I own a 1996 disco van, with 150k miles on the clock. The other day almost all power went. When you press the accelerator the engine goes up to 1500/2000 revs then fluffs out almost to nothing, or even dies. Smoke comes out the exhaust, but not really bad. (Originally there was little. so, i started to try and find where the fault was. I've cleaned out the tank, replaced the fuel with new, changed the fuel filter, the lift pump, swopped the injection pump, checked the injectors (they all appear to 'inject'). I've checked the timing by looking at the timing belt, and all appears ok. I've replaced the cylinder head gasket, there appears to be no noticeable 'slap' with the pistons in the cylinders. I've removed the exhaust manifold/ turbo egr as well.

 

I've also removed the air filter, (less than 10k on a new K&N), by removing the exhaust manifold, this also disabled the turbo, and also disconnected the cat and exhaust. I've also removed and cleaned out the filter in the banjo bolt on the supply on the inj pump.

 

So the turbo is not connected, or u disconnected it to clean something and connected it again?

 

Someone thought the exhaust or cat was 'blocked'. I removed the whole exhaust/ manifold / turbo /EGR valve assembly to see if it made a difference. Apart a great noise, nothing changed. I've since replaced it all. The exhaust is only 12 months old. I've done approx 10k miles in that year.
Cheers