1996 Ford Freda 2.5TD WL-T Turbocharger Boost Issue

[Dirty Diesel]

Good day everyone!

This is my second forum post about my mothers Ford Freda. This time, instead of being about the overheating and coolant burning problem, I'm hereto ask about a problem that's running concurrently.

When my uncle and myself were scouring the engine bay (Only the passenger side, for after the campervan conversion in 2012, the cupboard units prevent the folding back of the drivers seat), we noticed that when we were revving the engine, that the actuator arm doesn't move. It said that it would account for the blue smoke that the van produces. I had a vacuum problem on my '04 Volvo V40 1.9D, and when the actuator arm didn't move on mine, it puffed blue/black smoke.

So today I took a look at it. Even when revving the engine to just over 3000RPM, the actuator arm didn't budge, I tried moving it with some mole grips, and it seems to still move, granted with some forced, as I was moving it from the "hinge" on the turbo side. So I took off the hose going to the actuator and started the van. It was blowing air out at a goodly pace, is that normal? I thought that was supposed to be under vacuum? It is on my V40 at least, could be different on a Freda.

All I can think of at the moment, is that the actuator has a crack somewhere on either the casing or the internals, causing it to loose pressure. Any thoughts or ideas as to where to look next? The thought of having a burning coolant problem AND a turbo fault is causing quite the upset, you could say. Any help, tips or advise would be sincerely welcome and appreciated!

Thanks in advance

[jimmo62]

I had the same concern on mine, but it seems that the actuator will not move when revving with the van stationary and like you I found that the arm can be moved with pliers but it's very stiff. If you search on here I think there was a post where someone used a bike stirrup pump to pressurise the hose and test it but you need to be careful not to over pressure and damage the internal diaphragm so worth looking up the post to see what pressure they used....

So hopefully not a problem!

Good luck with the other problem, may be worth a visit to a Bongo friendly garage for an opinion if you can get to one

[jimmo62]

Here you go -
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71239&hilit=wastegate&start=30