Thread: 300tdi Auto weirdness

First thing to check is the turbo hoses. They delaminate inside and block the airflow. If you need one try Supercheap or Autobarn as they are a fairly common size.

or something like a split turbo hose to the IP pump or wastegate or whatever.

Sounds more like engine than transmission.

When you say kick down became useless, do you mean it didn't kick down, or that once it kicked down, it still had no power?


From my experience with my 300 tdi, driving up the hume:

Heading north:
Craigieburn bypass section, up the hill near Craigieburn as you approach the top of that hill and into Kalkallo where it merges back with the old highway, mine struggles up that way.
Same with the rise up to the Kilmore turn off once past the Shell servo and into the 110k/h zone.

If I set boost compensator to give me more fuel with boost, I can also fly up those two sections without slowing, in 4th locked up torque converter and all, BUT my exhaust gets very hot .. I chicken out and back off.
On a cold day(ie. 15°C ambient) the problem is much less of a problem.

Q. do you have an EGT gauge to be sure someone hasn't tweaked the fuelling for power with no regard to exhaust temps?
and do you have a full exhaust(ie. both mufflers) fitted.

I found on long drives the removal of the rear resonator created 90% of the low frequency drone noise that makes a drive not so pleasant.
So I had a rear muffler(some aftermarket crap) re fitted to get rid of that issue, but doing so has mucked up the EGT/Power balance again.

My next 'tweak' will be to have a decent exhaust place find me a good balance between power and droning exhaust ... via a better performing rear resonator.
I won't go back to no resonator, as the droning is my priority.

Kickdown action was working fine but once down to 3rd it slowed faster than it would have staying locked.

I dont think the motor as been fiddled with in regards to fuelling. None of the caps on the IP are damaged. It is all stock in regards to exhaust, intake and guages.

That said on the drive north it was the best TDI motor ive ever experienced. Smooth, no smoke, did not drop off the speed limit once and this is with 235/85s messing with the gearing. Going up those hills you mention with AC on, speedo on 110, gps reading 115, no kickdowns and foot not on the floor. Does make me wonder about egts though! No sign of temp guage moving, always sat just below half.

I pulled all the intake hoses and all look OK. Elbow at turbo is very soft and they all look fairly old so I ordered some silicone replacements and a good set of clamps.

Removed the intake manifold and found the gasket was tired, possibly had a small boost leak there. Pulled back the exhaust manifold to change gasket and found all the manifold bolts were just nipped up. Doubt any of this is enough to cause the amount of power loss I experienced but worth the check.

Im going to change the fuel filter, clean out the sedimenter, renew the auto filter. See how she goes!

Don't ever, EVER, EVER rely on the factory temperature gauge!
By the time it moves off half way, the head gasket is probably gone, and a few seconds later you're up for a new cylinder head!
Aftermarket temp gauge and egt gauge are number one priority, especially if you are looking to tow anything, or going to keep up with traffic up hills.

Originally Posted by donh54

Don't ever, EVER, EVER rely on the factory temperature gauge!
By the time it moves off half way, the head gasket is probably gone, and a few seconds later you're up for a new cylinder head!
Aftermarket temp gauge and egt gauge are number one priority, especially if you are looking to tow anything, or going to keep up with traffic up hills.

I agree the landrover temp gauge reads Cold, Normal and Buggered engine Once it starts to move north of halfway you are already in trouble.

Originally Posted by manic

....

I pulled all the intake hoses and all look OK. ....

What about all the boost hoses?
Hose from turbo to wastegate, and boost compensator at the injection pump.

So you get kickdown, eg. to 3000 RPM, then no power once that happens. This sounds like the typical lack of boost pressure issue.

Now that you're back home, have you driven around to check power?
Does it only lose this power in kickdown from 4th to 3rd? ie. is power through 1st to 2nd still ok?

Like Don said, dash temp gauge is all but useless.
Mine sits fine until the actual coolant hits between 103-105°C.
No slow steady climb to warn you that coolant is running high.. mine indicates just a mil or so below the centre of the gauge and then at 103-105ish .. it then shoots up close to the red.
Unless you always have one eye on the gauge, you have no idea.

And like I said with mine, only time I get any temp higher than about 83°C(ish) is with A/C on at freeway speeds.
Without A/C on, and recently having tested in deep sand too .. it just doesn't move past it's normal 83-ish.

I guess check the free and easy stuff.
Wastegate lever and it's vacuum port(inject with compressed air). Does the lever move? .. etc ..

I know the guage read out is not linear so any upward movement is a call to pull over.

I have a spare sender so Im curious to test the readout on a camping stove. If 100c is a noticable rise it will be good enough for me.

On the defender I have a CH and vdo coolant guage. I back off the accelerator when coolant gets over 100C, which can happen if flogged on a hot day. No major.

You know, I did forget to check the small hoses for FIP and wastegate , thanks!

Not had a chance to drive it since, should get onto it this weekend

Originally Posted by manic

I know the guage read out is not linear so any upward movement is a call to pull over.

I have a spare sender so Im curious to test the readout on a camping stove. If 100c is a noticable rise it will be good enough for me.

On the defender I have a CH and vdo coolant guage. I back off the accelerator when coolant gets over 100C, which can happen if flogged on a hot day. No major.

You know, I did forget to check the small hoses for FIP and wastegate , thanks!

Not had a chance to drive it since, should get onto it this weekend

I have a scan gizmo that uses the OBD2 port of my D2a and when my head gaskets were buggered I had readings of 115C-120C before the gauge started to read Hot and it went from 90C to boiling very fast.
IMHO the gauge on the dash of the D2 is bloody useless.