There is good general advice flying around in this topic but non of it is related what so ever to the amount of blow by that you have venting from your breather pipe. The only thing that causes blow by is combustion gasses escaping from within the cylinder and there are only a few ways that this can get out:
- Worn piston rings
- Worn bores
- Cracked piston crown
- Cracked cylinder block
- Cracked cylinder head
- worn / 'coked up' valve seats
- Blown head gasket
That lovely smelling noxious oily mist that you see bellowing from your breather pipe should be crammed inside your cylinders (as air and diesel) giving you more power per compression stroke. Most turbo charged diesel engines will show signs of engine breathing, even a brand new heavily refined audi diesel engine will have some blow by, hence the reason why breather systems are installed on our engines.
As for your power up hill issue, well I'm still in the same boat but I have much less blow-by than yourself. Also, quite interestingly, I have been playing around with my fuelling and the wastegate adjustment on my turbo and nothing seems to be giving it the oomph that it had a few months back. It's had a new lift pump, all new fuel lines and various other bits and bobs, all of which are working fine. I did however, have my injectors tested and its been brought to my attention that all four of them are opening about 20 atmospheres below where they should be (200 atmospheres), one of them being around 35 atmospheres lower than what it should be. I am taking them to a local diesel injection specialist who will re-test them and set the 'pop' pressures for £5 per injector. He also suggested that an ultra-sonic clean can do just as much good as new nozzles (nozzles cost around £80 per set of 4) in some cases, and he only wants an additional £5 per injector to clean them. All in all, £10 per injector to bring them back up to shape sounds like good news to me so I'm arranging to take them down there over the next fortnight.
It might just be worth having them checked over, I've heard three or four good reports from 200tdi and 300tdi drivers who've had their injectors reconditioned. Most places will charge £15-£20 to test them, but I'll bet they just tell you that they need new nozzles, a trick that I have become wise to! Just one other thought, have you checked to make sure that the filter inside your fuel return banjo bolt on the injection pump isn't blocked? (banjo bolt that secures the return to fuel tank line) The injection pump forces excess diesel at around 400bar through a very small hole in the return banjo bolt which is then passed through a small filter pushed inside the central cavity of the bolt. Mine was gunked up a little and it made a noticeable difference.
-Pos
