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High altitude and diesel engine High altitude and diesel engine
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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
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  #1  
Old 20 Nov 2005
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High altitude and diesel engine
In the Atlas and Hoggar I've experienced problems with black smoke and and less power when I got over 2500m altitude. Now I'm planning a trip to Pamir so I'm a little worried. The fuel-air mix are well set for moderate altitudes, should I change it when I get there? I'm in a TLC HJ-60 (Diesel 6).

Does anyone know about the problem?
Thanks for advices!
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  #2  
Old 20 Nov 2005
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I wouldn't bother. This happens with all diesel engines at increasing altitudes. The problem is that you will never get the mixture exactly right. Injection pumps are impossible to set up correctly without specialist equipment and furthermore you may find you will run lean when you get down to "normal" altitudes. This can be potentially harmful for a diesel and is far worse than running rich.

Q
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  #3  
Old 21 Nov 2005
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You could tighten down the spring on the turbo's dump gate.
There's a sort of bar between the exhaust side and the inlet side of the turbo, it regulates the turbo pressure by bypassing the exhaust turbine. Boosting turbo pressure at sea level will push hotter, but more air into the cylinder. At altitude, because the air is thinner, you'll simply bring the engine back to nominal.

Paint a mark where the nut is at the moment, so that you can reset it easily for the descent.
cheers
Luke
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  #4  
Old 25 Nov 2005
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Hi Tripitaka
I took my Land Rover Discovery TDi300 across Tibet last year. Me and my mates were driving at over 15,000ft for ten days, and peaked out at an amazing 17,800ft.
The cars all made nasty smoke, and some were difficult to start from standstill under load, (ie up an embankment).
But once running I was barely aware of the reduced power. Just the other bloke’s smoke…
Use of gears obviously helped, keep the engine revs up above 2,000rpm and you should have no problem.
All best

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  #5  
Old 27 Nov 2005
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There's no turbo on an H60

Andy

TLC H60
landy 101 ambie
1968 morris minor traveller
www.plymouth-dakar.com
Quote:
Originally posted by Luke:
You could tighten down the spring on the turbo's dump gate.
There's a sort of bar between the exhaust side and the inlet side of the turbo, it regulates the turbo pressure by bypassing the exhaust turbine. Boosting turbo pressure at sea level will push hotter, but more air into the cylinder. At altitude, because the air is thinner, you'll simply bring the engine back to nominal.

Paint a mark where the nut is at the moment, so that you can reset it easily for the descent.
cheers
Luke
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  #6  
Old 28 Nov 2005
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Howzit

We vcurrently live at 1800m in Nairobi - bit of black smoke taking off and at low revs, but we were in the Aberdares last month (3100m) and although there was alot of black smoke there was only a loss in acceleration rather than overall power.
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Last edited by Bundubasher; 17 Sep 2013 at 15:25.
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  #7  
Old 28 Nov 2005
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Howzit

We vcurrently live at 1800m in Nairobi - bit of black smoke taking off and at low revs, but we were in the Aberdares last month (3100m) and although there was alot of black smoke there was only a loss in acceleration rather than overall power.
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Last edited by Bundubasher; 17 Sep 2013 at 15:25.
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  #8  
Old 28 Nov 2005
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by moggy 1968:
[B]There's no turbo on an H60

Oh Poo! :-(

You could always try installing a turbo; that would get more air into the cylinders.

In this day and age I find it difficult to imagine a diesel engine without a turbo, except on a dumper.

Thank you for the enlightenment
Happy trails
Luke
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  #9  
Old 5 Dec 2005
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[quote]Originally posted by Luke:
[B]
Quote:
Originally posted by moggy 1968:
There's no turbo on an H60
Ah, well thats why a landcruiser will do 500,000 miles on a single oil change whilst the diesel turbo landy of the same vintage struggles to make it to the shops and back without a full engine rebuild (oh ok, maybe some poetic licence in there.

Andy 'slow but certain'

TLC H60
landy 101 ambie
1968 morris minor traveller
Oh Poo! :-(

You could always try installing a turbo; that would get more air into the cylinders.

In this day and age I find it difficult to imagine a diesel engine without a turbo, except on a dumper.

Thank you for the enlightenment
Happy trails
Luke
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  #10  
Old 5 Dec 2005
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I see we have a similar opinion of Solihull's Leyland years production.
(he says, carefully trying specifying in an attempt to avoid the flamings)

Good job someone invented synthetic oil, now they'll do two school runs
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  #11  
Old 8 Dec 2005
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LOL

Quote:
Originally posted by Luke:
I see we have a similar opinion of Solihull's Leyland years production.
(he says, carefully trying specifying in an attempt to avoid the flamings)

Good job someone invented synthetic oil, now they'll do two school runs
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  #12  
Old 4 Jan 2006
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Some HJ60s have what is called an altitude compensator- its a round thing located on the rear of the pump. By turning that one way or another it is supposed to make a difference in how much fuel is given to the engine. Check out Ih8mud.com they have tons of info about LCs

John
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  #13  
Old 6 Jan 2006
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Nice one, thanks for the tip

Andy
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  #14  
Old 6 Jan 2006
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I have an 80 series Land Cruiser with the altitude compensator and it seemed to work well on a trip through N Africa last year, sept-nov. No really noticeable loss of power - No increase in black smoke which is usually a product of poor diesel quality, too much sulphur etc. Unusual addition to the car as it is a '93 car, Japanese import, with separate switch for centre diff lock, another for front and rear...excellent vehicle



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  #15  
Old 19 May 2009
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Exclamation No HAC on landcrusier = Engine damage at altitude?
We are in Delhi and about to drive around Kashmir where passes reach 5475m high. Some last minute research has found my UK 1989 HJ60 Landcruiser does not have a high altitude compensator (HAC) on the 2H injection pump governer.

People have mentioned black smoke blowing at altitude, but not high exhaust gas temperatures (EGT) which i read can apparently damage and even melt the aluminium pistons!

I really want to drive the Manali-Leh highway, but really really don't want to wreck the engine. We are carrying a lot of weight and it is a long route. I dont have a pyrometer to measure EGT either.

- Is it enough to install a new airfilter, gear down and back off the accelerator?
- Should i try to manually adjust the fuel? but based on what, altitude / smoke?

Any information or experiences would be much appreciated,

Cheers, Andrew

P.S. for current Manali>Leh highway status:
Manali-Leh road « high road to..
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