junky

Checked the fuel line lunchtime today and only 2 small air bubbles, don't think this is anything to worry about as the car hasn't properly been run yet, shall start to use it in the week. Turned the key and fired up straight away with no problems. I did notice a slight leak on one of the injector return line hoses (half way up the hose), the ones that return the fuel back to the fuel pump/filter. So shall look into getting that replaced, may as well do all of them whilst I'm at it.

An update. I went and bought a replacement fuel filter today and fitted it. Note, not the thermo valve, just the filter. Anyway, filled it with diesel before fitting and fired the car up and low and behold she fired up no problem almost straight away, so took it for a run up the road, not far, then parked back up, no air appears to be in the fuel pipe even when just sat there running. So, I guess it must have been the filter blocked and air being drawn in from the weakest point somewhere along the fuel feed line, I intend on emptying the fuel out of the old filter to see if it is clear or not, well blow through it to see if it is clear and look to see how dirty the filter inside looks. It may just be that I connected the filter pipes back up more secure though I'm sure they were as good as a fit as on the new filter. Who knows for sure?#! Shall check the car in the morning and not go too far in it for the time being! Thanks again for everyones input.

Thanks, shall remember that one, but not the cause at the moment I don't think as the pipes look fine. There is a pipe retainer but they weren't held in place by it but are now for however long that lasts as the pipes don't seem to be very secure in the holders.

Aha, thankyou. Found that in the cooling, heating section of the haynes manual after you telling me what it was, cheers. Fuel is correct, just over quarter of a tank. Parked on a flat level surface.

Bringing this thread back alive!! Having left the car for a couple of days now, not had the time and its been very cold. Went out there today to try and find a leak under the car between the filter (located under the bonnet) and the fuel tank. No signs of any leaks i.e no damp patches. But looking under the car located right next to the fuel tank is a small cyclinder with an inlet pipe and an outlet pipe. One end 'T's into the fuel return line (from the fuel filter) and the other end disappears up to the top of the fuel tank, without dropping the tank I don't think I will be able to trace it back any further, any ideas what this is? It is electrical as there are 2 wires connected to it that can be seen to disappear immediately above it somewhere into the car body. This is not referenced at all in the Haynes Manual. Right then, after having a feel around and a wiggle on the cables I haven't done anything else at all, but then decided to put the ignition on to see if there are any noises from this cyclinder thingy, couldn't hear any. But then decided to try and start the car and low and behold the damn thing started, after 2 attempts mind you but it still started!!! Also looking at the clear pipe that connects to the injector pump from the filter there are quite a lot of air bubbles being sucked up whilst the car is running, remember I removed the filter, could this just be air still in the filter? Should it clear itself or do I need to do something? What could have caused this? A blockage has cleared in the Filter??, wiggling the cables on that thingy next to the fuel tank?? or could it be coincidence? By the way, I hadn't even got round to charging the battery since last messing around with it!

You are probably using Internet Explorer 8+, this forum and many other forums dont work correctly with Internet Explorer. Do yourself a favour and install Firefox, Google Chrome or Opera and see what the internat should really look like! (With adblock plus installed cutting out all those ads!) Yes, IE9. Must change it to Firefox, keep meaning to. Perhaps that should be put on the thread for other dumb arsses like me!

When I had a leak it was from the fuel filter drain tap, did you remove it completely. Chances are you put it back in cross thread. I tightened mine so much, it snapped while driving down the road spilling all the diesel and stopping the car. I dont think you need to bleed anything in the fuel system. It does take a fair bit of cranking until all the air is purged. Just keep the starter going while its hiccupps and splutters until you can finally rev the engine. Thanks for your help! Pretty sure its not the drain tap on the filter but yes I did have it off completely but I'm usually careful with these things, i.e. not cross threading and 'O' rings and as such. Shall check anyway just to be sure but confident theres a leak somewhere else further back towards the tank. We did attempt to bleed the air and cranked quite considerably, admittedly nearly until the starter burnt out! The car did start whilst manually feeding fuel to the pump so shall look for that leak and invest in a new filter, could probably do with one by now. Cheers

You certainly did! and as it happens charging the battery or jump leads was going to be my next port of call at that point as I was certain the battery power was dropping but didn't think it was that low. Thought it was going to be a case of just tracing back the pipe work, shall have to do that in the week, getting dark now. Out of interest there is a recall on fuel pipes rubbing against the air conditioning low pressure suction pipe, so shall look into that one and locate the air con pipe and ring the dealer. Thanks for your help!

