This 300TD-T has been running on Veg for about 3 years and 12k miles, I have owned it about 5 months. The rebuilt engine has 50k miles in it. Starting two weeks ago, the wife noticed a subtle power loss on hills and more white smoke than usual (this car has burned very clean except at start up). I drove the car last week, and tested it on a few residential hills in the neighborhood. At idle, the engine revs well…on the flats power is OK, but definitely not as strong as a few weeks ago… going up steep hills is impossible. The car begins to slow and engine “sputters” until you pull over and let it “catch its breath”. It doesn’t die, but it takes a few minutes for the idle to return to normal. On the freeway, you can go along at 65/70mph on level ground, but climb a long hill and by the time you’re at the top the pedal is to the floor, the engine is laboring to keep speed up. Smoke is definitely more prominent than before…
Feeling like it was a fuel supply issue, so far I have;
• Checked the gas tank fuel screen
• Replace the pre-filter
• Replaced the main fuel filter (it is 10micron water blocker)
• Preformed a diesel purge
• Replaced the lift pump (with new style primer pump) and
• Replaced the air filter
No noticeable improvements.A couple of other notes.
I no longer hear the “sqeak” of the IP when priming with the hand pump. Previously it was very prominent This was the case before, and after changing out the lift pump (+ primer pump). Priming has never been an issue as this Veg system employs a secondary pump, after the pre-filter and before the lift pump.
Where should I go next?
This weekend I’ll do a valve adjustment. Can’t believe we would see such a deterioration of performance in such a short time due to valves. The week after I’m putting in the Monarch Injectors. I’ve read posts about the waste gate, but again my symptoms don’t seem to match…
Any help to point me in the right direction would be appreciated!
Steve