Technical 1.3 diesel refusing to start

[notsmartcars]

I have seen this gloop as you call it before it's caused by a bacteria which grows in diesel ( hard to believe I know) it's night mere stuff boats can get it in their fuel tanks if it's not used and refilled regularly . Only buy diesel from fuel stations with high fuel turn over, you can get additives to help get rid of it but it's not easy and usually involves steam cleaning your tank out , it looks like desolved silicon sealer normally it will not pass through your main fuel filter though

 

[Sweetsixteen]

I second the marine diesel sludge problem. Boaters nightmare.
The accepted 'cure' is Soltron - an enzyme product made, I think, in Southampton. It is added to fuel to 'eat' the sludge, but in cases of 'waxing' where biofuels have been used the firm is extremely helpful with advice. Worth contacting them.
Just found a phone number - 01983 615289.
It's beginning to narrow down to fuel, as it fires up on Easistsrt.
Soltron in the fuel filter, then a good speedy tow, might help.

 

[Philjay51]

I had a contaminated fuel problem a few years back, I stopped at a small supermarket garage in very rural France and made the mistake of putting in high octane fuel, I should have known better, it even smelt odd. Car ran like a dog, when I got home I had to empty the tanks and use an additive from the States to clean the injectors. However it was a success. I started looking last night for something suit able, so many thanks for the pointer, again I should have know having been around boats in my younger days.
Watch out for the next instalment.?.
Oh and many thanks for the advice, keep thinking. I want to get my wife's car back, I prefer petrol.

 

[Sweetsixteen]

I had a contaminated fuel problem a few years back, I stopped at a small supermarket garage in very rural France and made the mistake of putting in high octane fuel, I should have known better, it even smelt odd.

Not Tournus by any chance? There is a small supermarket garage there that has a name for selling poor fuel, and we got caught out there a few years back, on our way through France to Reggio in Italy. Spluttered all the way down Italy, and finally cured by continually topping up the tank at every major fuel station.

 

[notsmartcars]

Now by complete coincidence our friend rang up last night his daughter had put £15 of petrol in her diesel corsa and it was now running like a pig.the break down service wanted £190 to sort it Now the engine is the same as the panda diesel ... on the top of the filter is a bleed nipple which I removed and pushed a pipe on leading down to a 25 litre fuel container . Now if you turn the ignition on the pump at the rear pumps the fuel from the tank and out of the pipe ( passing through the filter ie no fuel =blocked filter). Now because the pump for safety reasons will only run for around 10 seconds which means the ignition has to be turned on and off which is not good for the heater plugs so I pulled the leads off them first . When the fuel stopped running (which doesn't mean the tank is completely empty) we put 2 fresh gallons in the tank turned the key on a couple of times to put fresh fuel in the filter then started it up ... Job done .. Then she took the car to the garage to fill the tank to the brim to dilute any mixed residue left.

 

[Philjay51]

No, not that one, I cannot remember where exactly but it was a real PITA.

 

[Philjay51]

Ok, the saga continues, this morning I towed the car around the block, still no go. It did bring up another error code, But I have forgotten it, a speed sensor issue. I will have to hook up again to re read it.
Back to thr drawing board. At a bit of a loss now, obviously fuel is not getting past the injectors, it is getting there though. Does the cam sensor control the pulse for the injectors, it's the only sensor I have not changed.
DOH!

 

[Sweetsixteen]

If it did not fire even when the engine was turning over (being towed in gear) with plenty of revs to pressurise the rail - that does not necessarily point to the injectors. It would be very unlikely for all four injectors to fail - or block - at the same time, unless they were electronically prohibited from doing so, so this could still indicate a possible common rail pressure problem.
Obviously it fired when you squirted Easystart into the air inlet duct, not because it happened to be Easystart, but because you bypassed the common rail and thereby the injectors by doing this. If you were able to squirt diesel inot the inlet duct it would probably have the same results. Again, suggesting low common rail pressure.
Does that make sense?
Whatever ... you've got a nightmare there, and I sincerely hope you finally crack it. It is proving a great learning curve for this forum.

 

[Philjay51]

If it did not fire even when the engine was turning over (being towed in gear) with plenty of revs to pressurise the rail - that does not necessarily point to the injectors. It would be very unlikely for all four injectors to fail - or block - at the same time, unless they were electronically prohibited from doing so, so this could still indicate a possible common rail pressure problem.
Obviously it fired when you squirted Easystart into the air inlet duct, not because it happened to be Easystart, but because you bypassed the common rail and thereby the injectors by doing this. If you were able to squirt diesel inot the inlet duct it would probably have the same results. Again, suggesting low common rail pressure.
Does that make sense?
Whatever ... you've got a nightmare there, and I sincerely hope you finally crack it. It is proving a great learning curve for this forum.

