Tuning Ducato 1995 1.9 TD tuning

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Tuning Ducato 1995 1.9 TD tuning

DucatoCato

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Hi all! I recently bought a nice Elnagh Marlin 550 motorhome based on a 1995 Fiat Ducato with a 1.9 TD engine with ca 85 HP. The car is in very good condition, i have repainted the whole car to freshen it up, turbo, jets, alternator, timing belt, brakes, vacuum clock, water pump, clutch, head gasket, electric cooling fans, glow plugs and brake lines, brakes and rear brake valve are all new, took it for my first real spin to western Norway, which is as you might know/or not know is pretty much extreme hills and valleys, going from sea level to 1500 meters above sea level in relative short distances. The car performs ok, does not overheat even in torture hill climbs revving a lot on 2nd gear, i understand that my 85 HP has severe shortcomings for such conditions, but not being able to maintain 80 Kmph on flat/flat-ish roads is unacceptable. There are Dieselpump specialists in Lillehammer, ca 100 Kms drive away from me whom are competent in old style TD engines (Bosch Diesel Expert Service centre)and adjustments without killing it, but it is a hassle to go that far since they are closed whenever i am off work, meaning i have to take a whole day off. Is this something i can do following a step by step guide or should i let it be and just take some quality time in Lilyhammer while the experts sort it out?
(The cost is approx 150 GBP, not that bad)
 
Hi all! I recently bought a nice Elnagh Marlin 550 motorhome based on a 1995 Fiat Ducato with a 1.9 TD engine with ca 85 HP. The car is in very good condition, i have repainted the whole car to freshen it up, turbo, jets, alternator, timing belt, brakes, vacuum clock, water pump, clutch, head gasket, electric cooling fans, glow plugs and brake lines, brakes and rear brake valve are all new, took it for my first real spin to western Norway, which is as you might know/or not know is pretty much extreme hills and valleys, going from sea level to 1500 meters above sea level in relative short distances. The car performs ok, does not overheat even in torture hill climbs revving a lot on 2nd gear, i understand that my 85 HP has severe shortcomings for such conditions, but not being able to maintain 80 Kmph on flat/flat-ish roads is unacceptable. There are Dieselpump specialists in Lillehammer, ca 100 Kms drive away from me whom are competent in old style TD engines (Bosch Diesel Expert Service centre)and adjustments without killing it, but it is a hassle to go that far since they are closed whenever i am off work, meaning i have to take a whole day off. Is this something i can do following a step by step guide or should i let it be and just take some quality time in Lilyhammer while the experts sort it out?
(The cost is approx 150 GBP, not that bad)

For those engines tuning basically consists of turning up the fuel enrichment screw or 'smoke screw' and/or grinding the LDA pin to give more fuel and adjusting the wastegate actuator rod to give more boost to burn the extra fuel. Some people will advance the timing also but 'Danger Will Robinson' unless you have the appropriate kit to measure the advance.

The 1.9 is never going to have much power or more importantly on the hills torque, there are guides on swapping to the 2.8idtd on talbotoc.com
 
i,m pretty sure without a decentish intercooler to keep things cool ,inlet temps will be pretty high reducing any gains especially on long hills. will definately drive a lot nicer with a bit more torque though, well worth doing- not that hard to do yourself if you can identifythe components but a pain without access to a ramp -they basically add boost and back fuelling to prevent excessive smoke when on boost. if its as cheap as that i would get them to do it
 
A heavy coachbuilt caravan overloads this small but quite good engine, if you try tuning it all you will get will be black smoke and a huge repair bill after a short bit of fun. It will commence to use plenty of oil before it blows up big-style.

And the gearbox is the big weakness on this model, it will not like speeds above 50mph 80kph or so, the 5th gear gets little enough oil as it is, and driving much faster on a frequent basis will soon wear it, if not wreck it. You can mitigate things by carefully overfilling the box, I put 2 litres of sae 140EP in mine, it's well up on the dipstick but seems to keep out of the clutch.

Read JKTowers on the gearbox, he recognises it's weaknesses. Spares for this gearbox are very difficult if not impossible to obtain so look after what you've got.
 
A heavy coachbuilt caravan overloads this small but quite good engine, if you try tuning it all you will get will be black smoke and a huge repair bill after a short bit of fun. It will commence to use plenty of oil before it blows up big-style.

And the gearbox is the big weakness on this model, it will not like speeds above 50mph 80kph or so, the 5th gear gets little enough oil as it is, and driving much faster on a frequent basis will soon wear it, if not wreck it. You can mitigate things by carefully overfilling the box, I put 2 litres of sae 140EP in mine, it's well up on the dipstick but seems to keep out of the clutch.

Read JKTowers on the gearbox, he recognises it's weaknesses. Spares for this gearbox are very difficult if not impossible to obtain so look after what you've got.
I don't get the impression the OP is trying for massive power but just to maintain momentum on the hills and keep decent 80 Kms or so on the flat.......all assuming the original engine is making any thing like 85bhp
 
You have invested lots of money on the repairs and improvements you have already successfully made.
By pushing the limits of your engine with a non standard modification, and knowing that the gearbox is not a very good design, you risk wrecking your van. I would not do this, but then I am cautious. 1.9Td is not a big engine for such a van, so it is going to be slow, but at least it gets you from A to B. A wrecked engine will get you nowhere, plus, you will really struggle to get any spare parts for an old unit, so all your good work up to now could be wasted.
Americans have a saying 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'!
 
Thank you all for good Feedback. Camper is currently in winter storage, i think i will take it for an adjustment and leave at that, good point that a broken engine takes me nowhere, ill be careful! Happy camping. Cato
 
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