2.8td gutless

[Lewis]

A couple of weeks ago our 87 2.8td bighorn was left in to have some work done. Its got 290ks on it. The belts needed doing, and they also did the cambelt, and discovered that the crankgear, key, pulley and boss were worn out and needed replacing. The cambelt tensioner bearings and the idler bearings were also replaced. The crank gear, key, pulley and boss were replaced with 2nd hand parts they picked to make it cheaper.

Last week i had to drive out to Clevedon, and there is lots of hills. The truck simply wouldnt pull above 2500 revs. In a two lane reasonable hill it could barely pull past a big rubbish truck. The revs just woudlnt rise and its gone totally gutless. This is particulary noticible in 3rd gear onwards. Its not so noticeable going around town because you dont have to rev it and have your foot on the floor, hence why it took a while for me to be 100% convinced someting was wrong

I replaced the air filter as it was quite dirty, this made no difference.

Today i went back to the shop as i figured maybe they screwed up the timing or something. The mechanic checked the timing, and also the pump timing, and said it was all good. He tried running it with the lid of the airbox off. He checked the fuel filter and it seemed fine. He seems to think that there is a fuel blockage somewhere, (yes he did drive it and remark on how gutless it was). Anyway after spending what sounds like a lot of time trying to find the problem, i have the truck back for the weekend, and will leave it back in on monday. He says he will try using an external fuel tank, and this will eliminate some options.
Oh he also checked the turbo and said it as all good, and also the exhaust limiting valve.

It seems like a massive coincidence that after $800 worth of work is done the truck performs worse than before, however he believes its just a coincidence - and it may well be!

Im looking for any ideas some of you knowledgable people may have. Ive even considered it has a a bad batch of diesel, or i put a bit too much of the additive in (i think its called moreys - meant to help the seals against low sulphur diesel), but i kinda doubt it.

sorry for such a long post

thanks!!!

[geeves]

I would ask for a second opinion If the truck was fine before he started and not after then hes mucked up

[Lewis]

well today the mechanic solved the problem.
after checking the valve timing, which was fine, he set up a separate fuel tank and tested the truck running through the fuel filter, and it still had the problem. then he tried without the fuel filter and it worked properly

now he had checked the fuel filter before, and said it was clean as and had no water in it, and he was stumped at why it wasnt flowing properly.

anyway a new fuel filter has the truck going hard again

just thought id post the result

[geeves]

They did all the things listed above and didnt change the filters? Unless they were told the filters etc were new I would of done them as a matter of course. You cant check the filter as apart from the water separator it is a sealed unit and needs to be changed every 20000km

[nikki2484]

I have a 2.8tb and it is gutless under 2.5 revs.. it has major lag until it hits almost 3 grand.. Is this a common thing or should I have it checked out. WE have wound the boost up to 15psi and this has made a minor difference still until 3 grand.. Please help. Nikki

[geeves]

Get your fuel pump timing and flow checked. Mine was like that imediatly after having the pump seals done. Got them to recheck after which it would start spinning the tyres at 2000 on dry seal.

[nikki2484]

cool thanks for the advice.

[steve610]

Have 92 mu 2.8 t and have black smoke on acceleration and gutless , suspect seized wastegate or pump , injectors faulty, no oil leaks present and hoses secure, air filter new, no abnormal noises present, will check actuator not jammed , runs well otherwise and nice idle, ok on fuel and oil, any clues

[geeves]

Add the tubo to that list. Remove the intake pipe and check that the impellor turns freely. Second guess is bad injectors

[steve610]

Have taken off intake and turbo spins freely and has no play whatsoever, did notice quite a lot of oil in intake pipe, maybe from breather , which is why there is blue smoke at start up at times. But has got me scratching, fuel filter new, do you think it worth putting some injector cleaner in a full tank?

[steve610]

Have taken off intake and turbo spins freely and has no play whatsoever, did notice quite a lot of oil in intake pipe, maybe from breather , which is why there is blue smoke at start up at times. But has got me scratching, fuel filter new, do you think it worth putting some injector cleaner in a full tank?

[geeves]

Injector cleaner might help but it sounds a little more tlc than that needed. Get a compression test done before spending any money. I still reckon its injectors or pump but the oil in the inlet could point to low compression