I have been reading this forum for about a year now and just had to post to thank the regular contributors for their help and advise.
I have a 1996 ZX 1.9TD which has constantly under-performed. It was just like driving a naturally asperated diesel. I did all the usual checks (hoses, leaks, turbo) as advised on the forum, but to no avail.
I took the car to a main dealer who charged a fortune to do what I had already done, and their pearl of wisdom was that I should take it to a diesel specialist.
The Bosch 'specialist' checked the system as before and advised that the problem was not with the turbo but with the Lucas pump, which they stripped and rebuilt for the grand sum of £300 + VAT. But nothing had changed.
In desperation (it was time to resolve the problem or get rid of the car)I drove to Monmouth where Alan Allard reviewed all the previous efforts to resolve the lack of power and diagnosed that the fuel pump control unit was not opening enough. He spent almost four hours working on the car and charged just £100.
My ZX is now fuelling correctly and, with the turbo pressure increased to 1.2 bar,is going very well indeed.
Thank you to previous postings for the lead towards Allard. For anyone with under-performing turbos I can highly recommend this man.
Allard Turbodiesel
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chemexhants
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Jon
Good work Stephen,
The Lucas pump has its moments (mostly when they self distruct!!)
Allard have a growing reputation on this Forum, and seem to charge sensible prices in comparison to some of the other "diesel tuners". I paid many £100's of pounds to such a tuner a few years ago to gain 110BHP, and then worked out how to increase the boost and modify the pump as a result of this Forum and other websites.
The Lucas pump has its moments (mostly when they self distruct!!)
Allard have a growing reputation on this Forum, and seem to charge sensible prices in comparison to some of the other "diesel tuners". I paid many £100's of pounds to such a tuner a few years ago to gain 110BHP, and then worked out how to increase the boost and modify the pump as a result of this Forum and other websites.
This story reminds me forcibly of the time shortly after I bought my (then) one year old BX16TRS back in 1986. Although that was a petrol car, I had a similar problem with power delivery - I only realised something was amiss when, one morning on the way to work, I went to overtake a car in front; pushed the pedal to the floor in anticipation of the build up of power and speed - and nearly went straight into the back of him as what felt like a turbo kicked in!
It happened a few times after that (never worked twice in a row, though...) so I took the car back to the main Citroen dealer I'd bought it from. After a couple of fruitless afternoons in the workshop, the dealer's final response to me was "If you want it to go faster, go and see a f***ing race specialist - but don't bother us 'cos the car's fine, sonny." Wonder why they went bust a couple of years later...
Anyway, there was a Weber carburettor specialist about 10 miles away, so I made an appointment for them to look at my car. I paid them twenty quid for about half an hour's work - it turned out that a bimetallic strip, intended to prevent the carb's second choke opening when the engine was cold, had failed. Some quick work with a pair of pliers later, and I felt that I'd been given a new car - and a really quick one too!
Moral of the story? Main dealers know Jack S**t about their own products, and in a lot of cases, even less about customer care. That particular dealer was directly responsible for me switching to Vauxhalls and Fords for the 10 years between Citroens.
In any case, the specialists tend to be better...
Stu.
It happened a few times after that (never worked twice in a row, though...) so I took the car back to the main Citroen dealer I'd bought it from. After a couple of fruitless afternoons in the workshop, the dealer's final response to me was "If you want it to go faster, go and see a f***ing race specialist - but don't bother us 'cos the car's fine, sonny." Wonder why they went bust a couple of years later...
Anyway, there was a Weber carburettor specialist about 10 miles away, so I made an appointment for them to look at my car. I paid them twenty quid for about half an hour's work - it turned out that a bimetallic strip, intended to prevent the carb's second choke opening when the engine was cold, had failed. Some quick work with a pair of pliers later, and I felt that I'd been given a new car - and a really quick one too!
Moral of the story? Main dealers know Jack S**t about their own products, and in a lot of cases, even less about customer care. That particular dealer was directly responsible for me switching to Vauxhalls and Fords for the 10 years between Citroens.
In any case, the specialists tend to be better...
Stu.