Hi!

I have a Brava 1.9 TD100 ELX engine 182A7.000 equipped with Lucas injection tackle. (sorry I can't read whats on the pump plate)

It has come up for its 72000 mile service and in addition the alternator has died - I've got a new replacement along with a replacement new battery from my ECP factor. I've also got a new alternator belt, timing-belt, timing belt tensioner and water pump ready and some Ribe bits for their screws on order!

However on removing the top engine cover I was distinctly annoyed to find signs that its been pratted about with by someone not expert in diesel equipment servicing!!! I've found:-

1) The Cold Start valve bowden cable has no fitting on the end of the cable, its been just left draped over the injection pump doing nothing! Can I use a bicycle solderless nipple to reconnect it to the Injection Pump Fast Idle control lever?

2) There are two fairly thin and stiff black wires draped round behind the injector pump that have been connected together and taped up - can anyone offer me any idea as to what they would have been for?

The engine starts and runs but its performance is far from gratifying, it barely reaches 70mph and on a run round the Bradford/Leeds area it struggles getting away from traffic lights, most of which seem to be stuck on the top of hills!!! When my bro-in-law drove it on last years spring holiday there was black smoke coming out of the exhaust on pulling away from a stop and on downward gear changes. It passed its MOT OK including smoke density two months ago!

Also the CODE light has never come on since I got the car so I can't tell if somebody's disabled it or not!

Can anyone point me in the direction of a help guide for replacing the alternator please? It seems a right swine of a job - I had to get Fiat's manuals (both CD & binder ones!!!) as some bright spark at Haynes publishing decided not to cover the diesels!!!

The official instructions aren't very clear either - there's a big bolt going up a big cylindrical thing on the lower driver's side engine bracket which I couldn't budge - do I have to unscrew this somehow and support/lower the engine on a trolley jack to get at the alternator to remove it?

I've only got a communal parking area and I live seven floors up so I can't run mains power out to the car obviously!

Many thanks,

Chris Williams

Chris56000 said:

Hi!

I've found:-

1) The Cold Start valve bowden cable has no fitting on the end of the cable, its been just left draped over the injection pump doing nothing! Can I use a bicycle solderless nipple to reconnect it to the Injection Pump Fast Idle control lever?

2) There are two fairly thin and stiff black wires draped round behind the injector pump that have been connected together and taped up - can anyone offer me any idea as to what they would have been for?

The engine starts and runs but its performance is far from gratifying, it barely reaches 70mph and on a run round the Bradford/Leeds area it struggles getting away from traffic lights, most of which seem to be stuck on the top of hills!!! When my bro-in-law drove it on last years spring holiday there was black smoke coming out of the exhaust on pulling away from a stop and on downward gear changes. It passed its MOT OK including smoke density two months ago!

Also the CODE light has never come on since I got the car so I can't tell if somebody's disabled it or not!

Can anyone point me in the direction of a help guide for replacing the alternator please? It seems a right swine of a job - I had to get Fiat's manuals (both CD & binder ones!!!) as some bright spark at Haynes publishing decided not to cover the diesels!!!

The official instructions aren't very clear either - there's a big bolt going up a big cylindrical thing on the lower driver's side engine bracket which I couldn't budge - do I have to unscrew this somehow and support/lower the engine on a trolley jack to get at the alternator to remove it?

I've only got a communal parking area and I live seven floors up so I can't run mains power out to the car obviously!

Many thanks,

Chris Williams

Click to expand...

Ok, the TD100 has a MAF sensor which is located between the airbox and the engine, replacing this 'should' improve the cars performance. Try unplugging the sensor and see if you notice any difference, if yes get a new one.

If the code light has never come on, then you more than likely have had it physically disabled, rather than having the ECU decoded. Hence why you can see several wires disconnected. Connecting them back up could result in the car not starting. Obviously if the car starts and drives leave it.

The alternator is a pig of a job, you'll need to either undo the suspension or the engine mounts and support the engine on axle stands and/or trolley jack and push the engine out to give you clearance to carefully pull the alternator out from under the wheel arch. The alternator is held on by two big bolts if i remember rightly.

Hi!

Further to my last post I've investigated the injector pump and the mess round it, and found the black taped-up wires all run down to a three-pin connector plug/socket, which I haven't yet identified where it goes yet, two of 'em are twisted together and taped, whilst the third was connected together with a thin yellow wire (marked orange in my diagrams) coming from the code-box/fusebox somewhere to the stop solenoid on the injector-pump, which is an ordinary screw-in one with a Lucar connector of the sort found on the older non-tamperproof pumps! I've now managed to read my pump-plate - it is a Lucas FT09 type!

The manual shows the stop solenoid as being a three-pin type, one black for earth, one orange from the "inertial switch relay" (item 200 on the diagrams) and one leading back to the code-box (pink on my diagrams).

Am I to assume from this that some wassock has removed the correct type of solenoid and its anti-tamper cover and stuck a non-secure one in its place? I assume the wire leading back to the code unit is a contact made when the solenoid is closed!

I'd like to get the immobilisation working correctly again so if anybody is scrapping a 1910 TD which has its original pump solenoid and can offer me a pump with the cold start cable attachment nipple and original solenoid - see 1st post - or the correct solenoid, cover and cold-start cable end on their own please let me know!

