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Diesel fuel pump problem


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Hi all. My apologies, I'm not a mechanic and don't understand much. I recently drove my fabia 1.9 sdi from Scotland to Kent. From Birmingham onwards it lost half it's power and the engine became very noisy when pulling.I rang the aa once in kent and the aa mechanic thought it may have been the fuel pump(think he may have said regulator?) he towed me to a halfords auto center where it had an hours diagnosis. 4 mechanics discussed the problem. It was flooding the engine with diesel when the accelerator was pressed. they quoted 1200 quid to replace with another fuel pump. I declined the offer and the car will be arriving back in scotland soon with the aa relaying it back. Anyway it does drive but is very sluggish and noisy when pulling away or the accelerator pushed down more than lightly. still seems ecenomical when driven very lightly.

Can someone please advise me what to do in my situation.

its a 53 plate and has had a fair amount spent on the brakes/suspension replacement engine etc over last few years.

Thanks John

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have you changed the fuel filter recently ? could be too blocked up. its only about £7ish, good place to start with your diagnosis. Having owned a SDI before I would say its pretty bombproof and would doubt the diagnosis of the fuel pump as its still running, but at lower power, maybe a faulty or clogged injector ?

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have you changed the fuel filter recently ? could be too blocked up. its only about £7ish, good place to start with your diagnosis. Having owned a SDI before I would say its pretty bombproof and would doubt the diagnosis of the fuel pump as its still running, but at lower power, maybe a faulty or clogged injector ?

Thanks for your reply. I'm not a mechanic. It certainly wasn't misfiring. when you lightly rev it it sounds quiet, so going downhill it's quiet, as is ticking over. when you go to pull away you have to slip the clutch a bit. I hope it is only the filter!. I've never changed it since I bought it 4 years ago. the engine is a relacement that used to sound quite sweet. Could it have been some bad diesel put in?.I'd stopped and stuck in 25 quids worth at a service station on the way down.(definately diesel as I checked the receipt.)

John

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Fuel maybe had some contaminents in it or you've disturbed some crud in the tank and its blocked the filter, its worth a try to fix your issue as its an easy job and cheap, and you've not changed it in 4years so its well due. Pop to your local motor factors and get one Mahle or Mann filters are same as original I think, pull the old one out - its the silver looking circular object with pipes bottom left of the engine compartment, just behind the headlight. Take the pipes off and making sure you connect them the same way round andchange it over, good idea to pour a bit of diesel inside to get it going if you have some to hand, if not don't worry it will pull it through but expect to be cranking it over for about 60-90 seconds before it fires.

Very easy job, under 5 minutes and only a pair of pliers or mole-grips require to loosen the pipe clips.

Edited by Lycanthrope
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poor fuel, clogged filter likely, or even water in the diesel

try replacing the fuel filter (if you tip the fuel out into a clean dry jar, i'm guessing you will find a fair bit of water ) and add a dose of injector cleaner most of which have something in to help disperse water in the fuel as well

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Nothing wrong with using diesel cleaner at all, a bit of tlc for the car every so often is essential, giving things a clean and replacing filters is something that should be done regularly. Fuel filters should be changed atleast once a year and they are cheap enough. Maybe more often if your doing the mileage. Also the occasional thrashing will do the world of good and unclog and blast out all sorts of crud thats settled.

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well I just drove it to take the dog to the field for it's walk. When cold it blew a little black smoke, but after a minute there was none to see, Thanks for your advice. I remember one of the mechanics guessing that it may have been an injector and seeing them taking each one out in turn while running. then discussing the problem and coming up with the fuel pump and some regulator within it?. perhaps they were guessing. Not sure that they were sure what was wrong. anyway I'll change the filter on monday. Would it be fine with the fuel thats left in the tank?(I'm guessing so). I'm also not totally sure that the problem had not started before the garage.

Think I'll change the filter first and take it from there. Thanks

John

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filter and injector/fuel system cleaner is far cheaper than pump overhaul

"When cold it blew a little black smoke" indicates unburnt diesel, until it warms up the pump usually advanced the injection timing slightly

, may be that is not working properly,

when was car last serviced? what is its milage? is there someone close by with vcds who could scan the car for fault codes and the timing block to make sure timing belt not jumped a tooth

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The timing belt was checked and was tight. both aa mechanic and halfords guy said it wasn't that car has not been serviced for 2 or 3 years. Engine was replaced a year ago after the timing belt went. I bought the car with 93,000 miles on the clock. I don't recall being told by my garage that the timing belt needed replacing. had it serviced for a couple of years and then probably missed its service 18 months ago. replacement engine sounding smooth and was believed to have done 83000 on it.

"When cold it blew a little black smoke" indicates unburnt diesel, until it warms up the pump usually advanced the injection timing slightly

, may be that is not working properly

Is that usual to blow a little smoke and then stop. Does that indicate it's working correctly or incorrectly?

