Is My Turbo Working ?

Hi Chris, the turbo isn't like that on a Porche. On the 300Tdi it comes into operation at around 1850rpm. If you can hear the turbo making a noise its generally a sign of needing to spend some money in the future..

Do you have a snorkel fitted? If you do, you can here the noise of the extra air being sucked in while driving if you open the passenger side window.

Another way you can check the turbo is to listen to the air intake when you shut off the motor, as the turbo apins for another minute after shutting down, and you can still hear the air being aspirated by the still spinning turbo.

If you are having power problems there is another area to check. If you look at the outside of the engine on the passenger side, behind the inlet and exhaust manifolds, is the side of your engine "oily" or "wet and oily" looking? If so then the inlet manifold gasket is leaking, and the turbo benefits are not going into the engine, but rather are leaking out the side, which in turn causes this damp and oily look.

By replacing the inlet manifold gasket correctly, you will be amazed at the extra power you get.

The other thing to check is your air filter. If this is dirty, then its a bit hard to get air through it, and thus a power reduction.

Cheers

Phillip Simpson

If the boost is down you'll be making black smoke. Especially if the turbo has died. Vast amounts of black smoke.

Not a hugely scientific response, but I drove a Seat TDi with a duff turbo and TBH if you have to ask, your turbo is probably fine. The Seat really struggled to pull itself along, missing that mid-range urge that characterises a turbo diesel.

Hi Tim, can I take it from the url at the bottom that you are in the bar code business or is this just a sponsor?

Cheers

Phillip

If you un-screw the clamp that holds the big, ribbed intake pipe onto the turbo, you can put you fingers inside and see how much play there is in the intake vanes. There should be a little bit, as the turbo does not have bearings, but floats on a layer of oil (or so I am told), but quite a bit of play suggests your turbo could be on its way out.

I haven't a clue about boost preasure measuring......

You can get turbos reconditioned (which I found out after having binned mine and bought a "non-bargin" new one) I'm sure someone on the group can reccommend a reconditioner if your turbo is actually knackered.

Mine's a 300tdi Defender that started losing power and then blowing clouds of white smoke everywhere! I'm not sure its the same turbo as a Disco 300tdi, (Def 300tdi takes a Garrett T25 I think)

Guy

Don't do this when it's running I know this may sound obvious BUT there's always one (1) when I was an apprentice for a bus company we got some Volvo buses, the first turbo'd we'd had One bloke did put his finger in while it was spinning just to see if it was running lost a little bit off the end

which is why I always say "don't put your fingers where you wouldn't put your dick" like lining up spring eyes just feel to see if it's inline spring moves takes off end of finger

(1) you know how everybody says "there's always one!" well the bus company I worked for used to employ all the spare "one's" I couldn't believe just how stupid some people could be

Andy

I have cobbled together a boost gauge that quickly fits next to the turbo, its using the example given in haynes service section for the discovery.

I'm in birmingham, if anyone wants to use it!

Jinx

p.s. When i bought my disco i wasn't sure it was working so fitting the guage has put my mind to rest!

We are into barcoding. In fact a certain forthcoming 4x4 will have a barcode in its rear wheelarch, but I obviously couldn't comment on which one (or two)...

I know I'm going to regret this but... why are they putting a bar code on the rear wheelarch?

Twas Tue, 9 Dec 2003 18:38:09 -0000 when "Adrian England" put finger to keyboard producing:

Because of some company called "bartec-systems" told them it'd be a good idea... ;o)

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

It's quite important not to try to fit a sunroof where there isn't a hole...

And when the three bits of bodyshell are welded together it's good to have a front, a middle and a back bit. Looks a bit odd otherwise.

Hi Tim, fully understand.;-). At least in the rear wheel arch you will only have to worry about water proof b'codes, and not oil and other fluids if it were lower and further forward.

I'm in the process of working through developing an inventory barcoding system, and have a multitude of barcode readers that I've been testing (playing with), so hence the sensitivity to anything to do with bar codes.

Cheers

Phillip Simpson

I'll be down your way in 6 weeks if you need a consultant!

What kit do you have and (more importantly) what are you programming with?

if you take off the hose from the intercooler at the input connection , ie after turbo , and listen whilst revving engine up a little , youll hear the turbo whistle and also should get a fair amount of air blowing out of pipe .

you should be able to hear the turbo whistle when in 3rd or 4th gear and accelerating , but it isnt that loud so a keen ear is necessary .

there is a clear plastic pipe close to the injection pump that has a tee off it for measuring the turbo boost pressure , but you will probably find a plug fitted in end of pipe which is pressed in end of pipe.

remember those old vacuum guages that were all the craze in the 1980s , dare i say it and NIKKI carbs , the vacuum guage also had pressure reading , good for testing if there is any boost from a suspect turbo .

the easiest way though is to remove intercooler hose , rev up , and youll soon know if turbo is blowing or not , its pretty unmistakeable .

cheers

I just wish someone would come out with a cheap bar code printer that could do on-off's and very small batched cost effectively!

Richard

Define cheap...

You can do this for next to nothing with a barcode truetype font and a pack of Avery labels. If you want the font, email me...

Hi Richard, dead easy to do. Once you have the font (see Tim's post) you can do this in an excel spreadsheet, and print sequential numbers, or human readable etc etc etc.

Cheers

Phillip

Hi Tim, do you mean Melbourne or Exeter?

If Australia are you here on holiday or business, and which cities are you visiting?

Do you plan to do some 4wd'ing??

Cheers

Phillip

PS re barcode reader project. Started off with some MEQ430, that I got cheap on eBay, and these are simple to programme using the proprietory software that originally came out with the systems. At about 30 quid each they are a cheap workhorse/experimental unit.

Also us>>

On or around Tue, 09 Dec 2003 08:54:56 +0000 (GMT), snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") enlightened us thusly:

doesn't the pump have the cunning gadget which adjusts the fuelling according to boost pressure, and doesn't deliver extra fuel until it's on boost?

and if not, why not :-)