Don't forget you may have to bleed the fuel system where fuel deprivation has occured at the injecters. Bob Hill You mean undo each injector nut in turn whilst cranking and tighten up once fuel starts to come through. Sure thing. By the sound of it you seem to have found the problem. Usually you only have to do one injecter to get the fuel past the injecter pump the rest then work. Good luck Bob Hill OK, thanks. I'll remember that for next time, if and when then happens. Thanks for your help.

Yeah its called the Faqs, Common Questions And Solutions section Yes, but why don't the links work? Maybe you need to be a Gold Member! how do I become one?

An update on progress so far! Put jump leads from my car onto the Galaxy and fuel was being drawn up at a good rate so decided to re-connect pump line back up to filter, having had the filter removed and drained I had to re-fill with diesel, anyway once we tried starting the car, still on jump leads, it tries to fire up and is drawing fuel up but there is air in the system and although I purged the air at each injector there is still air between the pump and the filter. Pipes have been re-connected back to the filter tight and have checked the fuel pipes and they are OK. Having looked under the car there are signs of fuel leakage, underside of car on drivers side near the front wheel. So I'm going to have to trace back the fuel feed pipe from the tank up to the filter and the return pipe from the filter to the tank to try and find the leak. Any ideas how the pipe which is plastic around the leaking area can be repaired? What repair is MOT worthy? cut a section out and fit new piece or bandage with something, or heat gun glue it? I have no idea! So, conclusions! It was a cold morning so may have been battery not having enough power to properly crank and provide adequate volts to the solenoid, probably other ancillaries too! Or could be constant cranking the engine trying to start it when there was no fuel being fed to the pump that flattened the battery. (I wasn't there so I don't know for sure!) Probably removing the solenoid and re-fitting had no bearing whatsoever on the pump now drawing fuel as its still doing the same as before but now theres fuel in the filter, because I put it in there, fuel is being sucked up by the pump but mostly air. So, off to find this leak! Any pointers how to get acsess or any common known faults with the fuel line? Thanks again everyone!!!

You mean undo each injector nut in turn whilst cranking and tighten up once fuel starts to come through. Sure thing.

Well, isn't that a horrid thought, shall have a look later and let you know, meanwhile I hope not! Thanks

Thanks Bob Intend on charging battery later but as that would also clear the ecu memory as well I/we won't know which cured the fault, battery charged or emu memory cleared. So first I am going to jump start the car from mine in hope that the battery was at fault all along. Well, it may be that I end up removing battery anyway for a good long charge so may never know for sure but shall try in that order and see how things go. Thankyou.

Its a duff/flat battery you got there and maybe thats been the problem all along. :wacko: Solenoids only work within a narrow voltage range. BTW if you remove the piston/spring you'll probably find you cant turn the engine off! Make sure you dont get any dirt in there either...... Yeah, probably could do with charging now after all the attempts to unsuccessfully start it up. Shall try jump starting from my car first! I shall be manually feeding fuel through so it will cut out just as soon as I deprieve it off fuel so thats not a problem and had already thought of that, thanks though as I could have overlooked it. Have already cleaned around the cos and taken care not to get dirt in the fuel system. Cheers

Shall give the battery a charge, no buzzing noise from dash when cranking, I don't think, shall see tomorrow and let you know. Door red led does go out after about 3 secs, so thats good news! Yeah, after removing cos I can see fuel will go everywhere so won't do that but shall remove spring and plunger after jumping direct from battery. Cheers, shall get back to you tomorrow after trying that out, your right, bloomin cold out there so it can wait plus its dark and can't see a bleedin' thing! Don't want to lose that spring or anything either so tomorrow it won't be raining, hopefully not.

Re-connected solenoid, still not starting and no fuel to the injectors, perhaps I should remove the plunger and spring from the solenoid to see if fuel is fed to the injectors, this would at least eliminate the solenoid and supply volts/circuit, would it not? Battery volts across pos and neg terminals reads 11.75v with ignition off. Ign on and connected across battery neg and solenoid reads 10.5v, when turning over the engine the volts drops down to 8v ish, its a bit erradic. The door led comes on with key in ign and turned to the glow plug pre-heat position, as soon as the glow plug pre-heat light goes out the door led goes out too! Thanks

Thanks, but before I proceed I need a cuppa and warm up a little, the chill is starting to set in the old bones. Meanwhile, could you elaborate more on the door led please. There is a red led, where you would find the door lock on an old car back in the day! Just thought it was something to do with alarm/immobiliser. Is this an ECU fault code led? In any case, it comes on red and stays solid red, I think, shall check and confirm.

