300td at altitude

[jperkins]

Hello,

I have a 1987 300TD in Mexico at 7,000 ft. elevation. I have noticed a drop in performance and sluggishness. I added diesel fuel additive and it helped somewhat but not 100% improvement. Any ideas of other things I could do?

[Duke2.6]

All engines, including turbocharged engines loose output at altitude. It is usually more noticeable on naturally aspirated engines, but turbos suffer too unless they are designed to maintain a fixed level of absolute manifold pressure; however, they are usually set up to limit boost to a specified gage pressure (pressure relative to the surrounding ambient pressure) , which means absolute manifold pressure will go down with altitude.

High temperatures prevalent at high altitude in tropical areas further contributes to a lowering of inlet air density, so it's a double whammy.



Duke

[jperkins]

Duke, thanks for the information. I'm glad this is pretty normal and not anything to worry too much about. John

[haasman]

Also stay ahead of your air filter. Every bit of air is important at that elevation. Engines work quite hard over 5,000 feet.

Haasman

[tex]

It is a good time to check those fuel filters as well.


Darrell

[kerry]

You probably want to post this question over on the diesel forum. I don't know about the 87, but the 85 and olders had a boost sensor controlled via a plastic line that could get plugged lowering boost and effecting performance. You may have a similar problem. I don't notice a big change in 85td performance from sea level to mile high unlike the NA.

Are you saying that you have seen a decline in performance when going from sea level to 7000' or if there has been a degredation in performance while at 7000'?

[jperkins]

thanks all for the information. I noticed the degredation mostly once here at 7,000 ft but since we were mostly cruising on the highway it's difficult to tell. I have spare fuel filters and will definitely check those and the air filter as well. John