Bag of spanners...

[JayW]

Pop Quiz:

My 19 n/a (bosch) is not well!

Idle is very erratic, up and down like a yo-yo and has been getting progressively worse.

Power is down (when you don't have a lot to start with it's easy to notice when it's not right). Occasionally it will run & idle normally but there's no rhyme or reason to it.

This morning (after repairing the water leak) it started knocking on the way to work briefly but that went away and i nursed it home.

Back on the busses again tonight and not a happy bunny!

I've checked for air/fuel leak but nothing that i can detect. Suggestions?

REALLY need it sorted for work and have 800 mile trip to do this weekend.

[Vanny]

not something daft like air trapped in an injector? I know, impossible, but after the FB thread i'm clutching at straws.

PS checked the garage and the spare pump is not here so at the parents, hope to collect it tomorrow,

[Dollywobbler]

I'd be tempted to chuck another fuel filter on it. Wondering if it could be the dreaded jelly in the tank syndrome too. That might allow a better flow of fuel at times and not at others.

[Vanny]

Wondering if it could be the dreaded jelly in the tank syndrome too.

Now there is a thought, a mate of mine scrapped an otherwise good car because of poisoned fuel, very similar symptoms.

[mat_fenwick]

He's run it from a separate gravity fed tank though. Got me puzzled!

[Vanny]

And it ate a litre in a matter of seconds. But if the goo is already in the pump, it could be doing all manner of strange things. Needs fully flushing but I've no idea how you could do t hat on a diesel

[JayW]

So far i've cleaned out the filter canister and replaced the filter (there was a LOT of water in there!) Let that be a supermarket fuel quality warning, i only drained it 5 weeks ago!

Piggybacked a fresh can of derv via an inline filter direct to the pump.

Checked & adjusted the cam timing.

Checked the pump isn't loose and the levers are all free & secure.

Adjusted the anti-stall and mixture.

Cracked the injectors off, all appear to be firing as i'd expect (though that by no means conclusively rules them out).

I've got it running sufficiently well enough for short journeys to work but running so rich it's smoking well and heating up like a Napalm soaked Jalapeno so it's minimum revs and maximum coasting.

It also drank 2 litres of fuel in 10 minutes on the can!

As i neither have the tools here or time to start stripping the pump it's going into the Bosch agent down the road on monday, i've got them to reset the pump then go from there. If the pump is knackered i'll hopefully be able to get one off Vanny and get them to throw it on. But £80+ a week on taxis and busses for the two of us is going to eat into the "buy a replacement car" contingency fund.

Shame really, got a lovely 2006 Nissan Primera down here, i'm only £800 short!

[mat_fenwick]

It also drank 2 litres of fuel in 10 minutes on the can!

It'll just be flowing down the return line to the tank I would have thought, rather than being used by the engine. Not that it helps solve the mystery...

[docchevron]

/\ that.

see FB mate, too tired to retype it all!

[sdelasal]

Jay - any idea of the condition of the injectors? If the spray pattern is poor, then you get incomplete combustion - which means smoke and rough running. It might be cheaper to get the injectors out & tested before you look at work on the pump. Steve

[Geoffrey Gould]

Hello one thing that stood out a mile was that 'you adjusted the Cam timing' and I was wondering why that should be necessary, I have to ask because I don't know but did you check the pump timing IE: lock the flywheel and bolts into the locking holes in the pump and cam gears. Two things come to mind and they are the cam belt has jumped a tooth and has a wood-ruff key sheared and put the timing out? One place I have had an air leak was the throttle spindle ( but only when it was in a certain position!) a pig to find.

G.

[JayW]

I checked the timing to rule it out, it's spot on.

Don't know about the injectors but removing them for test renders the car undriveable and i have to get to work. The bosch centre can do that monday if needed so it's a little pointless atm.

If it's going to be cheap enough i'll have it repaired then it's up for sale. If it's not gonna be cheap it'll be chinese toasters!

[Geoffrey Gould]

OK a little confusion creeping in JayW, in your post of the 11 July at 12.22 (Wed.) in the list of things that you had done was " Checked and adjusted the cam timing." hence my post, sorry.
G.

[JayW]

Yes, i checked it, adjusted it slightly as it was a little out and now it's spot on. No difference was made.

And just to save any further confusion, the belt was changed 7k ago and a post-change retension is perfectly normal.

[JayW]

Right, i've just put a fat deposit on this Primera and picking up next weekend all being well.

It's wiped out our finances but as much as i love my BX's they're getting too old to rely on as a daily hack and i NEED relability. I'll be keeping the other two which will eventually be 2nd cars/toys if god ever allows me time to work on them!

Had a call from the Bosch centre, they've got an opening today so i'm dropping it down there shortly. Either way i'm selling it as the cash is needed.

It'll be going on ebay as soon as i know whether it's fixable or not. I'm NOT offering it here first as i don't like selling cars to people i know (of), if something goes wrong down the line it always gets awkward! Unrepaired i'd expect it to make about £300 and fixed maybe £400-£450 with the long test & tax that's on it.