twilliams4174
New Member
Morning all,
I'm new to the forum so apologies if this is in the wrong place. From lurking I have seen that sluggishness/lack of power is a common theme with these old diesel p38s but I've tried a lot of the advice seen on similar threads so thought I'd outline my problem in more detail to see if anyone could share their expertise on the matter.
My P38 is a 94 Diesel Non-EGR model in manual guise.
Back in August I was driving back from a trip to Blackpool UK to Newcastle upon Tyne - anyone who's done that route will know it's a fair climb up the M6 through the lakes. It was the hottest day of the year, and climbing up shop summit I suddenly started to lose power and blowing black smoke - to the point where it wouldn't go more than about 5mph uphill (Temperature dead-on half way the whole time). I managed to limp it to relatives I have in the area and left it with their mechanic who diagnosed the fault as a bad turbo and seized actuator and replaced it. When he returned the car it was much better but not perfect - he said that it needed a new actuator still as the turbo supplied was sans-actuator - so he reused the old one - but it should still get me home. One good second hand actuator later I assumed all would be dandy but on my fortnightly commute to Barrow-in-Furness the problem arose again - no power uphill, black smoke out of the rear, won't rev above about 3000 RPM. RAC called out, reading a boost pressure sensor fault - after reading through similar threads I understand that this is a common fault. After being recovered home I ordered two - one second hand LR OEM part and one cheap Chinese one, on the basis that one of these would likely be ok. Since then I have also:
-Cleaned out the intercooler
-Replaced all turbo outlet hoses
-Replaced the MAP line
-Cleaned the MAP outlet under the inlet manifold
-Tested the lift pump, all good
After replacing the MAP sensor with the s/h LR item the situation is such: Starts first time, idles perfectly, loads of power low end, revs freely, no smoke - running well. But after the revs hit about 2000 rpm where I'm used to the turbo giving it a kick up the arse there's nothing, like it's being held back. There's a very slight whooshing sound like the boost is escaping somewhere but this could just be my imagination.
Does anyone have any idea what else it could be, something I haven't checked? I had a look in the usual spots for a power box/chip but all I found was a 30s timer relay with what looked like a 555 chip next to the BECM - glow plugs presumably?
I'm new to the forum so apologies if this is in the wrong place. From lurking I have seen that sluggishness/lack of power is a common theme with these old diesel p38s but I've tried a lot of the advice seen on similar threads so thought I'd outline my problem in more detail to see if anyone could share their expertise on the matter.
My P38 is a 94 Diesel Non-EGR model in manual guise.
Back in August I was driving back from a trip to Blackpool UK to Newcastle upon Tyne - anyone who's done that route will know it's a fair climb up the M6 through the lakes. It was the hottest day of the year, and climbing up shop summit I suddenly started to lose power and blowing black smoke - to the point where it wouldn't go more than about 5mph uphill (Temperature dead-on half way the whole time). I managed to limp it to relatives I have in the area and left it with their mechanic who diagnosed the fault as a bad turbo and seized actuator and replaced it. When he returned the car it was much better but not perfect - he said that it needed a new actuator still as the turbo supplied was sans-actuator - so he reused the old one - but it should still get me home. One good second hand actuator later I assumed all would be dandy but on my fortnightly commute to Barrow-in-Furness the problem arose again - no power uphill, black smoke out of the rear, won't rev above about 3000 RPM. RAC called out, reading a boost pressure sensor fault - after reading through similar threads I understand that this is a common fault. After being recovered home I ordered two - one second hand LR OEM part and one cheap Chinese one, on the basis that one of these would likely be ok. Since then I have also:
-Cleaned out the intercooler
-Replaced all turbo outlet hoses
-Replaced the MAP line
-Cleaned the MAP outlet under the inlet manifold
-Tested the lift pump, all good
After replacing the MAP sensor with the s/h LR item the situation is such: Starts first time, idles perfectly, loads of power low end, revs freely, no smoke - running well. But after the revs hit about 2000 rpm where I'm used to the turbo giving it a kick up the arse there's nothing, like it's being held back. There's a very slight whooshing sound like the boost is escaping somewhere but this could just be my imagination.
Does anyone have any idea what else it could be, something I haven't checked? I had a look in the usual spots for a power box/chip but all I found was a 30s timer relay with what looked like a 555 chip next to the BECM - glow plugs presumably?
