93 2.1 Td, POOR PERFORMANCE

Hi all.

Just found this site and found it very interesting. So thanks to whoever got the thing going.

Anyone got any experiencies of a poorly performing 2.1 TD? My vehicle goes like stink when you floor the gas pedal (turbo boost), but at part throttle the thing just bogs down and is very hesitant. This is the wife's car and does not seem to bother her too much but anoys the heck out of me cause I know something is amiss.

Found that the intake hose to the turbo was disconnected, however this has made little difference to part throttle performance when re-connected. I believe it to be fuel related as the thing does not start instantly from cold as does my espace TD. All glow plugs check out okay. You need to crank the thing for a few seconds before it 'catches' and fires up. Additionaly, I cannot get a firm pressure at the primer button (on top of the fuel filter) so there must be a leak somewhere -but cannot find anything obvious (fuel filter head changed to no effect) so that discounts the priming diaphram. Interestingly, when you drive the thing flat out it sometimes stalls almost as if all the fuel has been used up. But when the engine is cranked the engine fires again straight away, thankfully (a 1 1/2 ton car with no brakes and steering, arrrr! - I get frightened at the thought. My wifes driving is bad enough thank you).

I guess I ought to get the fuel pump checked out and verify the cambelt timing, but its currently hovering around freezing the last few days, so I would be interested to hear from other 2.1 TD XM owners of their experiencies to save getting frostbite. Why do my cars always miss-behave in the depths of winter?

One last point. The car failed to start the other day, despite the fuel guage indicating 1/4 tank of fuel and checking for fuel and sparks (oops -sorry) at the engine.
Admitting defeat I had to call out the RAC who promptly put in £10 of diesel, primed it and it started first time. The mechanic mentioned that these cars (estate) have a long flat fuel tank and as the car was pointing uphill slightly they have a problem picking up fuel when the tank gets a bit low. Can anyone out there substantiate this? I recon we have a problem of fuel returning into the tank when parked up, which would account for the poor starting and lack of fuel pressure, but how do you prove/fix that? Incidently, all flexible fuel lines are tight.

Cheers.

Jim

Hi stjxs01

Had the same problem with mine a bit ago your not alone
Well the problem was down to the fuel pipes that run behind the engine.
When warn run like a dreem till half throttle or thrash it would go like the wind but always seemed it needed more fuel

It seemed when the engine had been run and gone cold the pipes would collapse not allowing the fuel to come through until the pressure had built up Eg turn over for a good few seconds

Changed the pipes never had the problem after that, It only seems the turbo`s do this as the pipes run just behind the turbo ?????

Fixed a Xantia turbo with the same trouble pipes changed and away it went .

It could be worth a try and have a look at the fuel filters the one in the tank could be blocked if been run on doggy diesel

The Fuel tank is a big one always keep it around half full if parking on hill the Very Nice Man would be right on that one same happend to my friend parked on hill had to go and look at it was not gettting the fuel and had just got the fuel light on when he parked up 3hrs prior fuel in away it went.

Now for the No Breakes you should have breaks on the car when the engine cuts out enough to stop you !!!!! If you do not then it`s time you changed the front accumalator shere as this is your back up system for breaks
If it is in need of recharging get it done ASAP It is cheaper to have this done than to buy a new a pair of pants or even a coffin !!!!

If the regulator is clicking more than a few time in a min then get it checked out

Hope this helps you let us know

The fuel line on the 2.1TD runs from the fuel filter across the top of the cam cover and down the right hand side of body. Is this the one you are refering to? It doesn't seem to go anywhere near the turbo. Thanks.

The 2.1 Td is notorious for air leaking into the fuel through the fuel pre-heater which will give exactly the symptoms you describe.. The fuel heater is on the left side of the head , look for the fuel lines where they go into a block on the side of the head. Normal practice is to bypass the pre-heater. You should then get a "firm" priming pump and improved part throttle running.


Tony Day

Check and/or remove fuel line connection to preheater on RHS of block. If this makes no sense to you, check out the 2.1 topic just further down the list.

Cheers

Thanks for replies.

Problem mostly solved - fuel pipes were hard as rock, I guess they were not sealing properly. With these replaced and fuel heater by-passed performance has improved dramatically. Still hesitates on occasion though. One step at a time eh...