser. When it did it it was a lack of fuel
So it went back to tickover and was struggling to run at that would sometimes cut out
after loosening injector pump and bleeding it through because there is air in the system
it ran fine again for miles and miles. Hasn't happened since I found this peice of rubber
so hopefully all sorted
 
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