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MY LANDY
13th October 2016, 02:56 PM
G'day all...

Righto, so after three weeks of hunting for the cause of recent power loss in my '08 Defender 2.4, I'm left scratching my lemon spread. Details below:


Completed 5000Km round trip to Central Qld fishing, towing 4.5m glass boat (a lot of highway driving at 110km/hr)
36km from home, heading up a slight incline, car lost power, had to gear down from fifth to fourth, and even then the revs dropped and car was doing it tough (ordinarily power up in fifth)
Arrived home and checked air intake, replaced air filter, checked and cleaned air flow sensor, checked turbo hoses for splits/damage, checked and replaced fuel filter, visually inspected external exhaust components for damage, checked wiring loom, taped phone with flashlight turned on under bonnet to monitor turbo actuator, checked and cleaned accelerator pedal sensor, clutch rev sensor...
Gave in and took to Graeme Cooper (worked on car for six years now) for diagnostics; only fault codes were for EGR valve (turned off with BAS remap) and HP fuel pump requiring relearn
Tried to run pump relearn but system kept rejecting it (have previously replaced fuel pump but not conducted more than three pump learns ? not more than the limited number of learns the ECU can handle as documented on here)
Put standard map in, blanked EGR and the fuel fault code cleared and pump learn was successful; turbo boost was apparently normal
Roadtest: still felt sluggish; hooked boat on and it struggled to crawl up moderate incline in second gear
Noted a subtle sloppy whistle sound before turbo kicks in (imagine whistling through loose lips) ? ANY IDEAS?
Checked (what I think) is the gasket between turbo and manifold and couldn't see any sign of it being warped/compromised (no soot etc)


Now considering the chance the catalytic converter is blocked. As mentioned, I've been running the BAS remap for years with EGR shut off but NOT blanked.

At any rate, very frustrating, hence reaching out to you mob (much more experienced) in the hope someone has any further ideas on how to troubleshoot.

Thanks

Jethro

Tombie
13th October 2016, 03:21 PM
Did you check All the hoses?
One of them is leaking [emoji6]

weeds
13th October 2016, 03:42 PM
Intercooler? Nugget had a similar sounding problem.

MY LANDY
13th October 2016, 08:08 PM
Hmmm... might be onto something. Will check in with Nugget. Was next on the list to check. Perhaps a slight crack, eh? Thanks mate.

weeds
13th October 2016, 08:45 PM
And a mate texted me pics of his failed alisport intercooler tonight.

isuzurover
13th October 2016, 09:27 PM
The holes in a cat are quite large. Unless you have been running the wrong oil or fuel it won't be the problem.

roverrescue
31st October 2016, 08:51 PM
Pete Bell informed me that if the pump learn fails a few times it is an indicator that the VCV is suspect.
Mine was failing pimp learn and had a diesel ping which came good with a new VCV and pump learn.
Having said that just listened to your audio file I'm with Tombie, I reckon you have an induction leak
But reckon you should also change up the VCV

S

MY LANDY
1st November 2016, 05:46 PM
Thanks for your insights, fellas. After over a month of trying to troubleshoot the issue (pulling hoses out etc), I dropped it back to Graeme Cooper. Long days at work right now and those blokes are much better versed than I am in this space. I mentioned the VCV a bunch of times but they were adamant that they weren't getting and fault codes or indicators it was wrong (replaced entire fuel pump about a year back).

Today they dropped the exhaust and let engine blow straight through while on dyno. Got triple the power down low, not much difference up top. The issue I was having was a lack of power when towing my boat, particularly in the lower gears. Have knocked the de cat out. The EGR had also seemed to have slipped/stuck open a little (was turned off with BAS remap but not blanked). See if that works.

Currently pulled the BAS remap off and running a standard profile. If this latest fix doesn't work I'll look to upgrade to Pet's new hardware, replace VCV and do a pump learn. Then hopefully put the remap back on as the drive was much more enjoyable.

Thanks again.

Homestar
1st November 2016, 07:03 PM
I had a blocked cat once - was a messy and smelly job when he finally became unblocked, not to mention the vet bill...

Oh, wait.... Sorry, wrong forum - carry on...

MY LANDY
2nd November 2016, 09:54 AM
Cats, Landies... similar really – both a bloody drain on your sky rocket!

Peterwat
22nd January 2018, 11:33 AM
H, I noted that there was a reference to knocking out the cat when it was blocked.
Could this be explained as I am hoping to be able to do the same