I'm looking for some advice on my 10p TD5. I'm led to believe that it's haunted by a mysterious LR entity and it's a lost cause!

I have done a complete rebuild, which I'm told they just don't like for some weird reason. All parts and sensors were replaced (except the Britpart head gasket) with genuine. However, when I sent it for a Stage 3 map it only achieved about 150bhp. Granted it is better than it was, as it did need a got sorting out since so many sensors and things had been replaced. The engine is totally standard but I did skim it which I'm told (after I'd done it obviously) is one of the worst things you can do. If that's true then I might change the head gasket for a genuine one just to be sure of the correct thickness.

It does not start at all well when cold, even with the glow plugs. It black smokes (yes I know that's likely to be injectors but they are expensive and I want to eliminate anything else first). It has really poor low end power; pulling out at T junctions is painful even in 1st. It will only achieve 75mph even down hill. The turbo seems to come in ok and pulls well but the bottom end lag is bad.

It's done 242k and 4 of the injectors could very well be original as they are black top; the 5th is blue top. The turbo (which I haven't looked at at all) might also be original.

Has anyone got any advice on how to get the power up to what I should expect for a Stage 3 tune of a 10p TD5?

I guess the first place to start is was it OK before you had the tune done?
If it was then go back to the tuner.

Anaconda said:

I guess the first place to start is was it OK before you had the tune done?
If it was then go back to the tuner.

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No it was all over the place. The previous owner had all kinds of ideas, and not very good ones. Britpart crap was all over it giving massively out of range signals to the ECU (which turned out to be from a Discovery anyway). Genuine senders and sensors brought everything within tolerance and everything is talking to everything as it should now. Injectors were also coded correctly which hadn't been done previously.

@sierrafery might be able to help you.

JCP123 said:

.....the ECU (which turned out to be from a Discovery anyway)

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and what part number ECU do you have in it now and who did the remap?....you said stage 3 remap which involves VNT/VGT turbo, uprated MAP sensor and performance intercooler do you have these?

First of all the worst thing anybody can do is to remap an otherwise not well running engine as to "boost up" some existing faults, you remap one which is running well but you want more power... i dont see other solution than buying a stock Defender MSB ECU which hopefully was removed from a well running vehicle, making your engine to run as it should with that one then try with the remap for more power

I didn’t remap it to gain more power and I didn’t know there was anything wrong with the engine. I just wanted to set it up properly. I’m not sure what ECU was in it. I was told but I can’t remember. I bought the truck as a project and put it straight in the garage and stripped it of all the years of crap that previous owners had halfarsed on to it. It started and drove reasonably ok (but not brilliant) but black smoked from day 1 after rebuild. We assumed it would probably just need bedding in. The plan was to take it and just delete everything off the ECU and put a standard map back on it and see if everything was as it should be and so we had a good place to start from. At this point we assumed that the numbness and smoke was ECU related and not mechanical due to the meticulous rebuilding. Plus the previous owners had remapped it to god knows what. Then go from there. When it was plugged in the MAF sensor was showing out of range (Britpart) and so was the sensor on the inlet manifold. Both were replaced for genuine ones and the readings came inline with what was expected. Due to the intercooler already installed I was told that it could take a Stage 3 map so it might as well have one. Nothing was said about the turbo. I was told that for a 10p engine I should expect about 190bhp with the map but it only achieved about 140-50 which is kind of ok when you get used to it but it’s bothering me as to where I’ve lost the extra hp. And I hate that black smoke!

I had a quick look and every tuner seems to qoute different hp but all state an uprated turbo on stage 3 remap.

Anaconda said:

I had a quick look and every tuner seems to qoute different hp but all state an uprated turbo on stage 3 remap.

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Is that for a 15p or 10p? Mine is a 10p and I’m fairly sure (not 100%) that is a standard turbo. To be honest, I haven’t really looked into it because it all looks ok and like I said, no one has mentioned it. I know everyone is going to have a different opinion on these maps and it’s never a black and white situation.

JCP123 said:

Is that for a 15p or 10p? Mine is a 10p and I’m fairly sure (not 100%) that is a standard turbo. To be honest, I haven’t really looked into it because it all looks ok and like I said, no one has mentioned it. I know everyone is going to have a different opinion on these maps and it’s never a black and white situation.

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Didn't look into that much but the "stage" seems quite random from one company to another with regards to bhp.
Most state upgraded turbo, decat, egr delete, intercooler upgrade necessary.
In the past I have taken bhp figures with a grain of salt. Really you would need to put you vehicle on a rolling road before and after mods to see improvements.

I have no Cat or EGR so no problem there. I have noticed tonight that it is breathing far more than it should. Having done 500 miles since a full rebuild I’m starting to think that the problem may be more serious than I first thought!

If it has black smoke it's overfuelled and as long as you don't know exactly what ECU or tune you have and dont try with a 100% OK untuned Defender ECU you'll just chase your tail with this IMO

Yeah I know what you mean. I’ll see if I can track one down. I’m sure no one will lie about it being ok

Search for untuned MSB101170 or 101171 at breakers or borrow one for test if you can

Ok. Thanks for the advice