Power drop off on hills

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Roaming Wombat

Roaming Wombat

Well-Known Member
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424
Location
Fortress Europa
So I took my 90 300TDi on its longest trip this weekend (about 100miles each way) since I got it, mainly dual-carriageway and motorway.

After just under an hour, the revs dropped off to nearly nothing, when going uphill and dropping a gear tio get the revs up gave nothing (5th to 4th).

What I found was that cruising at 55+mph the revs would disappear going up hill (I mean gone not just drop a bit) and I would end up at 35-40mph and not able to get the power down even dropping gears.

Now, cruising at 50mph this doesn't happen at all (it seems), yes I have to give some revs on the hills but its only a small amount.

The question is why is it that if I push that bit too hard on the hills the power disappears completely?

The lift pump was changed a couple of months ago and for the entire of the return 100mile journey (on the same route) this didn't happen at all, did it all at the 50mph mark.
 
Had the turbo hose off recently when I changed the lift pump and it had no obvious splits in it, fuel filter and draining the fuel tank is on the list to check already.
 
the turbo hoses can delaminate inside, then when 'on boost' can suck flat inside but look okay from the outside.
Never seen it myself but worth a check?
 
I've been experiencing something like this recently so will keep an eye on this thread. Mine accelerates fine if you are progressive with the throttle but trying to maintain a given speed up an incline using the torque from the turbo is hard work. I've got a new lift pump to go on as I have not seen any signs of black smoke which indicates to me not enough fuel.

Will keep an eye on what fixes yours! Good luck
 
When you experience the loss of power have you noticed if you are getting black smoke from the exhaust?

Having re-read your problem my symptoms are different, consistently flat when trying to pull up a hill so is pointing to insufficient fuel for the engine. No black smoke at all, not even when being heavy with the throttle.

It's not unheard of lift pumps giving up the ghost in a short time, they seem to be pot luck.
 
NinkyNonk said:
It's not unheard of lift pumps giving up the ghost in a short time, they seem to be pot luck.
Click to expand...

I would agree with this, just because it was replaced a couple of months ago does not mean it is not the problem so would still be worth checking it is pumping correctly. I have had britpart and bearmach pumps fail within a couple of weeks. Even fitting proper OEM delphi pumps they tend to only last about 12 months. I get them fail regularly enough that I now carry a spare to swap over at the road side. That and an alternator belt (disco 200tdi) are the only spares I carry day to day.
 
I’m sure it’s something less sinister than this as others have suggested but you are describing identical symptoms to what I had in an old 300tdi disco for about 2 or 3 months before the head gasket blew. I noticed a fairly subtle drop in power one day on hills and then it became gradually worse every day. I should have seen it coming but a few months I was going up a big two lane hill and noticed the temp gauge get too much to be comfortable, then about 3 miles after the hill the engine blew. Might be worth making sure yours isn’t suffering the same fate as it warped my head and made it uneconomical to repair.
 
neilly said:
Have you tried pumping the lift pump handle to see if fuel comes out of the bleed nipple on the filter housing?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Afraid not, I'm a bit lazy when it comes to working on the Land Rover. Don't even do my own servicing :oops:
 
ReadySalted said:
I’m sure it’s something less sinister than this as others have suggested but you are describing identical symptoms to what I had in an old 300tdi disco for about 2 or 3 months before the head gasket blew. I noticed a fairly subtle drop in power one day on hills and then it became gradually worse every day. I should have seen it coming but a few months I was going up a big two lane hill and noticed the temp gauge get too much to be comfortable, then about 3 miles after the hill the engine blew. Might be worth making sure yours isn’t suffering the same fate as it warped my head and made it uneconomical to repair.
Click to expand...
Crikey that's a bit scarey, hope mine doesn't do anything crazy like that. Did it not start using coolant before it blew? I've decided I'm not going to drive it again until I get it serviced and checked over.
 
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