Fuel pressure regulator?

[Jimgee]

Hi all,

I have found my new (old) disco 2 to have a noticeable lack of power on hills. Research suggested fuel pump. I read about a test whereby turning the ignition on and seeing if pump stops after a few seconds. Well mine timed out after 30 seconds, repeated 3 times with same result. So. New pump installed (luckily took a punt on a cheaper one) and problem still there. Pump does not stop and lack of power on hills.

So could this be the regulator? Is there anything else I can check before I spend more dollars? I have recently replaced the fuel filter and it was primed properly by pumping accelerator to get engine light flashing.

I have seen lots of posts about leaking regulators but mine is not leaking. Do they fail in other ways. As far as I know it is an old regulator.

Thanks again.

[PhilipA]

More probably your injector washers.
Regards Philip A

[Andrew D]

Not sure what it is but if it's the washers (o-rings) for fuel injectors all the parts will be around $20 - $30 dollars. This was for a V8, 16 o-rings, 8 retainers and 8 filter baskets.

Easy job on a V8. If a V8 and you also want to check the injector is ok, the ohms should be between 13.5 and 15.2. Mine were all around 14.8 ohms when tested.

[Jimgee]

It's a td5. No diesel smell in engine bay and not 'making' oil which I understand are prime symptoms of injector washers.

I did have a little oil on the injector loom which I have cleaned but will need to replace injector harness so will do washers and o rings at the same time anyway..

[rangieman]

Try it with the Maf unplugged [wink11]
If it goes better then your up for a new Maf [thumbsupbig]

[101RRS]

It's a td5.

It might have helped if you had let us know that at the start - I was going to say that the fuel regulator was inbuilt in the pump - that is is in the V8.

[Jimgee]

Try it with the Maf unplugged [wink11]
If it goes better then your up for a new Maf [thumbsupbig]Thanks rangieman, tried that test too...

[PhilipA]

If there a leaks in the injector washers then the oil level will not rise, but the car will be hard to start and lack a bit of power.

There are Orings at the top of the injectors which keep the fuel in the head. If these leak you will make oil.

They are changed when you do the washers .
Regards Philip A

[sierrafery]

Hi all,

I have found my new (old) disco 2 to have a noticeable lack of power on hills. Research suggested fuel pump. I read about a test whereby turning the ignition on and seeing if pump stops after a few seconds. Well mine timed out after 30 seconds, repeated 3 times with same result. So. New pump installed (luckily took a punt on a cheaper one) and problem still there. Pump does not stop and lack of power on hills.

So could this be the regulator? Is there anything else I can check before I spend more dollars? I have recently replaced the fuel filter and it was primed properly by pumping accelerator to get engine light flashing.

I have seen lots of posts about leaking regulators but mine is not leaking. Do they fail in other ways. As far as I know it is an old regulator.

Thanks again.
Lack of power uphill can have many causes and the fuel supply is not he first on the list cos if it was that the lack of power would occur at high revs(above 3000) without any hill too. Lack of boost is the first suspect which can be due to stuck wastegate, clogged EGR(if it's still there), AAP or MAP sensor fault, this thing can't be just guessed, nanocom is needed to see live inputs eventually logged fault codes

[strangy]

Auto or manual?
BTW the pump should stop after about 30 seconds.

[donh54]

Check your turbo - intercooler hoses, I had a split in mine, made it rather disappointing performance-wise.
Also note that quite often, cheaper parts are simply an expensive way to postpone the fitment of quality ones!

[djam1]

Any smoke?

[Jimgee]

Hi all,

Thanks for the many replies. Such a great forum.

So to answer / confirm some questions.

TD5 Auto
360k kmsTurbo hoses recently replaced with silicon ones
turbo wastegate not sticky as far as I can tell - have also shortened actuator rod
No smoke
Starts first time on the button
No EGR
Cleaned the MAP
Cleaned and tested without MAF
Not heard of AAP so will investigate this
2001 so no nanocom unfortunately... (would a hawkeye tell me as much? Not seen much info on these...)

I've ordered a turbo pressure gauge so will get that hooked up as well to see if anything dodgy going on there.

Cheers

[AK83]

....
2001 so no nanocom unfortunately... ....

Nanocom will work. It's model dependent, not year dependent.
If you can chase up someone with a nanocom in your area to help.

