Intermittent diesel stalling and no power

anorthfield · Post by **anorthfield** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 1:05 pm

I know my car well, having had it for about 12 years, a BX non-turbo diesel. Suddenly it stalls for no apparent reason and is quite happy to restart. This can happen at rest, from rest, and at full throttle. Sometimes I can depress the accelerator to the floor and the revs will not rise or change at all. Most of the time, it drives perfectly. The fuel filter was gungy and has been cleaned. It still stalls; it might not stall for days. It might be a warm engine or a cold engine. Has anyone any ideas?

Post by **Defender110** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 1:55 pm

It deffinately sounds like a fuel problem, when you say the filter has 'been cleaned' I hope you mean you have replaced it? As cleaning a filter is not sufficient to stop debris floating about the system? Is the stop solenoid wire conector ok?

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:31 pm

Or, air getting in the system, usually from the fuel heater on older BX's, this is down the back of the engine, but is easily by-passed

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 8:53 pm

You haven't been using biodiesel have you?

anorthfield · Post by **anorthfield** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 9:16 am

Thanks for all the replies.
No, I have never used biodiesel or anything other than pump diesel
I've bypassed the fuel heater
The stop solenoid looks OK, and was replaced a few years ago. I'll have another look at that
By cleaning the filter, I meant removing the large 'bowl' beneath the hand primer, and totally cleaning it out

Kevin B · Post by **Kevin B** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:44 pm

As other posters have identified, this has all the hallmarks of an airleak on the suction side of the fuel system. I had an identical experience to what you describe. After much investigation and pipework replacement it turned out to be the rubber pipe from the tank sender to the steel fuel pipe which runs under the car, this short length of pipe had perished.

To confirm you have an air leak, fit a length of clear plastic pipe between the fuel filter and injector pump, and see if you have any air bubbles visible when the engine is running, if you have a leak the air bubbles will be easily visible when the engine is on tickover, and you can manipulate pipework / tighten up fittings, replace copper washers with dowty seals, ect, etc. Until such time as you locate the source of the leak.

Post by **Defender110** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 1:43 pm

The bowl at the bottom is just a water trap emptying this will not stop contamination or allow your filter to flow better, Changing the filter should alawys be first thing on the list when suffering any sort of fuel problems to eliminate it & at the very least to protect your expensive injection pump.
The fact your car is willing to start again straight away could point more towards fuel starvation (blocked filter) more than drawing air.

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 9:59 pm

There is also the possibility of sludge in the tank. A couple of years ago I had similar issues and went through the whole list as above with no change. It was Doc that suggested I should 'go fishing' in the tank.
When I opened the tank cover, straightaway I saw that the filter on the fuel pick-up was sludged up. Then there were quite a few 'jellyfish' floating in the tank which I fished out. That cured the problem.
I must also mention that Kermit very kindly gave me one of his custom made tank cover opening tools!

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:43 pm

Todd's post rang a bell, if its not sludge it could be fungus in the tank, it can be sorted with some appropriate fungus remover (I've got some). Whereabouts are you? If you're local to me then you can have some for nowt.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:51 pm

Or it could be the plunger thing you use to prime the diesel through. They have been known to let air in.

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:40 am

It's probably not this - but I'll mention it just in case...

If you buy your diesel from a small garage that doesn't refill it's tanks that often you may still be buying diesel only suitable for summer rather than the 'winter diesel' that is supplied at this time of year.

More likely to be sludge / fungus / intermittant 12v to the stop solenoid as already mentioned.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:09 am

Well, this was a car stopper...
And well worth checking.

I was very lucky, having some diesel, a jam jar with a lid, and some appropriate sized tube in the boot.

I managed to feed diesel into the tank side of the filter, and that got me home, took 5 fills of the jam jar though...

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:21 pm

eeeeeeeuw

That looks nasty, slime & fungus. Was there any sign of this in the fuel filter? When mine got blocked by duff biodiesel, it was like sticky golden syrup that enveloped the tank filter which then pretty much blocked off the fuel going to the pump, hence total lack of power & it would just stall eventually....

anorthfield · Post by **anorthfield** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:58 pm

Thanks for all the tips. We replaced the filter with a new one (plunger etc), put in an inline filter downstream of it to enable sight of air(and there is only a tiny bubble at all times), plumbed a whole new pipe from tank to (new) filter. It goes far better now - but the engine still stops intermittently, roughly every mile or so. It does seem to build up to it, so perhaps there is an air leak elsewhere. It always restarts and immediately pulls strongly, so it still looks like an air problem - but where, I don't know. The saga continues... I buy from a busy garage and my other BX diesel is fine and it drinks from the same garage.

Mulley - I'm in Epsom, so thanks very much but it's not practical.

I'll post progress (hopefully) as it occurs.

thanks everyone

Post by **Defender110** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:36 pm

I'd be looking at Todds suggestion now.

toddao wrote:There is also the possibility of sludge in the tank. A couple of years ago I had similar issues and went through the whole list as above with no change. It was Doc that suggested I should 'go fishing' in the tank.
When I opened the tank cover, straightaway I saw that the filter on the fuel pick-up was sludged up. Then there were quite a few 'jellyfish' floating in the tank which I fished out. That cured the problem.
I must also mention that Kermit very kindly gave me one of his custom made tank cover opening tools!