Offroad driving is not about speed, unless you are in a rally! My old 2.5 NA was as slow as hell on road but was in it's element off road, especially in low range. Power and acceleration were smooth and predictable compared to a turbo.

You might have a 1.6 transfer box. Some quite late military and early civilian models are fitted with these. My top speed was about 60 with that fitted.
 
Having owned a Disco Td5 and a couple of 200Tdi Defenders, I'd go for the 200 every time. Much easier and cheaper to fix!
I've had my current Defender for 5 years, it's done 222,000 miles, and apart from a split turbo hose and a stop solenoid, it's been very reliable. Oh, and a starter motor. It'll still do 70 for miles on end, more if I pushed it.
If I want to go fast, I'll ride my bike! ;)
 
No that's when it was parked at a unit while I worked on it..iv got a BMW 525d and it pulls and pulls....I'd decided not to play with it till I take it to the garage just hope it's nothing big but I think there going to say trans box seals bearings,prop bearings and maybe the spline on the shafts...
 
And it's sat on 77k but after a few months after my mate got it the miles stopped going up haha but we think in the 7 years he had it he's never left the town in it and 5k tops he's put on it as he's got a few cars and only used this when he could be bothered...he's one of those...so after 3 years sat in a unit I said here's some money I'm taking it....and here we are :)
 
I have a 200 tdi challenge truck with 35" simex and a 300 tdi that's now a daily that used to have my 35" simex on, after a tweak my 300 had plenty of power would keep with a similar spec td5 on the road and would easily spin the tyres off road of I wanted in 1st 2nd or 3rd in low range with Center diff locked and front and rear arb lockers in,

My 200 I've only just bought, and it's had the fuel pump tampered with not tweaked I'll let you know how it goes but I did my mates 200 fuel pump and it went like a rocket.

Check a few thingsor should I say do a few,1

Service it, all oils, fuel filter ect air filter, then try it,

Check engine timing is set correctly and check the rockers are adjusted correctly ( this makes a massive diffrence if they are wrong)

When driving look for smoke??? Does it? Is it black?
If it doesn't you have no power cause you have no fuel, could need a service could need the fuel pump tweaking could be a faulty pump.

If there is no smoke then I would suggest tweaking the fuel pump.

When you start it do you get a puff of black smoke?

When you Rev it from idle in neutral do you get black smoke? If you do I would gess the off boost fueling he been adjusted.

Fit a boost gauge and heck you getting full boost, best to measure it at the inlet not the turbo, tweak the actuator so you have 1 bar at the inlet, after check the fueling is still correct.

There's lots of guides to all the above on here and YouTube
 
As for boost pressures aswell, my 300 tdi is set to 1.2 bar at the turbo,

My mate borrowed it (a mate with a 200bhp tuned to death td5) came back and said f%*k that's the fastest 300 I've ever driven, thought nothing of it next time I drove it I noticed the boost was at nearly 2 bar, turned out the wast gate he stuck closed.
 
I think I'm just used to my faster other car...after noticing the oil spray around the shaft where it goes into the trans box there is a nasty squeek and it feels like someone has thrown a stone in the drive train as it's knocking now and really feeling like a shaft is about to fall out....had my first off roading trip at the local 4x4 quary on Sunday so I won't be going now as I have to wait till tue so I can take it to the garage :(

Sounds like a propshaft UJ - not expensive usually. Fingers crossed. I wonder if the PO has changed (lowered) the gearing as well as adding the big wheels for off road comps.
+1 for changing the tyres before anything else, once you get it serviced and running well.
 
As for boost pressures aswell, my 300 tdi is set to 1.2 bar at the turbo,

My mate borrowed it (a mate with a 200bhp tuned to death td5) came back and said f%*k that's the fastest 300 I've ever driven, thought nothing of it next time I drove it I noticed the boost was at nearly 2 bar, turned out the wast gate he stuck closed.


Many years ago I tried to see what max boost was on a 300 with std turbo, after much playing around 1.6 was the absolute max it would reach.
 
Remember bar and psi are a measure of resistance, not flow. So just because you are seeing more boost pressure, does not automatically mean more air. At some point there will be a trade off and too much heat and too much inefficiency.

Which is why there are bigger turbo's and variable vane/nozzle ones.


It might help to think of boost pressure a bit like air pressure in a tyre, i.e. you can inflate a 35" Simex and a push bike tyre to 30psi. Same pressure, but there is a heck of a lot more air in the Simex.
 
This is true, mine was 1.85 at the turbo which was likely to be somewhere around 1.6 at the inlet. Waste gate was stuck as soon as I noticed this I want very carful when driving it home until I got it sorted.

I understand about the geometry of a turbo having done a lot of reading, hot side cold sides, pitch, A/R, inducers ect, Vnt Vgt and there's ALOT OF DIFFRENCES, ie a garret t3, there's a lot of variations that look the same but couldn't be much further apart.
 
Righ iv had the work on my 90 done ( even tho I only said to them just look and tell me what's wrong with it before you go ahead with work ) .... I had the trans box shaft seal changed and topped up with oil,hazard switch changed,A frame ball joint,lock nut for prop shaft,heavy duty u joint,adjusted wheel bearing and they fixed my door lock and handle as the passenger side didn't work and they took it on a test drive and said it seems to be at normal power just just the massive wheels that are causing drag :( looks like I'll look Into a little tune so I got abit more power when I do go off road and don't have to worry about it dying on a hill cos the stupid wheels haha
 
I've just had another go at my 300 and it's got more tourqu now was much happier on the motorway with my challenge truck on the back on the ifor trailer
 
Yup that's pushed me in the right direction thanks

Will be interested to hear how you get on. I have always preferred to keep them standard as they were designed. But I always like to keep an open mind.
I recently had the cam belt changed. I have noticed a bit more power from the engine. My wife who rides as passenger has also noticed the increase in performance.
 
The only reason I want to is the fact my wheels make it feel limp I just want that little but more :)
 

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