L300 Running Properly

[philmeup1]

I wish I wasn't the only owner of an L300 in my home town of Peterborough Ontario, but I believe I am. My Delica runs quite well and has been a gem over the almost 5 years I've owned it. But lately I've been wondering if its operating at 100%. I have no other Delica locally to compare it to, but I'm wondering if its lost a bit of power due to a malfunction, like say in the turbo or something. When I bought the van it only had 71,000 k on the motor. Now I'm up to 126,000 K. The only major work I've had done was having the injector pump rebuilt because it was leaking. While in the engine bay, I had my mechanic do the timing belt and all the other belts, water pump, and all the other stuff required for a good tune up. Basically all preventative maintenance stuff.

Maybe its running perfectly fine, but as I mentioned, I've got no other van to compare it to. When I'm on the highway it always seems to want to kick down to maintain its speed, even on the slightest of hills. Often to keep it at 85 kph, its kicking down and revving at around 3500 rpm's. The engine sounds like a jet engine and there's a loud swishing sound coming from what I believe is the turbo. I feel like I'm overworking the engine, but if I let off on the accelerator pedal to get the revs back down, of course it slows the speed right down too. If I'm on a 400 series highway where the posted limit is 100 kph, its quite tricky to have it running at lower rpm's (like say 3000) while cruising at 100 -110. It always seems to want to kick down and that's got the engine revving at around 3500 -3800 rpm's until it goes into the last gear. Keeping it at these highway speeds with the engine revving at 2900 rpm's is tricky while driving at these speeds.

I've owned 9 Westfalia's prior to purchasing my 1st Delica and I know these are not speed machines. I've always been what I think is very careful with my van. This post is more about the question of whether something is actually wrong with my van, or if its running fine at the speeds and rpm's. A guy who's mechanically declined such as myself can get a little worried about things he's not sure of. And with all of the great reading I've done on here with other peoples vans, I'm always wondering, perhaps unnecessarily, if my van is currently up to snuff. Even with its relatively low km's, its the age of the parts that's got me wondering if something like the turbo is still operating properly.

I just got back from a trip to North Carolina and it seemed to run well. It did kick down quite a bit, especially in the mountains. But my temps never went up much past the half way mark on the gauge. I used my 4 way flashers on the long hills and just cruised as best as I felt I could. My next planned trip is to Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario next week before I go back to work in September.

I guess I could have made this post much less wordy. Is it ok or normal to have the van running at 3500 -3800 rpm's on the highway maintain the speed limit? My running joke in North Carolina was with the speed limit signs saying 70 mph, Radar Enforced. I'd say, I'll try and do 70, but I really don't think its going to happen any time soon.

I would really appreciate anyone else's thoughts, experiences and expertise on this. I've never owned a vehicle that's required so little maintenance.

Cheers, Phil

[Growlerbearnz]

It shouldn't have to kick down to maintain 80kph- or even 70mph (on the flat. Uphill's another story).

Your symptoms sound like the kickdown cable adjustment on the injection pump has moved, and is making the transmission think you're accelerating harder than you really are. Check that it's still within spec (1-2mm free play at idle, 34-35mm at full throttle, measured between the cable stopper and the outer cable).

http://www.delica.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=17662

(I found the standard 35mm to still be too eager to kick down- I now have mine set to 32mm, to make kickdown only happen at absolute full throttle. I tried 31mm, but then it wouldn't kick down at all. Your mileage may vary.)

[philmeup1]

Thats something I've been considering over the last little bit. Ever since i had the pump rebuilt it's seemed to be acting like this, but I've yet to attempt the adjustment. I guess this is something I should prioritize doing before heading up to Manitoulan Island this Saturday. Probably should have done this before driving all the way up the mountains of North Carolina :(

Anyway, thanks Growlerbearnz. I always appreciate your thoughts and input. My Friday is completely free, so I'll do the job then along with packing and other stuff for the trip.

Cheers, Phil :)

[Growlerbearnz]

Ever since I had the pump rebuilt it's seemed to be acting like this,

That's got to be it then. Sounds like they didn't measure the cable before uninstalling. It's a very quick and easy fix- two 14mm nuts, maybe two 10mm ones as well, and easily accessible on the top of the engine (for once). And not even greasy (usually).

[philmeup1]

I'm quite sure this is the issue. It looked very easy to do, so when I got up this morning I decided to tackle the adjustment myself. Since I'm mechanically declined, I messed around with it for a while, but couldn't seem to figure out how to do it. I felt kinda stupid because the link you included is excellent. And how hard can it be right?? I've done much harder stuff on my van like replacing the fan a month ago. That job worked out very well.

Anyway, there seemed to be way too much free play in the cable while the accelerateor was idle. So to start off, I couldn't even get that sorted as I couldn't seem to pick up the slack. I have a friend who's a VW mechanic at the local dealership here in Peterborough,. I called him and he's gonna help me with this tomorrow. He's the guy who usually wrenches on my van and has done all the bigger jobs. I'm sure once I see how he does it, it'll all make sense and I can feel even more stupid..... lol.

Anyway, thanks again for your input Growlerbearnz. I've printed off the link you sent and will take it with me to my buddy's place tomorrow.

Cheers, Phil

[philmeup1]

So I'm feeling a bit better about my mechanical abilities. The reason there was so much play in the cable is because the outer cable was actually broken. The little silver end piece had come apart from the black outer sleeve. When we attempted to adjust it to the proper specs, it made things worse. We did mess around with it until we made it much better than it was. Good enough for me to head up to Manitoulin island next week. I'm orderings a new kick down cable from Steven at Rising Sun this afternoon.

[Growlerbearnz]

It's a very quick and easy fix-

... as long as everything's working as it should? (Murphy's law and all that). Glad you got it figured out, even if a permanent fix is going to take a while.