[ag_hind]

So after all the issues I had of sluggish performance, I took the old girl to a professional garage. Turbo was replaced as that had given up, and then complete check over; new filters all round, oil change, fuel lines checked. Cat was checked - totally clean, and no obstructions in exhaust. NPS checked, Fuel pump checked and fine. And then they ran a compression test. All cyclinders showing 18bar.
Slight improvement after all this work, but only just.
Engine was rebuilt some time back, but the engine runs smoothly and no smoke - but has no poke. Can get upto 75mph on flat but loses it when on inclines.....And forget trying to overtake.

So, do I just live with it, or is this something easy'ish (read cheap) to fix?
Garage said they wouldn't want to start pulling the engine apart trying to "find" the problem as they could be changing lots of stuff with no guarantee of sorting it out - and this would start to get expensive.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks.

 

[landmannnn]

You've done the obvious stuff.

Personally I would get an OBD dongle and an app like Torque on my phone.

Then I would look at the fuel pressures and boost pressure while driving to see if anything odd is going on.

 

[ag_hind]

Mechanic did that and said no issues identified. No codes for anything!
Only problem he could find after a lot of searching and testing was the low compression.

 

[landmannnn]

Ok, at 18 bar the compression is way too low.

 

[ag_hind]

As there's no smoking I assume the piston rings are not letting anything escape. Therefore its either the piston not quite rising high enough, or they are concave for some reason. I didn't do the engine rebuild so I have no idea what was used to rebuild it. I guess even a mm or 2 will make a difference?

 

[landmannnn]

Diesels don't smoke if piston rings are a problem as the engine burns the oil.

 

[ag_hind]

Thanks, I didn't appreciate that. Guess I'll be living with an underpowered D22 for the next couple of years. Mind you, one of the benefits is i'm somehow achieving 34mpg :0)

 

[ag_hind]

In all seriousness, could a bad/misfitted/incorrect head gasket be at fault? Could it really be this simple?

 

[landmannnn]

It might be, do you know the compression reading for each cylinder?

 

[ag_hind]

It might be, do you know the compression reading for each cylinder?

Mechanic told me they are all reading 18bar, but should be at 25br minimum. He said there was very little variation between the cylinders, and in effect they are all the same reading. He was pretty perplexed as to why he couldnt rectify the issue - but he didn't want to start stripping the engine. (time/cost factor).

 

[ag_hind]

Mechanic told me they are all reading 18bar, but should be at 25br minimum. He said there was very little variation between the cylinders, and in effect they are all the same reading. He was pretty perplexed as to why he couldnt rectify the issue - but he didn't want to start stripping the engine. (time/cost factor).

He also said he could not find any leaks which would be the obvious give away, nor any faults like knackered piston rings.

 

[landmannnn]

Stumped me. Anybody else any thoughts?

 

[ag_hind]

Just a thought, but as all the cylinders have the same compression, could this be indicative that the timing is very slightly out?

 

[Zimuser05]

Check crankshaft position sensor and camshaft position sensor.... usually they break during rebuild because most mechanics forget to remove them