Outside lane of the M3...not a place to lose your boost pressure!

[Doodle]

Clattering down the M3 yesterday in 'ze leedle tank', I'm squeezing the throttle on to go up the hill, to the result of a rather large bang, and practically zero power.

My instant thoughts are ' there goes the turbo'
followed by 'My, isn't a naturally aspirated 2.5 diesel slow when you need to cross three lanes of traffic in a hurry'
and then 'Hang on, shouldn't there be lots of smoke?'

Fortunately, on inspection all that had happened was that one of the junctions for the hard intake piping had popped off, with the resulting loss of pressure. Certainly quickens the pulse though!

The inside of the piping was absolutely filthy, thick with gunge and crud, which is not a good combination with a mushroom interior. Time to invest in a catch tank and block the EGR I think.

 

[marc777]

:d Made me laugh - although the smiley isn't working.........glad it was not serious

 

[tim.100]

Fortunately, on inspection all that had happened was that one of the junctions for the hard intake piping had popped off, with the resulting loss of pressure. Certainly quickens the pulse though!

The inside of the piping was absolutely filthy, thick with gunge and crud, which is not a good combination with a mushroom interior. Time to invest in a catch tank and block the EGR I think.

Was the problematic junction at one of the joints where the rubber corrugated tubes met the intake pipe crossing the cylinder head? I might just check my own

I have simply pulled the rubber pipe of my EGR valve off, and left it loose. This has not set the check engine light. The advice came from an senior MB tech in Kent, although others on this forum have blocked the tube.

Jimmy has documented the cleaning of the air intake pipework here http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=2929&highlight=jimmy+pipes

What is a catch tank BTW?

ciao,
Tim

 

[jimmy]

What is a catch tank BTW?

ciao,
Tim

It fits between the engine crankcase breather pipe and the inlet manifold, or in the case of the C250TD, just in front of the turbo. It is a bottle or tank that collects the oil vapour/droplets so they dont get sucked into the combustion side of the engine. Usually made of stainless steel for looks and has a drain tap on the bottom.

That top corrugated hose is well over £100, mine always has a trace of oil on the outside which makes me think it must be porous under pressure.

 

[Doodle]

The joint in question is the one that joins the intake manifold to the delivery pipe that runs over the top of the block. The delivery pipe bounced off the inside of the bonnet, and sprayed the crap from inside all over the engine bay, so I had a fun afternoon's degreasing work before checking all the joints are tight.

I think the catch tank and EGR mod will have to wait until September, as I don't think I'll have the time before I get married next month!

 

[tim.100]

The joint in question is the one that joins the intake manifold to the delivery pipe that runs over the top of the block. The delivery pipe bounced off the inside of the bonnet, and sprayed the crap from inside all over the engine bay, so I had a fun afternoon's degreasing work before checking all the joints are tight.

I think the catch tank and EGR mod will have to wait until September, as I don't think I'll have the time before I get married next month!

Thanks for that. My EGR mod took 10 seconds, as detailed above. Jimmy may be interested to know that my rubber corrugated pipework is definitely not porous. It's completely clean. But then again, mine's never been chipped

 

[Doodle]

Nope, no oil on mine either, except from that inlet manifold joint. If it was loose enough to attempt an escape through the top of the engine bay, it follows that the oil in the system would have leaked out around the joint.

 

[jeremytaylor]

That reminds me of when my 2CV blew out one of its spark plugs coming down the A1.

A 2CV is slow at the best of times (but still fun), a 2CV running on only one cylinder is not only REALLY slow, but it's also very noisy.

The beauty of them is that they are sooo cheap to run. E.g. a new chassis, £500. With no computers, it's my own little insurance policy for when Bill Gates flicks the gremlin switch and all the computers world-wide crash!!