they are all gutless pos anyway so nothing out of the ordinary here.......

no in all seriousness. get some maf cleaner and clean that, also boost afaik is a bit low for a zd30. thought usually up around 15 to 17psi.
make sure your intake manifold isnt all gummed up and full of chit due to egr valve.
how many kms on engine? when was the fuel filter last changed. no rags or chit in the snorkel or intake lines,
also check that you are actually getting full pedal travel ie no thongs, kids toys, floor mats or sex toys wedged under the pedal. this could also cause whats happening now and its wouldnt be the first time ive heard it happen.
also does engine light come on, does it come and go the power or just useless all the time???

 

cheers benos, the only thing it could be out of all of those is the manifold gumed up. i will take it off tomorrow for a good look.
the engine has nearly done 290000klm. feul filter was done during the last service, no rags or sex toys haha.
the engine light has never come on, i even read the post by whitie i believe about engine fault codes, it keeps coming up 0505 meaning no faults detected.
it also doesnt blow any smoke at all, idles nicely.
my only other thought is could it possibly be the injectors? i spoke to a injector specialist in geelong and he more or less told me that if it was the injectors the car wouldnt run at all????????

 

That lack of performances sounds a lot like when my CRD went into limp mode.

 

i read something about limp mode on another post, but im not sure what it is, this is my first turbo diesel 4wd, my others were petrol so iv still got alot to learn.
what are the main causes for limp mode?
how do you find out if it is limp mode?
thanks for your input

 

usually if it goes into limp mode the engine light will come on. you can back off or stop and turn off the truck and its back to normal.
id pull off a couple of intake hoses post egr valve and have a look. i have a feeling this could be your main issue.
as for injectors i doubt it. if they were bad it would be smokey and its possible wouldnt run.
its still worth cleaning the maf sensor though or even replacing it. they aint that expensive and if nothing else its not a bad thing to replace. the potential of these things to cause damage is quite big. if you dont know what it is or what it can do to a zd30 do a search on them. plicks of things.

 

usually if it goes into limp mode the engine light will come on. you can back off or stop and turn off the truck and its back to normal.

On this di zd30 the engine MIL light doesn't come on or register an error for limp mode. It will register a code and MIL for a MAP sensor fault but that doesn't induce limp mode.

290,000km is getting up there, but with no smoke this is a doosey.

Does the engine rev freely, and do you have an egt gauge?

Sounds like lack of fuel or boost.. anything else changed recently?

 

Have you tried disconnecting the battery over night. Have read that this resets the computer so it's worth a go.

 

hi grasea, yes iv had the battery disconnected overnight whilst i was installing a dual battery system,
tomorrow il have a go at cleaning all the intake/pipes and see if that helps, hell im that desperate to get it right if it wasnt raining cats and dogs id be out there starting to pull it apart now.......

 

ok people, iv taken off the manifold and there is a bit of soot around the edges but nothing remotly restrictive. cylinder no.4 (closest to the firewall) was a bit oily, the other 3 dry. but this is not my power problem......... what is going on pulling my hair out!

 

Maybe a good fuel system cleaner would help?

 

When you mention that the fuel filter was changed at last service, how long ago was that and when did the symptoms start to appear?

Have you looked at getting an ECUTalk unit, great bit of kit for seeing what the ECU sees from the sensors including MAF and TPS.

 

Blocked fuel filter?

Split in fuel line? Is the primer hard after you shut it down? Might be sucking air somewhere.

 

thanks for all your replies, as for answers here we go
the last service was done 4500 klms ago, i know how much diesels hate to be neglected and as its my daily runner for work (towing my trailer) and my number 1 toy reliability is everything to me.
as for fuel cleaner when i first got it i put injector cleaner through and recently (last week) i put some of that chemtech diesel power additive.
ECUtalk iv only just heard about yesterday so im interested in learning more about that.
the engine revs through, apart from having no go in it it runs beautifully and smootly, never skips a beat......???? no i dont have an egt gauge... yet! can anyone recommend a good brand?
now champ what you say about the fuel primer is very interesting, i only noticed this yesterday when i was putting the motor back together that the primer button took a good 4 presses to make hard, once it was hard i continued putting the intercooler back on and by the time i finished it took another 3 pushes...... sucking air maybe? would it still run as nice as it does if it was sucking air?
and what it the best way to test this?
once again i really appreciate all of your ideas and comments thank-you

 

Could have got a dose of crap fuel and half clogged the filters,there is some dodgy fuel out there believe me.



*Does the ZD30 have a gauze filter on the pump?

 

Could have got a dose of crap fuel and half clogged the filters,there is some dodgy fuel out there believe me.



*Does the ZD30 have a gauze filter on the pump?

My Z30 Zexel injection pump does not have a filter at the pump input

 

its had a change of filters and fuel cleaners run through it, and it wouldnt run smoothly with crap fuel would it?

 

Did it used to have more power and now it is lacking? or has it had no power since you got it?

Have you driven any other zd30's to compare?

 

Doesnt sound like limp mode, make sure all hose clamps are tight and there is nothing slipping off under boost. particualr the hoses to intercooler, give them a tug to make sure that you can't pull any away from position.
13psi is a little low. Most of us are around 16-18psi.

