19j appreciation society

Got one in mine runs bladdy great

Ran one for fourteen years, went well, worked hard until on day it did not. In the end it was chuffing like a good un, head off and there were cracked pistons all around, two of them all the way across! How it still ran I don't know. Still think these engines should have had an intercooler from new it would have reduced the incoming air temp and with the right level of tune [ not more power ] increased engine life.

My engine has had a rebuild so hoping for some reliability , now you mention it, provision is in place for the intercooler upgrade on mine ( previous owner fitted intercooler but no pipework as yet) my intention was to complete the install but there's a few mix messages , some say it will be a step to far on an already ' delicate engine , my thinking was not to gain any performance but to simply lengthen the life of the engine , so I've just held off at the minute until I get some positives from someone who's had one fitted for a while without issue

It may need a bit of research but a slight reduction in turbo pressure, limit on top rpm or just driving with care would do it I recon.

Anyone fitted a disco tranny box on a 19J? Will it be too much for one? Im sick of screaming along at 50!

nobber said:

Anyone fitted a disco tranny box on a 19J? Will it be too much for one? Im sick of screaming along at 50!

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As long as your not living in very hilly country and not doing a lot of heavy towing it would be fine.
[ P.S. don't know where "Arse!" is ]

tottot said:

It may need a bit of research but a slight reduction in turbo pressure, limit on top rpm or just driving with care would do it I recon.

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To fit the intercooler hes obviously reduced the size of the main radiator which in turn reduces the surface area of main cooling , I'm all for standard spec unless improving the life of the engine and contemplating going back to the larger rad. I've seen these intercooler set ups sitting behind the main rad , but what use is that really, yep some more research needed

Any intercooler needs to go in front of rad like Td5.

tottot said:

Ran one for fourteen years, went well, worked hard until on day it did not. In the end it was chuffing like a good un, head off and there were cracked pistons all around, two of them all the way across! How it still ran I don't know. Still think these engines should have had an intercooler from new it would have reduced the incoming air temp and with the right level of tune [ not more power ] increased engine life.

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They were only introduced as a stopgap measure until the 200Tdi was finished development.
The 200 Tdi development overran by a few years, so 19j were sold for longer than intended, and many more were sold.
19js were brought in because the 2.5 NA was considered underpowered compared to the Japanese competition, which by then all had Turbodiesels.
In fact, the power increase of a 19j compared to a 12j (2.5 NA) is quite modest, from memory something like 67bhp up from 62 BHP, so they might have done better to stay with 2.5NA, and avoid the warranty claims.

19j were a bit more reliable after the introduction of coated pistons, but the real improvement on the Tdi was the introduction of the ladder frame bolted between the block and the sump, resulting in much improved strength and stability of the block. Intercooling also reduced the thermal stresses on the blocks, and the new alloy heads on Tdi were less prone to warping and cracking.

In most jurisdictions other than Britain, people simply bought 2.5 petrol engine Nineties and One Tens, but they were never popular in the British market due to high fuel prices.