Turbo Diesel Advice

EMPTAGE123

Guest
Hi, can anyone give me some advice, I have a 1993 Burstner Motorhome, 2.5 Turbo Diesel, it has always struggled with power when going up hill, I thought nothing of this until I mentioned it to a friend of mine who said there could be something wrong with the Turbo actuator, I took it to a Turbo specialist who said the actuator was fine but the impellar wasn't working properly and they could replace it, I paid £300 for the part & labour, I took it for a test run and there is no difference in power, they said the Air Filter could be blocked I have had it checked and its fine, before I go back to the company can anyone give me any other advice as to what it might be, Many thanks Tanya.
 
If it was revving out through the gears except top then the turbo was ok,diesels do not run like petrol engines and the power/torque band is in the first rpm quarter where as petrol engines have it in the top quarter and little pull low down.
 
Check out the intercooler (if indeed it has one). Could be leaking air between the metal fin casing and the black plastic bottom. Will cause a big loss of turbo efficiency.
New intercooler is about £60.
 
if it has an IC and you can find it you can also check the pipe from it to engine (usually a large rubber pipe) is becoming hard when the revs go up..when you squeeze it

this sort of tells you the turbo is working and the air filter is ok and so on.. if the turbo is working then maybe the fuelling isn't .. i.e. the engine isn't getting more fuel when turbo is giving more air (charge) ..

it's late but hope that makes some sense.. whereabouts are you ?
 
Hi, thanks for the reply, it's a basic Turbo set up no inter cooler fitted, only one pipe from the air filter to the turbo pipes ok, Engine runs fine, just dead slow up hill, I'm in Rochdale Lancashire.
 
ok .. maybe just take the air filter out and try it up a nearby hill..?

also. if you blip throttle you ought to here a feint sound..like a whine or whistle from turbo ..

was the van once faster up hills ? :)
 
C an hear Turbo slight whistling, can also see it spinning when pipe removed, just doesn't seem to have enough pressure to activate the actuator arm as it does not move, but can be moved freely by hand, it has always been slow up hill
 
make sure the boost pipe from pump to turbo in not slit or come of, as this will not tell the pump to boost more diesel to the turbo when needed
:wave:
 
power

hi
you could adjust fuel delivery screw on the injection pump. will give more
power but increase the smoke out exhaust.
 
Is the actuator operated by vacuum? if yes, then check the pipe that is connected to the top/bottom of the actuator & all the wee small pipes that could be chaffed & have small holes in, check the brake servo hose, if it has them then check the N18/N75 turbo actuation valves, the wires & vacuum pipes.

Phill
 
Hi the Turbo is vacuum non electric, it only has 1 hose going to it and thats ok, Tanya.
 
Hi we had a 1994 hymer with the same engine and can confirm that with engine pulling around 3.5 ton it was very slow on hills think they are about 80bhp ours was Collum gear change
 
Hi, our Burstner is 3.5 ton unladen, up to 5 ton fully loaded, perhaps the Turbo is working as it should, but it really is slow on a hill, I think our record was about 19mph with 20 other vehicles behind us in France, as I've only ever driven ours I have nothing to compare it with, I would feel better if it was the norm for this kind of vehicle, Tanya.
 
yes some of them hills through france are killers our transit which is 6 speed was down to 4th gear 50mph on some and even 40mph on some of the tight and twisty ones. make sure you switch the heaters to hot and fan switched on full on the hills it will help on cooling the engine
 
Our 1998 3.5 tonne Burstner with the same engine struggles up hills so I think it is normal, I thought about getting the engine remapped but not sure about any negative impact.
 
So what is the definitive way to drive a turbo diesel?
I presume like on my car the turbo will only kick in above a certain rev limit?

Keep the revs 2000 and above and never go up any incline in 5th?
 
WARNING, do not do this until the engine has warmed up to normal operating temperature!!

A diesel likes to rev, so after warm up & depending on road conditions, speed cameras etc, stick it in second & very carefully, (as some vehicles may have enough power to wheel spin in lower gears), give it the berries until the rev counter hits about 4000 rpm.

If you do this once every trip, you'll keep the engine cleaner & better able to breath.

Phill
 
Reading the comments, I suspect that the engine is behaving normally for this vehicle. The turbo set up is very basic i.e no intercooler. So in effect a couple of things to consider.

Boost pressure on a non intercooled turbo increases the temperature of the air which in effect expands so therefore the charge not as efficient an IC cools the air so gives a denser charge of air.

Another consideration is on a mountain in France you are already a decent height in most places above sea level therefore the air is not as dense anyway some normally aspirated engines struggle with this, like ourselves suffer from the lack of oxygen,

On a plus side, most engines ex stock leave the factory in an understressed configuration and as someone has mentioned re mapping can provide significant increase in power. The power doesn't necessarily translate to speed but with diesels increases torque which makes for less gear changing etc, Especially useful if you are close to the Maximum weights carrying the kitchen sink etc

Assuming there are no splits in vacuum pipes etc considering a re map may help

Channa
 
In 1993, diesel engines were no where near as efficient as they are now. The 2.5 Diesel engines in most motor homes in those days were almost always slow pullers up hill. My old coach built was just the same, wouldn't pull you out of bed. Remember what you are driving is almost as aero dynamic as a concrete block. Your MH is behaving quite normal. My 2.2 Citroen 2004 relay based van drives the same as my car, easily does 70 MPH and flies up hills and away from roundabouts. It's just new technology, soon to be outlawed by the green brigade.
 
bellars said:
Our 1998 3.5 tonne Burstner with the same engine struggles up hills so I think it is normal, I thought about getting the engine remapped but not sure about any negative impact.
Click to expand...

Remapping a 1993 engine won't be possible. There won't be any ECU on an engine of that age ...
 
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