Thread: Diagnosing Power loss on TD5

Hi all

I am currently sitting in Kalgoorlie, WA, with a power loss on the Fender 110 Xtreme.

I was on a road trip, from Perth, through to Alice Springs and back, where Bully130 and I did bump into Isuzu110.

The journey was good for the first 2-3 days with no issues to note.

Our trip was via the Great Central Hwy, with the usual corrugations. Day 4 I filled up at Warburton and started to experience a power loss in 5th gear. At first thinking it was the fuel from a remote roadhouse. I carried on struggling to get over 100kph, when previously 110kph+ was quite easy to maintain on nthe graded hwy.

I then put Bully130's nanocom on which indicated an Airflow issue and issue with injector one.

I managed to keep going knowing that a recovery from such a remote area wouldn't be cheap and the fact that we were still cruising at a relatively good pace.

Day 5 we got to the Olga's still no improvement, so I started to investigate the engine and air system for a fix. No joy with anything so continued.

Day 6 got to Curtin Springs Roadhouse and contacted Sutton Motor's in Alice Springs who thought it might be the Mass Air Flow Sensor that was faulty, so put one on order for my arrival on day 8.

I then had 3 full days in Alice Springs to try and remedy the fault.

I first started by chaging the MAF Sensor which made no difference, I then went onto remove the Ambient Air Flow Sensor and cleaned it and the electrical connection, the Manifold Air Pressure sensor, clean the electrical connection for the MAF, none of these made a difference. I also changed the air filter, fuel filter. I further checked the turbo intercooling hose, that the hot air passes through for laminating and bubbling.

During the early days I also noticed a knocking from the exhaust on the cross member of the chassis. My 110 still has the exhaust system that has an addtional muffler at the base of the down pipe. To stop the knocking I then replaced the rubber bush, which again made no difference.

On my return trip, the problem became gradually worse to the point that when I got to Warburton Ithe 110 wouldn't go more than 20kph.

All that was there including an ex REME soldier from the British Army were confussed.

It wass mentioned at this point that a blocked exhaust could cause this problem and I remembered that my exhaust had been knocking all the time.

I then had to be recovered to Kalgoorlie a trip of nearly 1000kms which only cost $300 (phew) I then got into a garage to get it checked out. I did mention the exhaust which the mechanic obviously didn't take onboard.

Well after two days of scratching heads and after removing the exhaust bolts all was well, so I have a new exhaust en route from Perth and the problem even though an airflow issue was purely down to a blockage in the exhaust.

I fortunately have a new exhaust for $200 without the front muffler, so will hopefully avoid the same issue again on road trips.

I did read a previous thread on the same issue, but due to it being from 2004, I thought I would start a new thread and point out that without the outlet the air inlet won't produce enough air to keep going. So not all airflow issues are down to the filter, sensors, turbo

TD5 power problem

Originally Posted by Rommel

Update

The exhaust ordered for my Fender didn't fit so the mechanic cut out the front muffler which is part of the cat converter system and welded in a steel pipe in its place. This has worked and I drove the 600+kms back home from Kal this evening.

On looking at the muffler, I noticed it is just a series of wire gauze filters which seem to collect the soot from the cat converter. This over the years has filled up with soot and it looks like the corrugations on the bull dust tracks has loosened it off. This in turn has started to block up the exhaust causing the lack of power. I'm not sure if removing this box will have any adverse effect on the performance of the Td5 or the cat converter.

Hi Rommel

Dont worry removing the middle box (the BIG one) is actually a performance tweak the td5 generally doesnt need it. I have recently removed mine and found quicker spool up, however that also could be because my muffler could of been partially blocked.... lots of posts on here about removing it tho...

regarding mufflers over here.. they get a pretty rough ride as they dont rot and generally last for years... in the UK you replace them every one or 2 years so never get to the point of being 'full'

Does anyone replace the exhaust as a matter of service?

Steve