Hope you come back to see the results. Thanks for your help, have a grrrrreaaaaaat weekend!!!

Solenoid removed and works with a 12v dc 800mA mains adaptor. With power the 'piston' pulls in, without power the 'piston' pops back out by the spring pressure. When I removed the solenoid it left behind (in the pump housing) the spring and the 'piston' with the 'O' ring, is this correct? Took quite a tug to remove it! Is it possible it was 'jammed in' somehow? Shall re-connect back up to car and see if it works now!

Yes, of course. I shall get my partner to hold it whilst I start the car. If I remove the solenoid and attempt starting the car will fuel spill out from where the solenoid was located? I presume so. I shall see if a 12v 300mA dc adaptor will open/close the solenoid, safer option. If I do it with the solenoid removed from the housing it will need to be grounded to the bodywork, just in the same way as testing a starter motor, in the good old days. Off to remove it and see.

The fuel cutoff solenoid is built into the distributor pump. It opens when the ignition is turned on and closes when turned off. This is what makes sure your engine stops when the key is removed. Not sure where it is in this photo, I've a feeling it may be that black/white lead goes in the middle. Perhaps you can check you have 12 volts here when ignition is turned on. If not it may be a fuse or relay problem. Thanks, it the top black/white striped cable. OK, so disconnected filter feed line, stuck a funnel in the end and poured in diesel so the fuel level can be seen in the fuel line clear pipe. Turned the car over and fuel is definately being drawn up into the pump, however the car still is not starting. Slackened an injector nut and turned over the engine, no sign of any fuel coming through. Checked voltage on the fuel stop solenoid to find its reading 10.7v with ignition on, this times out and drops to 0v after a few seconds. With ignition on reads 10.7v, try to start and the reading drops to around 8v. Take a reading from the plug disconnected and get a reading of around 11v. Sounds very much like the solenoid or supply voltage is at fault here. Can the solenoid be by-passed temporarily just to prove thats the fault? I guess I could run a cable direct from the 12v battery and attempt starting, if it starts this would eliminate the solenoid at fault leading to a short in the wiring or as suggested a faulty relay. Thankyou.

Removed the filter, 'T' piece does have an 'O' ring still in place. Drained the filter via drain valve, smells, tastes and looks like diesel and clean, as clean as the eye can see at least. Shall try the manual fuel feed now.

Thanks, definately checked theres plenty of fuel in the tank, never trust what the missus tells me!! and checked its diesel, you never know!!! I checked her fuel receipt. What does the fuel cut off solenoid do then if not stop fuel from the pump to the injectors? so how would it help manually feeding fuel if the solenoid is stuck shut? Sorry but I just don't follow the logic or perhaps not understand fully how all the individual components inter-work. Thanks

All fuel feed lines through filter are suction on the Mk1 so any loose or cracked/split tubing will cause air to enter the system, also check the plastic T connector on top of the fuel filter for cracks or split O ring. Both Mk1 & 2 will draw air if left running facing downhill with less than a quarter of a tank of fuel, this has happened to me several times as I have a steep drive fortunately the Mk2 has the in tank pump so I just level the car and away it goes after a few turns of the key, the Mk1 will need a longer period of cranking as Zorgman rightly says the injection pump draws the fuel from the tank. As a point of interest the low fuel level/slope syndrome can also cause flame out errors on the booster heater if the heater was actually running when the low fuel state occurred. OK, thanks. I shall check those fuel lines and filter valve but I don't think this is the cause. I need to confirm whether the pump is in fact doing its job as far as drawing fuel up from the filter/tank. With ignition on there is a clicking coming from the relay and a distinctive click/engagement sound coming from the pump housing. Maybe a better understanding of how the pump works would help me! The crank turns all the time the car is running, so the pump in turn is also always turning, however does this mean fuel is always being supplied to the injectors or is there an actuator which engages / disengages depending on whether fuel is demanded from the ECU? If the pump is pumping fuel in all the time where does the excess fuel go? return line at the injectors back to the filter via the valve. Thanks