gutless with air con on

[dee1]

Hi there,
I have a disco 1, 300tdi auto, approx 200k on the clock. Now I'm fairly new to the whole landrover experience and so far I'm loving it. There are a few oddities that maybe someone can shed some light on. In hot weather, say above 35 degrees, with the air con on, the car is so gutless that it cannot reverse up my driveway from a standing start. It wont rev above 1200 rpm or so and just sits there. If I turn the air off the revs rise enough for it to slowly get motivated. In cold weather it just shoots up like any normal car would. The driveway certainly isn't ridiculously steep, so I'm not sure if this is just an old school diesel characteristic of there is a problem I should be looking at. Whatever about the driveway it's painfully slow to take off from a standstill in traffic until it gets a few revs up, again only in high ambient temperatures.

Cheers
Rob

[Nick Fouche]

Same issue here, and ours also hates going up hills with 5-7 people in the car too!

[Chookie]

Same issue with the Manual as well.. Just get used to switching air con off on steep hills - bit of a juggling act when there are cans in the drink holder :( Just becomes part of the hill start procedure with the manual gearbox (only really an issue when fully loaded or towing) :)
I have often wondered if there is a mod that can be done to the compressor (bigger pulley or different type of compressor) as the loss of power really doesn't seem to be as noticeable in any other car I have driven..
Interesting that it is an issue for the autos as well as I have often regretted not going for the auto when I purchased my Disco for this reason...
Cheers
Chookie
'98 300Tdi Discovery

[Robmacca]

Just curious here.... but u guys had your injector pump tweaked at all + bigger exhaust, etc, etc?

[dee1]

no mods on mine at all..

[Petetheprinta]

I have a 98 300tdi auto and don't have that problem. Aircon on or off, only a slight difference. I have tweaked the pump and run a bigger intercooler though.

[Nick Fouche]

Ours is stock.

The auto is a very sloppy car on power and performance but wife can't drive manual. The economy is very good tho.

[loanrangie]

I have a 98 300tdi auto and don't have that problem. Aircon on or off, only a slight difference. I have tweaked the pump and run a bigger intercooler though.

Mine is stock and apart from the initial take off, runs as normal albeit slightly slower acceleration with the AC on. If it wont rev past 1200rpm you have a problem.

[SouthOz]

Mine is stock and apart from the initial take off, runs as normal albeit slightly slower acceleration with the AC on. If it wont rev past 1200rpm you have a problem.

Same here.

Dave

[Blknight.aus]

check the drag on he compressor, it might be seizing up.

with the engine off grab the front plate of the compressor and try to turn it. if you cant theres the answer.

[Reads90]

I had my disco 200tdi regassed this week and this is the first time the air on has been working in the year or so I have owned it. So I could not comment on this until today.

AC works great now but not much difference in power when it is on or off.
I live on a hill and still powers up the hill when cold and hot with out too much problem.

[dee1]

when i say it wont rev past 1200rpm thats only at the foot of the driveway with air on and i hit the accelerator. Once it gets moving the revs build quickly enough. If its not so hot outside the performance isn't affected greatly by the air con, it's only high ambient temps that renders it impotent. I'll check out the compressor later when I'm putting the front driveshaft back on (another mystery solved)