As I remember it, adjusting the wastegate rod won't actually do all that much in the end.
The majority of the wastegate control is done with the WGM(wastegate module), a small electronic device just below the thermostat housing with three 'vacuum'(actually boost) hoses coming off it.
It's common for them to play up and not give you full boost.
From what I've read tho, the typical symptom you will notice is boost surging.
Happened to my brother's TD5, it would surge, go into overboost and(I think) the ECU would then set a lower boost routine(so it doesn't surge) and it's then down on power.
But again, you'd feel this on every start up, and it'd be noticeable.

Brother's had a nice smooth power delivery but only up to about 3-3.5 K RPM, then it felt strangled. You could rev past this rev range, but it felt 'wrong'.
Once I'd changed the WGM, power came in very nice all the way to 4K .. that I felt was more than enough for me to push too, considering it's not my car.

[donh54]

Nanocom works on my 99. You need 2 unlock codes, one for the body stuff, and one for the Td5 ecu.
Just a process of eliminating possible issues. Still needs fuel, air in the right mix, and instead of ignition timing, you have injector pulses.

[strangy]

If it has had an overboost logged (very likely with shortened rod), you will need to clear the fault for starters.
It will have reduced fueling and slow acceleration following an overboost condition.

[Jimgee]

Hmmm! OK I somehow got the impression the nanocom only worked with 2002 onwards.

Looks like I have some saving to do.!

Although that has just complicated decision making on what to spend on next... [bigwhistle]

[gavinwibrow]

Hmmm! OK I somehow got the impression the nanocom only worked with 2002 onwards.

Looks like I have some saving to do.!

Although that has just complicated decision making on what to spend on next... [bigwhistle]



No it hasn't - Nanocom 1st - will save you heaps in the long run!!!

[sierrafery]

Hmmm! OK I somehow got the impression the nanocom only worked with 2002 onwards.


It does when it comes to remap via OBD but for all the rest it works on all

[Andrew D]

Hmmm! OK I somehow got the impression the nanocom only worked with 2002 onwards.

Looks like I have some saving to do.!

Although that has just complicated decision making on what to spend on next... [bigwhistle]

They are trying round up the troops for another group buy.

[Jimgee]

They are trying round up the troops for another group buy.Yeah I had a quick look but there's apparently a rule about needing to be a forum member for 6 months.. Seems odd to me, I would have thought they'd want the business regardless.

[V8Ian]

Yeah I had a quick look but there's apparently a rule about needing to be a forum member for 6 months.. Seems odd to me, I would have thought they'd want the business regardless.
PM BBS Guy, he's quite approachable.

[Andrew D]

Yeah I had a quick look but there's apparently a rule about needing to be a forum member for 6 months.. Seems odd to me, I would have thought they'd want the business regardless.

Put your name on the list as well. (under Group Buys).

(hopefully people are smart enough to keep quoting forward so this list is larger with each quote).

[timax]

Is the Auto kicking down a gear when the revs get low going up the hill or is it holding top gear?

[Jimgee]

Is the Auto kicking down a gear when the revs get low going up the hill or is it holding top gear?

Yes it is...

[timax]

Hmmmm, ok what about tyres?
Do you have standard size or bigger rolling diameter?

[Jimgee]

Hmmmm, ok what about tyres?
Do you have standard size or bigger rolling diameter?Standard tyres..

[drover81]

Hi mate - had an almost identical issue on my td5. It was behaving like a dog off-road. No power when you needed it the most.

Ended up being the wastegate actuator was seized and wasn’t opening/releasing the wastegate.

What was happening was that the turbo would overboost and something would detect it and then throttle back the engine. I only discovered this after installing a boost gauge and saw it was hitting something like 21psi+ of boost (my memory is hazy about the numbers) and then the power crashed.

Replaced it and hey presto - back to normal.

[drover81]

I can’t recall how the wastegate operates, But maybe the shortened rod on the wastegate actuator results in the wastegate not releasing the pressure early enough and the unit goes into over boost...

[onebob]

Lack of power uphill can have many causes and the fuel supply is not he first on the list cos if it was that the lack of power would occur at high revs(above 3000) without any hill too. Lack of boost is the first suspect which can be due to stuck wastegate, clogged EGR(if it's still there), AAP or MAP sensor fault, this thing can't be just guessed, nanocom is needed to see live inputs eventually logged fault codes

a HAWKEYE diagnostic tool will do the same

[Jimgee]

So I've got the turbo gauge which I'll fit this weekend but I think I've found my problem elsewhere.

Very hard top coolant pipe, gurgling in the pipes audible when driving, bubbles in the coolant expansion tank at start and pretty much whole time, loss of coolant leaking out of joins under pressure and a lack of power.... Guess it's time for a head gasket repair...