(Home) Turbo apparently not working

After My Townace failed the M.O.T. on very high emissions I took it to a local diesel engineer. He disconected the Exhaust recycling Valve, did some adjustments to the pump and charged £55. Fine. Van passed the M.O.T.I drove it straight home and did not use it for a week because it wasn't taxed. The first time I drove it I noticed the van felt different, seeming to hold longer through the gears, but then I noticed the green Turbo light was not coming on. (It does on tuning the ignition key so I know the bulb is fine). I have been driving a fuel injected rover for the last few weeks so I really could not tell if the Torbo was kicking in on the Townace. It does sound the same though. The question is could this engineer have removed a sensor of some description, is there anything I can check or is my Turbo simply done in? Is there any kind of test I could do to check the performance of the Turbo, I am a bit reluctant to go back to the engineer, I don't relish getting into a slanging match.

- (#3788) Jeff Willcott, 13 Jul 02

Just a thought Jeff
As your engineer has disconnected the egr,make sure that the connection point on the inlet piping has been blanked off. If not, it will be difficult for the turbo to produce the 1 1/2 pounds of pressure (the minimum needed to operate the pressure switch to the green lamp) The pressure will disappear through the open connection point.You are probably only using normal aspiration

- (#3790) Ray Ambler, 13 Jul 02

More likely the little boost sensor hose from the manifold to the diesel pump and sensors is disconnected- if the fuel pump can't sense boost, it'll not add the needed fuel...
check for a hose connected to a metal spigot on the inlet manifold- facing front under the air filter hose.

- (#3799) david miller, 14 Jul 02

Thanks for the reply chaps. David was right there was a small diameter rubber tube coming from a device beneath the air filter pipe. It was disconnected at the pump end ( not an oversight by the engineer I suspect as it was tucked away out of sight) I reconnected this but unfortunatley still no turbo.Perhaps I need to think about Ray's suggestion, I don't have a clue where to start, could I impose further by asking for an idiots guide to checking out the egr, and this inlet piping? Thanks for all the help.

- (#3811) Jeff Willcott, 14 Jul 02

Jeff, I'll still go for the same thing. There's a couple of "T" pieces in that hose. Is it definitely connected to the inlet manifold, and does it continue, leak-free to the two switches at the front of the air filter?

- (#3815) david miller, 15 Jul 02

David, the "T" piece does not continue to the switches at the front of the air filter. Both ends have been chopped and blanked off. I spoke to the engineer this morning, he has not blanked off anything in the egr, he said it didn't need it. He recons the reason the torbo does not work is due to the mixture being to lean, the emmisions were very low on the M.O.T. He,s asked me to bring it back in. What do you think?

- (#3816) Jeff Willcott, 15 Jul 02

I think someone has butchered your car... I think he or someone else has defeated the on-boost enrichment to clean up the emissions (cheap cheat...). Pipe should go from inlet manifold to tpiece, one leg to the top of the pump, the other to a second t at the front of the aircleaner, from there to the two switches.
The EGR valve has a vacuum feed, and is in the same area as the manifold spigot... Check on AceAnswers for a full listing of hose routing. EGR, idle-up,and 4x4 are all linked, but nothing to do with the turbo.
If you don't believe what he's saying, go somewhere else...

- (#3817) david miller, 15 Jul 02

Thanks for all the help on this one, particular thanks to Ray who took the time to dismantle his car and email me a photo of the set up! I also found a Photo of all of the vaccum pipes on the Ace Answers website and a Key to the layout (thanks to Ian Dunse) I had to buy a new length of hose, I have no idea how this engineer intended this to work! Now have the correct configuration of the vaccum pipes. Turbo kicks in about 2000rpm.Thanks chaps.Great site.Jeff

- (#3910) jeff willcott, 21 Jul 02