QuestionQUESTION: I am loosing power in my 85 300d. It was never powerful as most of these cars are not, but it did have more power until i started running vegetable oil in the car.
I think my injectors may have been affected. What kind of injector cleaning or maintenance do you recommend. Do you recommend just a cleaning or a complete rebuild (overhaul) of injectors?
What is an Italian Tune-up and what does it consist of, I hear a lot about this on the internet.
Thanks
ANSWER: Edson,
Questions: Is this engine turbo-charged or normally aspired?
Is the vehicle smoking if so is it black or blue. Is it hard to start? Do you start on petro-diesel and switch to vegetable oil?
What source of vegetable oil are you using and what process are you going through to clean it.
Is it bio-diesel or just strained vegetable oil?
If you are using processed oil "bio-diesel" then that cleans out deposits from the petro-diesel tanks and lines. It is use as a system cleaner by truckers to clean their tanks.
When is the last time you replaced the fuel filter and water separator?
Have you had a compression check done on the engine?
Let me know and I will attempt to help.
PS
An Italian Tune-up follows a standard tuneup where the vehicle is operated under load for extended periods and full road speeds to burn out accumulated deposits from stop and go driving after a cleaner has been added to the fuel.
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QUESTION: thanks for the quick response.
The engine is a 300d Turbo Diesel 1985.
The vehicle does not let of blue or black smoke. It just seems to let out the normal exhaust on idle and on highway. Not hard to start. I can even start it on Cold Vegeoil and no glowplugs at work. I run it mixed in my tank with Kerosene or diesel. I get pure Canola or Soybean oil and use it filtered through 25 and final 5 micron filter.
The oil is collected in 5 gallons totes from restaurant so no water should be in it.
Filter has been bi-passed and only running through small pre-filter for now.
There is no water seperator in this car model.
No compression check was done but like I said it starts very well.
ANSWER: Edson,
I thinking that you may have lost the turbo boost. These vehicle are very anemic without the additional pressure. Or, your filter is plugged.
You may be able to go 100 percent kerosene. AS you may know when restaurant oil is processed for biodiesel it goes through a process to remove the fats using lye and a methanol was to collect the water. Even though water is not visible it can be there.
I would suggest replacing the filter between the tank and engine, get some injector cleaner for diesels at a truck stop and blend that with 100 percent kerosene for one tank. Take it out on the express way and run up to the legal limit for several miles. Maker sure the the you can hear the tubo spooling up and if you have a gauge make sure it is in the green.
Also, It is critical that you air cleaner be in good condition, as an intake restriction can also affect performance.
If it had a catalytic converter then I would look at that as being clogged as well.
Good Luck and let me know what you discover.
Rob
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QUESTION: Why do you think I may have lost the turbo boost? Hpw can I gain that back? Is it a part a need like a wastegate valve actuator or something?
I can hear the turbo working sometimes but it does seem less than it used too.
Thought if turbo stopped working car would not run well at all.
What can cause the loss of turbo boost?
I already ran some "Diesel Purge" injector cleaner from Lubri Moly a couple days ago to clean injectors. Why did you suggest running 100 % kerosene rather than diesel?
What do you mean by turbo spooling up? I do hear it whistle at certain speeds.
Need to change the air filter as it seems dirty and see what happens then.
No catalytic converter to my knowledge but I will check on that.
Thanks for responding to this next post.
Awesome help you have been!
AnswerThe turbo is a double wheel air pump driven by exhaust gases through a shaft. One turbine sits in the exhaust stream and as the hot gases exit they rotate the turbine which in turn drives a large set of blades that take incoming air and raise the manifold pressure. Because there is a lag between when the exhaust turbine can wind up and the pressurization on the intake can happen, you can hear the two turbine spooling up just like the rotor inside a jet engine.
If the exhaust turbine overheats or the separator seals between the hot section and the intake turbine go bad or the waste gate is not functioning properly then you will not have as rapid rise in manifold pressure and resulting lack of performance.
The pressurized air allow a more rapid ingestion of fuel air mixture and better acceleration. The map sensor tells the computer to adjust the injector timing to increase fuel if there is more air being ingested.
The plenum has a waste gate that keep from over pressurizing the cylinders and blowing a head gasket. I am unsure if the waste gate is controlled via a computer servo or is operated manually by pressures.
There may be a way to attach a pressure gauge if there is not one already in the vehicle to actually see the amount of boost and when it come in.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Rob
So if your air cleaner filter is dirty, it will restrict the amount of air that can be pressurized and affect performance.
Also if the injector are sticking or worn the you will also have a lag in performance.
Cetaine rating of the restaurant oil should be good unless there are contaminates or water absorbed.
I suggested the kerosene because is more highly refined that diesel more like jet fuel and should be a better cleaner for the injectors.
We have not discussed how many miles on this vehicle
