General engine fires up but then stalls

[superscudo]

Hi everyone, Having trouble with my "02" plate 1.9D el van (1868cc) .
She broke down on me in the week and came to a spluttering halt. The symptoms were that she seemed to lose power momentarily, then pick up again, then lose the power again. She did this a couple of times until whilst going up a hill where i needed a bit more power she struggled and came to a stop. I managed to get her to fire up a few times, but she wouldn't rev cleanly and there seemed to be white smoke chugging from the exhaust.
After reading a few posts on here, i decided that the fuel may be contaminated with water to cause the white smoke and the previous spluttering etc. I now have the van back home and have changed the fuel filter and cleaned out the filter housing, cracked open the injector feeds to clear the engine of any contaminated fuel, cleaned the EGR valve and re-assembled everything. The fuel filter housing has been primed up (with the manual plunger) and as far as i'm aware she should be "good to go". Now all she will do is fire up briefly at tick over and then stall.
She appears to do what she should before start up, i.e. glow plugs click in and pre-heat, the clicking relay under the bonnet can be heard ticking away for a few seconds and she turns over swiftly and fires up, But then the stall...... there's no smoke coming from anywhere and i've had no lights coming up on the dashboard to indicate any faults.
Any ideas at all anyone?? Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out here, "Superscudo"

 

[Zog]

Timing belt OK? Head gasket OK?

 

[superscudo]

Have checked the oil filler/dipstick and the the coolant bottle and found no signs of cross contamination or milking etc, so i don't believe that to be the problem. Will check the timing belt when i go back out later. I seem to think its a fuel delivery issue but obviously i don't want to be throwing money at a fuel pump unless i can definately confirm that to be the problem. Are there any checks/tests i can do to try and exactly pinpoint the fault......

 

[r masters]

get your injectors checked had a van similar then would not start at all turned out to be one injector

 

[superscudo]

Hi Zog, have checked the timing belt and all is good with that. I thought it would be because the engine "does" fire, it just won't keep going.
Hi Mr Masters, whats the procedure for getting the injectors checked? i can only assume its a garage job is it?? Would it involve removing them or can they be tested in place?? I ask because money's a bit tight at the moment (as for many of us) and i'm trying to go through the "most methodical and cost effective way" of finding a cure for this fault. I don't mind doing whatever i can myself to cure this as my own time doesn't cost me the earth, if you know what i mean. Thanks to you both for your suggestions....

 

[r masters]

do u not no someone with a code reader just to see if any codes come up

 

[superscudo]

Yeah i do actually, i'll give him a call and ask him to "plug her in" to see if anything will show up. I was under the impression that codes only show up if you've had the "engine management light" flash up on the dash, to show you have an issue. I guess i,ve got that wrong then have i ?? Thanks.........

 

[r masters]

just to be sure eml might not be working

 

[superscudo]

Just had my mate round with his code reader (Sealey VS8702) but no codes have come up. We've also tried to start her with the dreaded "Easy start" but to no evail, just the same outcome.

 

[bigdong]

Not sure about the 1.9 older version but in the 2.0jtd there is a lift pump inside the fuel tank that sometimes fails which gives this exact symptoms and does not activate the EML. Worth investigating.

 

[superscudo]

Yeah, definately worth a look, will take the floorboarding out from the back of the van to see about access to it. I,ve read on here somewhere that there's no actual access cover to it, but a hole can be cut into the floor to get at it. will look for the post that describes the procedure and get to it. Thanks bigdong.

 

[superscudo]

O.K. Its update time. Have finally got to the bottom of the problem, It turned out to be a blocked cat.......... I only had the new exhaust fitted on the 14th of september and must have got a duff one or something!!! I've been chasing my tail thinking there's some sort of fuel delivery issue because the engine would fire but then stop again. If i ran her without the EGR fitted she would run sweet as a nut, but as soon as i coupled up the exhaust feed pipe to the EGR she would stop again. It's only when i tried coupling the pipe up whilst the engine was running that i became aware of the exhaust pressure coming through the feed pipe. It was then a case of removing sections of exhaust (backbox first obviously) until i found the blocked section. And there she was, a blocked up cat. Hope this helps other members with any future issues they may have. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and input in helping me solve this problem. Superscudo is now a happy man again who can stop pulling his hair out in frustration...........