Engine sluggish

Hi,
I have a 1994 Duetto on a ford transit base with a 2.5l non-turbo diesel 'banana' engine with a brake horse power when new of circa 78. The problem is it is a bit sluggish and was wondering if there is anything I could do to give it more power?
I have had a compression test and everything is fine and there is no smoke from the exhaust.
The next plan is to run some engine diesel cleaner added to the diesel next time I fill up.
I have even considered buying another, more powerful engine?
Really hope someone has some ideas as we bought the van for a good price (bit of a barn find) and would love to keep it but the engine power is a bit slow.
Regards
Steve

I'd be inclined to treat it as a classic car and get used to going more slowly. They were good engines in their day. I would be very cautious about fitting a more powerful engine: the transmission won't be designed to work with that horsepower, so you could tear up your clutch, gearbox, etc. Not to mention the need to upgrade the brakes etc. to match the extra power. And lastly, don't forget your insurance company will need to know about any mods! My advice is to either stick with it and enjoy the ride, or trade it in for a more modern van.

You may already have done so, but the first thing I would check is that routine maintenance items have not been neglected - specifically fuel and air filters.

But if they are Ok, as Slow-Lane says, you may just need to get used to it.

I've owned old, low-powered campers before (two Transits and a Trafic) and each was slow compared to a modern van. If you can get into the mindset of not needing to be anywhere quickly, and therefore not wanting to get anywhere quickly, it can be quite relaxing - unless you have a queue of commuters following you up a long hill!

In my experience it helps if it's not your daily vehicle, because then you can drop into "van holiday mode" whenever you get into it, and just relax...

Our N Reg Duetto had the same engine. It never was very fast but with diesel system cleaner pre mot it seemed to pull quite well. That generation of engines very old tech and never meant to be flyers like the modern diesels. 
A Transit recovery vehicle I crewed went to 650000 on the same engine. It was only sold off because the rust repairs were getting to cost as much as the truck was worth.
As others said that engine was matched to the rest of the mechanicals so I would be careful about changing it.
The Rienza we have now struggles on some hills being the 125 engine but we are passed the rushing time of our lives.

Mortgagesteve wrote:Hi,
I have a 1994 Duetto on a ford transit base with a 2.5l non-turbo diesel 'banana' engine with a brake horse power when new of circa 78. The problem is it is a bit sluggish and was wondering if there is anything I could do to give it more power?

I've owned non-turbo Ford Transits and imo they had more 'poke' than the turbo models. As others have said it's no performance engine anyway, just built to throb along roads for years knocking up interstellar mileage!

Post your query on the Transit forum which is free to join and has a huge membership.

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Hello i have 1997 duetto 2.5 diesel  and it's possible to get more power on your van   follow the instruction on the ford transit forum    and turn up the mind range fuelling and sort the EGR bottleneck  it's not complicated   i do it 5 years ago and i don't have any trouble
regards  Pascal