General Difficult starting

[mao]

I have this '97 1.9TD. Recently I need to prime the fuel (rubber bulb) to start the engine every morning and when left for long hours. I suspected the return valve to be faulty. Is this true ?[?]

 

[keggers]

I had a similar problem on another car, a Vauxhall Frontera, and it turned out to be the fuel return hoses. In that particular car there were four individual rubber hoses for each injector that fed back into the fuel pump to return unused fuel. One or more of these hoses had small cracks and were letting in air which resulted in a loss of vacuum which in turn caused the head of diesel to be lost and returned to the tank. Unfortunately I didn't have a priming valve and the only way to start the car was by towing it, once started it ran fine but if left for an hour or more would not start.

It certainly sounds like a problem in the fuel return system but it might be worth checking out the simple things first, I came very close to replacing a very expensive fuel pump before discovering the fault which in the end cost pennies to fix.

Good luck, Keggers

 

[mao]

Thanks Kegger. If the rubber hoses cracked, will there be any sign of fuel on the rubber hoses. I didn't notice any of the hoses getting wet.

 

[keggers]

Mao, unless the pipes are badly cracked it's unlikely that you will see any fuel. Because the pressure inside the pipe is lower than outside any movement will be air moving in rather than fuel moving out and by the time it has equalised the fuel will have returned. As I said I don't know if the same system operates in the Ulysse but one way of checking the pipe is to remove it and check around the ends for signs of cracking or loss of elasticity. Bending the pipe may also reveal hairline cracks but it is likely that the pipe is covered in braiding to protect it.

 

[mao]

Thanks again for the views, keggers.