Keep us updated

 

probably as above drawing air someplace.......but shane there is probably on the money there with the low boost,so it's mostly a turbo issue,probably tired now,had it a hard life before you got it,turbos can just get weak.

 

thanks guys, i had the turbo off and all the fins looked good, but i did notice that it didnt spin as freely as the one i saw on youtube of a bigger better one.
maybe i should get this checked out?
can i just take it off and take it to someone to test? of should i get it dynoed?
so maybe its a combination of a bit of air sucking and lazy turbo.
may i ask at what revs do you get the 16-18 psi at so i know what to look for?

i bought the car stock as a rock, iv done all the mods. it was an ex fleet car
thanks for the suggestions

 

The VNT actuator should touch the stop with 13.8"Hg vac (specification), mine is actually quite low at 9.5"Hg (VNT adjusted) so there is some variation with NADS etc. With a vacuum gauge T'd in you could check what you actually have and whether there is flutter present.

EDIT: If you get a bit of tubing and push it onto the VNT diaphragm inlet you should be able to quite easily draw a vacuum by sucking on the tube and see how smooth the VNT arm moves, it doesn't take much. Mine starts to move at 5"Hg.

may i ask at what revs do you get the 16-18 psi at so i know what to look for?

i bought the car stock as a rock, iv done all the mods. it was an ex fleet car
thanks for the suggestions

What did it go like before you did the mods?
Exactly what mods did you do?

The answer re when should the boost hit what, depends entirely on the answers to the above, but, even though your boost is low it should still perform quite OK with 13psi.

See if you can safely get a reasonably accurate 0-60K or 0-80K elapsed time for comparison.

 

Hi Bricky, Hear is a link to another sluggish patrol that ran good. It was dodgy injectors in the end.
http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/niss...orum/nissan-patrol-gu-gr-10/need-expert-help-zd30-ready-torch-66821/index5.html
If the link doesn't work look up posts by aussieintraining.
Cheers

 

cheers bever il definatly comb through it, also i have another update.
there is a car yard in geelong that is selling a patrol with a zd30, i went in pretending to be interested in buying it, i got the keys and started it up and the first thing i noticed is that the turbo actuator was jumping up and down constantly during idle.
i cross referenced it with mine and mine rose up but was then stiff during idle....
which one is normal? mine or his? could this possibly be a contributing factor in my power struggle?
thank-you all

 

The vanes inside the turbo side can and do get stiff/seized, this will cause low boost and a sluggish engine, mine used to rev and boost up real well until I put the NADS on and now it is a little slower.

 

Just went out and checked mine - VNT actuator is steady at idle, and when I hit the warm up switch so it went to 1500rpm idle it was just as steady.

 

thanks for taking the time to consult your patrol squalo, appreciate it.

 

Stupid question I'm going to ask. You say this is your day to day car and you tow a trailer. Is this sluggishness with or without the trailer? If its with the trailer then get used to it. Nothing you can do with a Di to make them great to tow with...

 

no power with out the trailer, with a trailer its unbearable!!!

 

Did you drive the GU you saw in the yard? Any difference?

 

heaps of difference, even though the intercooler on it looked totally stuffed, it was as black as the ace of spades! thats why i got a little exited when i saw the jiggly actuator arm, i thought id found the problem, because the turbo was exactly the same as mine, it looked brand new, the actuator arm even had yellow markings on it, that clean you could eat your dinner off it,

 

I got my gauge tapped into the first pipe coming out of the intercooler. Going too the butterfly...

 

wow 16 psi at under 2000revs!!! wow im peaking 13 at 3500-4000, i nearly have to redline it to get to 13! that has just blown me away (pun intended)

 

I have a dual Dawes setup, the low side is setup at 10psi max, on a dyno the HP is basically the same until mid 2000 (and a heap of torque), around town I can feel very little difference in performance but it is a little smoother on low, so 13psi should still see your vehicle moving along quite well if all other things are OK.

Mine will go to limp if I try to maintain high boost at low revs, so mine is currently setup to run 4.5psi @ 1500rpm, 10psi @ 2000rpm 14-15psi @ 2500rpm and 17psi @ just over 3000rpm and after a lot of playing and setting up I've got 120hp @ 2500rpm and 135hp at the top end. So masses of boost down low don't necessarily make it go better.

EDIT: Yes you can do it with a T piece, I don't leave mine in as a permanent Fixture.

 

thanks squalo, , i just cheacked every single vacuum line, even tested them by creating a vacuum and seeing if it lost pressure (very primative i sucked as much air out as i could then attatched it to some steel plate to see if it would suck air in and drop off, but they all held tight)
im getting so frustrated feeling just about ready to throw in the towel!

 

ok i did it exactly how you described 4 times, here are my results

1500: 2psi, 2.5psi, 2.5psi, 2.5psi
2000: 5psi, 5psi, 5psi, 5psi
2500: 8psi, 9psi, 9psi, 9psi
3000: 10psi, 11psi, 11psi, 12psi
3500: 13psi, 12.5psi, 12.5psi, 12.5psi

just to confirm it was in 4th gear on flat ground i dropped below 1500 then put the hammer down. and as i passed each rev range i called out the figures to my sister who was good enough to lend a hand, i did it 4 times to ensure accuracy.
not to sure what to think about the results though.