Thread: 300tdi defender towing woes...

Definitely sounds like a P gasket leak.

Get a new one, plus 3 new cad plated bolts that go through the water pump, housing and into the block (the old ones will be corroded)




Just flog the engine, that's the only way to drive a Tdi.

They are underfueled stock, so you have to have the accelerator pedal pushed through the firewall and just don't lift and rev it till it stops revving. Simple.

Re the rocker clearances, just check the stem caps too.
If they're on the way out your clearances will blow out.

I agree it sounds like the p gasket for a novus 3hr job.
Now for towing I tow 2.5 to 3 t with my tdi300
An sit on 110 in the hiway with no problems
I have twicked the waste gate so I'm running 18psi an the injector pump has been screwed up to help out and having a standard defender transfer case and it does it well in 4th gear

Okay, we'll it seems like I just need to drive her harder in fourth. I was going to buy and EGT gauge and have pump tweaked next week, though given the probs (had tensioner bolt shear off last week - great fun $$$) I reckon I'll have to ice that one now.

At the very least I'll have my valve caps checked by someone on the Sunshine Coast.

Well, I'd better crawl out of my van to make a cuppa for the wife. Gotta keep on her good side! Thanks for the replies, I'm a little more confident about revving her harder.

Sorry I ment in 5 th gear

Towing with a TDI 300 in 5 th gear will not hurt it.
I would be more worried about reving the guts out of the motor in 4th and the effects of higher back pressures/heat soak and rotational forces over along period of time.
As for valve clearences....................some TDIs have a problem and some don't using OEM parts or other wise.
Working a TDI hard seems to make the problem worse.
The valve caps will fail in certain motors.
The P gasket is most likely the coolant leak.......good luck with the corroded bolts.
One of the reasons I sold my TDI defender is I realised it was not well suited to heavy towing and getting a load moving on a hill having to use low range is a pain.

Interesting enough one of landrovers earlier products does the heavy towing jobs just so much better without any reliability problems...a 101 Landrover, but the fuel burn does hurt.

I tow a 1t camping trailer and fill the 110 to the top. 100 in 5th is fine. My guess is also the P gasket. Mine has just started to leak. Only found out because I replaced the started last week. Have ordered a new pump, bolts and gaskets, from history, I just replace everything now.

You might want to look at your exhaust too. I replaced mine a couple of months ago. Without getting into the chat about size, and bends etc, one thing we found was the old muff was all but choked. The standard unit on mine was fully baffled and with 250km on the clock it was well pasted it's used by date.

Since the change I have seen a big improvement. I went with 2 1/2 inch non mandrel bend and a fairly straight through muffs. Will now have to get the pump tuned apparently, but have already noticed much better take off and down low torque.

There is heaps on here about exhausts. Will keep you reading for a while. But as mentioned, if it is a fullu baffled original unit on yours it could be choking up a bit by now.

Sounds like a great trip.

I dont think its an issue with the Tdi to be in 5th, but rather the R380. Towing for long periods in 5th at your own risk I would say.....

what oil do you run in your R380?

Hmm, we'll it seems there's some mixed feelings about towing in fifth, though generally most owners do it...some cautiously. Does that sum it up?

The water pump is behaving oddly. Sometimes it leaks lots, other times not so much. Yesterday was a bad day, this morning, okay. I noticed the problem when I changed the idler bearing in Charters Towers. When I removed the belt, it started to dribble. It's just worse now and noisy at times; And most noticeable at idle I think. Pressure on the pulley must have some effect.

As for the gear oil, I have the syntrans expensive stuff in it now. I'll look into exhaust side of things seeing I have time on my hands...

Although its a 1996 vintage, she's only covered 123000km. Age does weary them!