Think that between them 4 mechanics were guessing that the fuel pump was overflooding the engine,

Or were they looking for a desperate punter who was stuck far from home to cough up some expensive work for them?

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yep, you get a few seconds of smoke from a diesel on start up , especially if you don't give the glow plugs a second or two to increase the combustion chamber temp for cleaner burning of fuel

also the more times the engine turns over before it fires the more unburnt diesel in the cylinders to make a bit of smoke on start up

does the engine fire quickly or turn over a few times before catching?

couple of silly questions

have you checked the air intake for obstructions? have you checked the air filter is not dirty / clogged

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17656 P1248 Injection Sporadic : pump fuel metering control (A): range performance

CODE 002 :

Could this be the problem?

This is just copy and pasted from online and isn't a result given for my car.

perhaps this is what was happening?

Have been reading about limp mode too?It will get up to high revs when driving....just takes a while with little power.

So should I take it to my local garage guy or to a place with the diagnostic machine, if so how do I find out where the nearest one is? I live at ml117au.

John

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17656 P1248 Injection Sporadic : pump fuel metering control (A): range performance

CODE 002 :

Could this be the problem?

This is just copy and pasted from online and isn't a result given for my car.

perhaps this is what was happening?

Have been reading about limp mode too?It will get up to high revs when driving....just takes a while with little power.

So should I take it to my local garage guy or to a place with the diagnostic machine, if so how do I find out where the nearest one is? I live at ml117au.

John

Are you getting black sooty smoke or grey smoke?

From your description and what the garage told you, I would guess it is black.

The error code info you found was for start of injection. I think that your problem is with the fuel quantity adjustment. I.e. How much fuel is injected - not when it is injected.

Take a look at http://www.briskoda....em-vcds-owners/ to see if there is a member who can scan your car.

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I only noticed the smoke for about 10 seconds yesterday and I would say gray smoke.

Is this the correct fuel filter?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fuel-Filter-SKODA-FABIA-Diesel-99-08-/300585286299?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3ASkoda%7CModel%3AFabia&hash=item45fc477a9b#ht_2266wt_1195

Thanks John

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found that I can't find the list of vcds owners....is it broken?

No - just tried it. You can't cut and paste into a browser - just click it. If you can't make the link work for you...

Go to Forums

Diagnostics & VCDS

The list is pinned to the top

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Yes thats the correct filter for the SDI, but you would be much better going to a motor factors than ebaying. Got a Allwoods, GSF, Eurocarparts near you, or a TPS ? TPs will provide a genuine part cheaper than the dealer, good prices :)

As I said earlier the correct filter is about £7 from Allwoods.

Edited by Lycanthrope
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I only noticed the smoke for about 10 seconds yesterday and I would say gray smoke.

Is this the correct fuel filter?

http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_2266wt_1195

Thanks John

Looks like the right filter

If the smoke is really grey then it indicates a timing problem. If it's intermittant then check out the pdf in http://www.briskoda....73#entry2329573

If the case pressure relief valve has come apart, then it will be impossible to maintain proper SOI control

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No - just tried it. You can't cut and paste into a browser - just click it. If you can't make the link work for you...

Go to Forums

Diagnostics & VCDS

The list is pinned to the top

would help if Iread the top...members name after location doh. oh well nearest guy to me hasn't been on since end of march.

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Think it might be a timing problem as the aa guy sais that it sounds like its firing early . timing belt was checked and was tight. So does that mean the fuel pump is not working correctly by injecting at the wrong time. Sorry I'm not a mechanic and don't understand anyway near what you guys do. would that cause overflooding and loss of power/noisy engine under load. gentle pressure on the accelerater pedal sounds kinda normal....put your foot down and it's noisy.

John

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Looks like the right filter

If the smoke is really grey then it indicates a timing problem. If it's intermittant then check out the pdf in http://www.briskoda....73#entry2329573

If the case pressure relief valve has come apart, then it will be impossible to maintain proper SOI control

sorry for being daft but what is SOI control?
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Think it might be a timing problem as the aa guy sais that it sounds like its firing early . timing belt was checked and was tight. So does that mean the fuel pump is not working correctly by injecting at the wrong time. Sorry I'm not a mechanic and don't understand anyway near what you guys do. would that cause overflooding and loss of power/noisy engine under load. gentle pressure on the accelerater pedal sounds kinda normal....put your foot down and it's noisy.

John

'Overflooding' (overfueling?) would result in unburnt fuel and black smoke.

If it runs like a bag of spanners with grey smoke, then it's likely to be a problem with the timing.

If the timing belt is correctly tensioned, then it is unlikely to have jumped a tooth.

The pump controls the start of injection so it could be the pump. Check the case pressure relief valve.

It could also be the needle lift sensor of injector 3. Follow the wire from injector 3 and check the connector has not come loose.

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