P38 dse very slow in first and reverse

Norfolknudger · Oct 18, 2014

Hi all can anyone help I've recently bought a automatic p38 with the 2.5 bmw engine and noticed it seems very slow to accelerate in first once turbo kicks in she's fine also very slow in reverse I left a friends work shop today he's at the bottom of a slope and rangerover would not go up it in reverse it started to but stopped even with my foot hard to the floor it wouldn't move had to spin around and drive out I know they aren't fast but old ladies in mobility scooters are beating me of the lights power steering pump has died Aswell !!!! Any advice cheers will from Norwich

jamesmartin · Oct 18, 2014

Norfolknudger said:
Hi all can anyone help I've recently bought a automatic p38 with the 2.5 bmw engine and noticed it seems very slow to accelerate in first once turbo kicks in she's fine also very slow in reverse I left a friends work shop today he's at the bottom of a slope and rangerover would not go up it in reverse it started to but stopped even with my foot hard to the floor it wouldn't move had to spin around and drive out I know they aren't fast but old ladies in mobility scooters are beating me of the lights power steering pump has died Aswell !!!! Any advice cheers will from Norwich

check the colour of gearbox oil by draining a little out

tomcat59alan · Oct 18, 2014

jamesmartin said:
check the colour of gearbox oil by draining a little out

And level

Norfolknudger · Oct 18, 2014

Ok will do james do I need to have it in drive to check oil level

wammers · Oct 18, 2014

Norfolknudger said:
Ok will do james do I need to have it in drive to check oil level

Gearbox oil cold, engine running, move through all gears place in park dip fluid.

jamesmartin · Oct 18, 2014

drain some out as well dont just look at stick

Littelwill · Oct 18, 2014

Give it a sniff tooo

Datatek · Oct 19, 2014

Is the engine actually revving? If not check the MAP sensor, fuel filter, air filter, intank pump etc.

StuckAgainSteve · Oct 19, 2014

If you've got diagnostics check that the car is actually configured as a diesel! Another member on here had similar symptoms and it turned out his car thought it was a petrol - how it actually ran I have no idea. I changed the BECM settings over to diesel and did a resysnc. When it thought it was a petrol the 'box was shifting up too soon not allowing the turbo a chance to spool.

Norfolknudger · Oct 20, 2014

Oil all clean not burnt and just over full car revs when in neutral-but not revving when reversing had foot flat on floor and nothing happend but when pulling away on a flat surface ie from a set of lights really slow to get going until turbo kicks in could it be pump timing ???

Datatek · Oct 20, 2014

Norfolknudger said:
Oil all clean not burnt and just over full car revs when in neutral-but not revving when reversing had foot flat on floor and nothing happend but when pulling away on a flat surface ie from a set of lights really slow to get going until turbo kicks in could it be pump timing ???

If it's not reving when in gear, then you need to check all the basics like the fuel filter, in tank pump etc, check the MAP sensor pipe is not perished and the take off from the manifold is not blocked with crap.
Other than that, it's diagnostics.

matt1987 · Oct 20, 2014

Pm sent

mack441 · Jan 25, 2015

hi all im having same prob with mine aswell as when i drive along and stop at junction or lights and try and pull off it will not rev or try and pull off i have to put in R or N or P then rev and put in to D then pull away this as happened twice since ive had range any info with this prob please thanks

Datatek · Jan 25, 2015

mack441 said:
hi all im having same prob with mine aswell as when i drive along and stop at junction or lights and try and pull off it will not rev or try and pull off i have to put in R or N or P then rev and put in to D then pull away this as happened twice since ive had range any info with this prob please thanks

See post #11 and check if you have any oil in the gearbox.

mack441 · Jan 25, 2015

thanks for the reply datatek but all of this been checked and nothink picked up on diagnostics machine and nothing found wrong

N2O · Jan 25, 2015

It's not transmission problem.
Check fuel rate on diagnostics, it should be somewhere between 4-6 mg/stroke on hot engine without load(lights off) and HEVAC on AUTO.
Also check fuel temperature readings - should be around 40-50 deg C.
If fuelling is bigger value, then you have to move(tap it with bolts slightly lossened) the top of Injection Pump towards bulkhead. It's funny because it works other way round, ie gives more fuel with smaller number. Kinda funny to set, but setting it properly cures most of low power problems.

wammers · Jan 25, 2015

N2O said:
It's not transmission problem.
Check fuel rate on diagnostics, it should be somewhere between 4-6 mg/stroke on hot engine without load(lights off) and HEVAC on AUTO.
Also check fuel temperature readings - should be around 40-50 deg C.
If fuelling is bigger value, then you have to move(tap it with bolts slightly lossened) the top of Injection Pump towards bulkhead. It's funny because it works other way round, ie gives more fuel with smaller number. Kinda funny to set, but setting it properly cures most of low power problems.

If you do that and increase fuel you will also increase idle speed.

mack441 · Jan 25, 2015

thanks for the replies i will give this a try fingers crossed

and a big thanks for the help

N2O · Jan 26, 2015

wammers said:
If you do that and increase fuel you will also increase idle speed.

No, it won't increase idle speed on HDK type pump top(but it will do that on old potentiometer type pumps - newer seen that type on P38), but it can "runaway" if you set fuelling too high(low number). In most cases setting it up to 3 mg/stroke is safe, but it can cause erratic idling(as the electronic governor cannot set fuel rate low enough to ensure stable idle speed and tries to do this by cutting fuel) and slow returning to idle.
Also setting it too high will cause trip computer to cheat on fuel consumption.
Don't try to do this without diagnostic computer with live data!
It also must be done with engine running.

wammers · Jan 26, 2015

N2O said:
No, it won't increase idle speed on HDK type pump top(but it will do that on old potentiometer type pumps - newer seen that type on P38), but it can "runaway" if you set fuelling too high(low number). In most cases setting it up to 3 mg/stroke is safe, but it can cause erratic idling(as the electronic governor cannot set fuel rate low enough to ensure stable idle speed and tries to do this by cutting fuel) and slow returning to idle.
Also setting it too high will cause trip computer to cheat on fuel consumption.
Don't try to do this without diagnostic computer with live data!
It also must be done with engine running.

If you move the top of the pump forwards or backward you will either increase fuelling and engine RPM will rise or decrease fuelling and engine RPM will drop. Simple as that. You are moving the control collar backwards or forwards along the piston therefore giving more or less fuel. This would only be needed if the top half of the pump has been removed to restore idle to 750 RPM.

P38 dse very slow in first and reverse

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