I am hoping to bring this issue to a suitable conclusion, that's why I am still posting, people keep coming up with ideas, I try them all, cause you never know. The number of threads I have visited going for answers that are not there, are the cars scrapped? How did they fix it? Sorry guys, this will run to the bitter end.
My next job is to test, again, the connections. Is there a way of checking the pulse to the injectors?
The next chapter begins, I think this is better than 50 Shades.

 

[varesecrazy]

Ok, the saga continues, this morning I towed the car around the block, still no go. It did bring up another error code, But I have forgotten it, a speed sensor issue. I will have to hook up again to re read it.
Back to thr drawing board. At a bit of a loss now, obviously fuel is not getting past the injectors, it is getting there though. Does the cam sensor control the pulse for the injectors, it's the only sensor I have not changed.
DOH!

that's a shame. was hoping for something (anything..!!)

silly question.., have you been through all the fuses..??,

had an ABS issue, that was down to a blown fuse (7.5A)

only info on FF saved me from a long and expensive parts swap..,

Charlie

 

[Philjay51]

that's a shame. was hoping for something (anything..!!) me too!

silly question.., have you been through all the fuses..??, yes,

had an ABS issue, that was down to a blown fuse (7.5A)

only info on FF saved me from a long and expensive parts swap. Indeed.

Charlie

This is the way forward, somewhere the answer is here, I have a friend that runs a garage and he has been very helpful. His last suggestion, which I am about to do is test all the connections and wire continuity,,,,,,,,again.

 

[varesecrazy]

so does MES give you ALL the rail pressures?,

anything unseen must point to a fault..,lost signal wise..,

Charlie

 

[Philjay51]

MES will give a rail pressure but it's very difficult as of course I am only cranking. Because I have been messing for so long I need to revisit and make some proper notes. I am of the opinion that the signal from the the rail sensor is getting "lost". That's tomorrows job, check wiring and signals.

 

[tinmar49]

I had problems starting my Multijet some years ago, it took about ten seconds cranking from cold. It turned out that the fuel return on one of the injectors was leaking and not allowing the rail to pressurise properly. The faulty injector and the associated high pressure pipework was replaced, and the ECU was updated with the code of the new injector and it has been ok ever since.

 

[Philjay51]

I had problems starting my Multijet some years ago, it took about ten seconds cranking from cold. It turned out that the fuel return on one of the injectors was leaking and not allowing the rail to pressurise properly. The faulty injector and the associated high pressure pipework was replaced, and the ECU was updated with the code of the new injector and it has been ok ever since.

I was hoping that something like this was my problem, but I think not, due to the towing exercise.
There is an upside to this, apart from meeting and chatting to interesting people, my post count is going up, must give me some qdos.?

 

[Sweetsixteen]

I was hoping that something like this was my problem, but I think not, due to the towing exercise.

There is an upside to this, apart from meeting and chatting to interesting people, my post count is going up, must give me some qdos.?

Rumour has it that when you reach ten thousand posts you are given a token to enable you to go and buy a Japanese car!

 

[Wee Smurf]

I was hoping that something like this was my problem, but I think not, due to the towing exercise.
There is an upside to this, apart from meeting and chatting to interesting people, my post count is going up, must give me some qdos.?

I'm sure I have a few thousand posts but I'm not sure that means I have qdos or if I'm just talkative.

I didn't wait till the 10k post mark. We already have the Japanese car. Bought it five and a half years ago.

 

[Philjay51]

My experience of Japanese cars is not great, but if I was to go that way it would probably be a Korean car. I had a Datsun 240 super sameri many yers ago and my stepfather had a Datsun Sunny 120 and that was the worst car I have ever driven.
However it never rains but it pours, my son in law called me this morning, their other vehicle is a Jeep and the turbo failed taking the kids to school. I picked them up an while accelerating from a junction my EML came on. Managed to switch that off easily tho'. Hopefully.
Right, time for a snack and then outside to do battle with the Panda.....again.

 

[Philjay51]

She lives, got her going this morning, this was going to be my last effort before setting fire to it or taking it to a garage. So what did I do, well basically started from scratch, I flushed the fuel system out again, checked that fuel was getting to all parts, put in a diesel cleaner, supposed to get rid of water and stuff, checked all connections and put it back very carefully, checking as I went.
Now here is the strange thing, I hooked up my laptop just to check the errors, still there, so I decided to clear them, recently the P0090 has stayed but this time it went off. Started to crank the engine, nothing, bit more cranking and it fired, took a while, then it started. Yeah. Happy days, just finished putting it back together, going for fuel as it is now sucking fumes as I managed to dump a load on the floor and it only had a gallon I it to start with. Sooooo, here's hoping all is well. One thing, at the moment it is a bit smokey, hoping it's just residual fuel etc.
Oh, the other thing I did was to remove all the earthing straps and give them a good clean, they all seemed OK but you never know.

 

[A3jeroen]

Victory!:worship:
But now we'll never know what did the trick.
Might as well be a cumulation of small things.

gr J