power loss on hills

[francophile1947]

As you've already got a fuel filter, put it on and see what happens before getting too involved - it's only a 10 minute job
Don't forget to fill the new filter with diesel before fitting it, or it'll take a long time to start.

[berrega]

yup. Thats on the to do list.
At the moment I'm still trying to work out why I've been driving around with no coolent in.

You'd think that would have been checked service?
and if it was I must have a major leek.
Either that its been boiling off.

One problem at a time would be nice.
Oh well.

If I ever get this resolved I will be so relieved...

[Alacrity]

Certainly a glowplug light problem would indicate an engine issue not transmission. Does the hold light go on & off when you operate the button? If it works then it would appear that, electrically at least, all is well with the transmission. If it doesn't work then check the transmission ECU for fault codes as well.

[berrega]

appologies for being thick, but which button?

[Doone]

Does the hold light go on & off when you operate the button?

...which button?

If you have an automatic there's a 'Hold' button on the gear selector.

[berrega]

I just ran outside to check, completely forgetting the Bongo was in the Garage...doah...

[Doone]

Intense.

[berrega]

I'll tell you what...

If This garage cant work out whats wrong I'm, going to have to book time of work and risk driving the 500 mile round trip to ask you to have a look at it...

[berrega]

Well the garage have got back to me. Their theory is this:

First thing in the morning when the engine is cold the van runs fine, no flashing warning light.

Once the engine gets warm a hole in the radiator opens up and allows the coolent to leak out, which results in the smell of burned coolent (wondered what that smell was) and the engine starts to over heat.
At this point the glow plug light starts flashing and I loose power.(ecu protoecting the engine from damage???)

So the glowplug light, the lack of acceleration appear to be related?

Does this hang true? or am I deluding myself and that I still have two seperate problems; the coolent leak, and the glowplug flash/power loss?

[dandywarhol]

If the gearbox has gone into limp mode it will be stuck in 3rd gear only. The hold light would normally be flashing unless the trans ECU has lost its power source (or someone has removed the bulb - it happens!). Not sure a turbo problem would cause the trans to go into limp mode though (put me right here someone if you know better) - has the trans ECU been read for codes?

Its possible the later type electronic fuel pump does allow the engine to go ito "limp home" mode

[berrega]

The garage have just phoned me.

The radiatior has been replaced and suprise suprise this has nothing to do with flashing glow plug light & power loss problem.

However they have told me that they know what the problem is, but not what is causing it.

This is what they've said:

"The boost pressure valve which controls the amount of boost to the turbo is controlled by an actuator which sends it a series of pulsed earth signals to control its fucntion. When the engine gets warm, the actuator stops sending the pulses of earth, the glowplug light comes on and the turbo boost is lost. This is likely to be as a result of a defective sensor, wiring or an ECU fault"

Looks like i'm, stuck again.

The last garage said they checked all the senors.

I asked them, to check the connection of the hoses to and from the turbo as proposed by Dandywarhol but they say they are fine.

So 'all' I need to do now is track down what electircal signal is releasing the boost pressure and why?

I'm up to a £1500 bill now, and I dont feel any further forward

[Doone]

flashing glow plug light

Has the new garage checked for fault codes?

[Doone]

I just found this posted by Dandy on your other topic about this problem, SEE OTHER TOPIC ON THIS LINK

Well, I think you're on route to the problem - the wastegate rod should only operate when turbo boost pressure is TOO high - if the rod is moving at idle and proportional to engine revs then the turbo won't be boosting properly because the wastegate valve is opening far too early! That would cause loss of power. Seems to me someone has connected up the boost pipes the wrong way round.
That rod should only move when the turbo is producing overboost, the rod then opens a valve in the turbo and allows some of the exhaust gas to flow directly into the exhaust system rather than spin the turbo up even more.

I also don't understand why the wastegate actuator (no.1) has its rubber pipe going down towards the exhaust valve area, unless the exhaust valve system is bypassed and allowed to open when turbo boost is excessive - the exhaust and turbo wastegate MAY be fed by the same source. There should be a small bore pipe coming off the main air pipe to the inlet manifold - this should then go (dierctly, or maybe via the cold weather exhaust valve system) to the turbo wastegate actuator. Something sounds the wrong way round to me.

As for the overheating - get the system bled of air ASAP berrega - otherwise you could wreck the engine!

As we've reached the same point in both topics, I've locked the other thread as I think it would now be useful (for the people trying to help) to keep it all in one place.

[berrega]

The new garage cant read the error code.
They've booked me into yet another garage on Monday
for someone else to have a look.

I'm assuming the error code will still be the same as the last time I paid to have it read.

(more money then...)

[bigdaddycain]

I had a flashing glowplug light once, it turned out i had a problem with the radiator fans (relay had blown) I was instructed to drive the bongo gently to the garage to get it fixed. I did just that, i drove slowly and carefully so it didn't become apparent if i actually was down on power or not, there didn't appear to be any gear hunting going on.