I honestly can't work out why someone got at all this lot as I still have all the blue/red and alarm switch keys, unless someone's stuck another pump in it at some time or tried swapping code-modules etc., and goosified all the lot up and found it wouldn't start again!

Can anyone in the meantime post a photo of the Brava/o or Marea 1.9 TD100 FT09 pump installation showing me the cold-start cable attachment and the original solenoid fitting so I've an idea what should be there please?

Chris Williams

PS! I've just looked at my ePer again and it refers to an "FA38 Electronic Starter Control Unit" fitted on the bottom of the pump somewhere - is this actually the other half of the immobilisation shown as a three pin-thingy on the Circuit Diagrams, and would this FA38 thingy have been where the black wires are from?

Hi!

Got a bit more done today!!! (Rain Supervened until today!!!) Removed injector pump to discover five thin black wires lead out of the immobiliser unit stuck underneath it, all chopped off short, and worse, the things potted as well!!! (But I'm going to take it to work to have a go at digging the innards out tho so I can work out which wire was what!!!)

More appallingly on removing the pump I discovered the wassock who'd butchered all this had dropped all sorts of bits down the bottom of the hole in the pump mounting plate, I retrieved a brass threaded hexagonal bush, two glow-plugs, innumerable washers and nuts/bolts, goodness knows where this lot came from, I'll have to spend hours and hours poring over ePER!!! Oh and the same wassock had cross-threaded no 4 injector pipe - I'm not particularly strong but it bent to buggery trying to undo the union nut and unscrewed the whole injector with it!!!

And the same personage had obviously run out of stamina after butchering all this lot 'cause he'd not changed no 4 glow-plug, 1 to 3 were nearly new NGKs while no 4 was an old rusty Beru one with a bulge in its end!!!

Alas still no further with the alternator tho - I'm having a go at seeing if I can get it out from the top - I've too many misgivings about heaving and struggling with things under cars as I live and work alone!!!

Chris Williams

Hi Chris, reading through your posts I find myself once again in agreement with Joske. he's pretty clued up, but dont tell him I said that

In the pump there is a stop solenoid. (a plunger that acts as a tap) it, once the ignition is turned off loses its electrical 12v signal and drops blocking the diesel pipe thus stopping the car. This is the only way to stop a diesel as there are no electrics to govern the engine.

Therefore the immobiliser works by preventing a 12v signal reaching this stop solenoid, unless the correct coded car key is used.

If there is any failing in the system, people will often bypass the code box and send a normal 12v feed from an ignition wire to the stop solenoid, the only way manufacturers prevented car thieves from doing this simple task was by putting a tamperproof coverplate over the solenoid, Therefore people have to spend time with tools removing this first by cutting or drilling.

This bypass procedure is what someone has obviously done to your car.

with components in situ some people will leave the glow plug thats awkward to reach.

ps; remember on refitting that the diesel pump is itself timed.

Hi!

Thanks, Member Bridges!!!

One question - do I need to get special tackle to retime the injector-pump or not? The manual says its apparently not necessary!

Unlike Pugshot XUDs etc the pump fits only one place on the engine but the sprocket itself has slotted holes offering a small amount of adjustment, with assorted red splashes on the pump drive/sprocket but they're too indistinct to use as a guide, although there are red/white marks on the sprocket teeth and camcover - can I use these? I didn't unfortunately make any datum marks between the sprocket and pump-drive shaft as I'd thought the pump was timed only by the ecu and therefore the sprocket would only go back in one place!

Many thanks,

Chris Williams

PS!!! 4 new Beru glow-plugs now in but EGR valve all yukkified with carbon inside and I'll need two new gaskets - are these main-dealer only (found p/ns on ePER) - also, is the EGR valve amenable to cleaning? Like member Adrian Bravo I'm skintified and the price listed on ePER for that gave me a heart attack, and there's nothing at all for the diesels on eBay or the parts enquiry sites!

I can take it to work and stick it on the desuckering-iron transformers we have (650mm Hg) to see if it moves - worth a try?

well the immo has been bypassed, but is the ECU still running ?. does the injector light come on/go off ?. you should hear a rapid ticking noise from the pump when the key is turned on, which stops when the glow plug light goes out. Its possible this has also been butchered.. the engine will run without the ECU, but like a dog..

EGR valves get gummed up, you seem very knowledgable but will just point out what the valve does.

Exhaust gas recirculation valve is designed to lower NOx during the high temps of combustion. Its basically a controlled exhaust leak and recycles exhaust gas back into the induction manifold. These temps are at lower engine speeds, cruising when the engine runs lean. However when on full throttle the valve should close fully otherwise performance is lost.

The valves block up with sludge and can be cleaned out, best bet is to remove it, dig out the gunk and then use carb cleaner until the valve operates. A sticking or blocked valve can result in black smoke and performance issues

As regards to the pump i'm more familiar with the xud, I have removed and retimed myself using my own timing marks, One of the Fiat owners should be able to advise on pump timing.

Hi!

Thanks Sir Bridges!!! That exactly accounts for the problems mentioned in my first post!!!

The EGR valve looks (to me!) a bit like a thermostat assembly and all its insides are thick with black soot and goo on its central shaft and all over its bottom plate!!! I'll take it into my works and get stuck into cleaning it, but I'm a bit stumped regarding new gaskets - no-one seems to offer TD100 head gasket sets anywhere - will I be best getting the p/ns of ePER and ringing the dealer for these?

Many thanks,

Chris Williams