Overheating, overboosting, black smoke! Urgh!

[Bsim9751]

Ok I’ve chucked an xud out of a 306 d turbo into my little c15 van. I’m new to diesels so bear with me. I fitted a temp gauge and boost gauge so I can keep an eye on things but it’s bad news. It’s overheating after 5 mins driving but the red light on the dash isn’t lighting, 3 gear boost runs are hitting 1.1bar, which I understand is to much for standard and there’s black smoke whenever I go near the accelerator.
Help. Please.

[GiveMeABreak]

Apart from this indicating over fuelling, there’s not much I can help you with seeing as this is a transplant to a relatively older vehicle.

[Peter.N.]

If its got a Bosch pump someone has probably turned it up, you can adjust the fuel with the screw between the injector pipe connections on the back of the pump, it goes clockwise to reduce the fuel.

As for overheating, is the water actually boiling or how do you know its overheating? Is it blowing water out of the header tank?

Peter

[Bsim9751]

Sorry when I say overheating I meant getting very hot, very quickly. As in the gauge goes from off the bottom to getting on for 100•c in 5 mins driving at which point I turn it off. As for the fuel screw, it seems to have a tamper proof metal cover on it so I don’t think it’s that. There seems to be a fair bit of oil in the intercooler, which is still top mounted by the way. Maybe removing the sound proofing from inside the bonnet might help with the temp problem?

[white exec]

As it's an engine 'new' to the car, is the engine temp sensor the correct one for the dash gauge?
Might be worth verifying the water temp accurately with a thermometer.
Being an XUD, it is essential that there is an effective coolant header tank installed, and that the cooling system is thoroughly bled to avoid air pockets in the head.

Also, what fan system do you have installed - single or twin? - and has the radiator been upgraded too?

Is the thermostat operating correctly? Five minutes of driving sounds about right to reach working temperature, and 'stat opening time, but if it isn't opening properly, the system will proceed to overheat.

[wurlycorner]

Hi
Sounds like an interesting project you have here
Removing the sound proofing from the bonnet won't make any difference to engine temp.
My thoughts on the engine temperature are same as Chris's. Sounds like correct warm up time and a decent cooling system with header tank and correctly bled is essential (air pockets will cause quick heat build up and poor/no circulation)
Did you see the engine running correctly in the car it came from?
Did you do the conversion work yourself or did someone/a garage do it for you?
What bits were swapped across from the 306 and what is original from the C15?

[Paul-R]

Was the engine running properly when in the 306? What sort of condition was it in?

[Peter.N.]

100C is not very excessive providing it doesn't go much above that, the Hdi's run at about 90C and the pressure in the cooling system raises the boiling point considerably.

Peter

[Paul-R]

Have you kept it as a turbo or taken that off?

[Bsim9751]

Ok some good points there. I did the conversion myself, used driveshafts from a 205 diesel, 50mm lowered front suspension from a 205 gti, brakes from a 306 gti6, custom made a 2” exhaust from the turbo back, adapted the gearbox selector arm thingy, adapted the clutch cable end as it worked the opposite way around, slightly modified the fire wall to fit the turbo and exhaust in and made up some silicone coolant pipes. It’s been a lot of fun!
The temp sensor to gauge calibration is a great idea. They weren’t cheap but I did buy the separately, didn’t really consider that they might not be calibrated for each other. Also upgrading the radiator was something that I’d already thought of but will look into more as I think the c15 cooling system holds 5 and a half is litres and the 306 is more like 7 and a quarter (I’ve been told). I swapped the Lucas pump off for a Bosch which I don’t think has been tampered with but I doesn’t mean the waste hate hasn’t been fiddled with. Im pretty sure I’ve bled the system and I changed the thermostat. Maybe now I’ve driven it a few times I’ll bleed again. It still has the small twin fans that came on the van, but, they don’t seem to kick in. I’ve got a tiny bit of engineering experience but I’m not a mechanic, diagnosing is not something I’m comfortable with. I’m just s**t myself that after all this work I’m gunna wreck the engine!!

[Paul-R]

What engine did the Bosch pump come from? Did you have a reason for swapping before even finding if the conversion worked with the original pump?

[white exec]

Hi Bsim,

The 1905cc XUD engine you've fitted is pretty much indestructible, except for one thing - overheating, which can lead to cylinder head warping, and leaky head gaskets. As said, you do have to make sure the cooling system is up to scratch. That even applies to to the non-turbo engines, let alone the blown ones.

Can you post some details of what engine was in the C15 originally, as this will affect a few things, including the type of radiator there, and its temperature control arrangement. Can you also post the car's VIN number, and RP number (if you can find it).

In particular, do you have a chunky thermo-switch screwed into one of the radiator vertical side tanks? Likely it will have three stout wires connected to it. It's #6 on the diagram...

What this switch does is to sense water temperature in the radiator, and trigger the two fans to run at either low speed or high speed. They do this by operating in either series or parallel, and are switched by a bank of three relays. The circuit is simple and usually reliable (unless corrosion has got in there), and can be tested easily, even without running the engine.

Let's go from there.

[Peter.N.]

I wonder if your pump is from a 2.1 engine?

Peter

[white exec]

Could you also post a photo (or several) of your engine bay?

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

just a shout, I've no idea what temp the HDi's run at but I'd be having kittens if my temp gauge went beyond 90c on my XUD.

...its made it to just shy of 100c about twice, up very long & steep hills heavily laden. But its never hit (an indicated) 100c in my 75k miles with it.

You need to identify whether you're running a Bosch or Lucas Rotodiesel Pump (there's a plate towards the front of the underside on the latter)

White Exec's suggestions about
the Thermostat opening (I think likely its not)
Bleeding (very easy to fail to do properly on an XUD)
and the Head Gasket being the XUD's weak points
are all absolutely spot on and I 'second' them

Did you run the engine successfully in the 306?

NB: you'll find lots of useful threads by using the 'Search' facility (the one between 'Stickers' and 'Members') relating to fuel and cooling. Check out this Wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSA_XUD too to get 'better acquainted' with the XUD. Its a superb unit, known for its quietness (for the period) and longevity ....and for blowing Head Gaskets.