22 hours ago, rum4mo said:

Well maybe to make you feel a bit better, I used to have a B5 VW Passat 4Motion, it had an Audi V6 2.8 30V petrol engine and I replaced the fuel filter - then I could not get it to restart, bought a bigger/faster charger to be able to get the battery ready for the next assault, plugs out, spinning over to dump any excess petrol, plugs back in, almost got it to run. Repeated this a few more times - no good! 

Plan B call in the AA, no joy with the first guy but he knew a local AA patrol that “was known to be the guy” for tricky Vee engines, he turned up and reckoned that it had washed the oil out of the rings, so squirted some oil into all the cylinders, that did the trick!

It seems like quite a few Vee engines get into this situation including Jags!

 

Thanks for that. Amazing the quirks engines have. Just wish I could squirt something into something to get this little Fabia up and running again. Just tried it again and the battery is flattening too much now. Just as well I've got a "day off" on Friday. Guess what I'll be doing? ;-)

On 27/11/2018 at 10:29, mrgf said:

It should self prime so if you run out of fuel, change filter, etc, it will take a few extra cycles, perhaps. You may have another issue!

 

The lift pump will self prime some of the fuel circuit but since starting to start the car with air in the lines there is probably air after the tandem pump and in the fuel rails in the cylinder head. I'm not sure any amount of running the lift pump can bleed this air out.

 

Turning the car over should be the best chance at getting it to fire as its turning the tandem pump, albeit slowly.

Yeah, I did mean self prime as you start to turn the engine over-not just as you connect the pipe again.

Well, I'm still at it. Bought a battery charger and charged the battery. Tried starting the car again this morning but still nothing doing - although the battery was clearly in a much healthier state.

 

After three or four goes at starting it, the little red oil jug symbol started flashing on the dash, accompanied by a high pitched beeping sound a bit like a reversing warning signal on a commercial vehicle. I have checked the oil level a couple of times during this whole saga and it's full so can't quite see why the oil light would be coming on.

 

I'm off to Youtube now to see if I can try doing something with the connections on the top of the fuel tank. Wish me luck ;-)

Don't worry about the low oil pressure warning, that is the way that system works, it does surprise you the first time you experience it though! (it will get suppressed for only a short time, in normal circumstances the engine will have started and oil pressure will be up by that time has passed - not so in your case though!)

 

Good Luck!

2 hours ago, rum4mo said:

Don't worry about the low oil pressure warning, that is the way that system works, it does surprise you the first time you experience it though! (it will get suppressed for only a short time, in normal circumstances the engine will have started and oil pressure will be up by that time has passed - not so in your case though!)

 

Good Luck!

 

I was hoping - nay, relying on the fact that - that was the case. Appreciate the reassurance though.

 

The good news is ...... IT LIVES!!!!

 

Youtube was precious little help but it did kind of nudge me into going out and having another look at the whole fuel system. While I was there, I tried turning the ignition on a few times (6 or 7) without turning the engine over. Then I had a couple of goes at turning the key all the way and the second time - after about 8 seconds - it fired up. One heck of a relief, to say the least. I've taken it for a test drive and it appears none the worse for my tender ministrations. More to the point, there's no sign of a leak from the offending hose. I will, however, be keeping a close eye on all of them from now on.

 

Sincere thanks to SuperbTWM and mrgf especially, for the advice and moral support.

 

Two things: Firstly, I shouldn't have disconnected the other end of the hose from the fuel filter to drain the fuel out and thus reduce spillage. I'm sure that added to the air lock problem. Secondly, if this happens to you and you need to follow the same process, make sure your battery is absolutely tip-top. It was only after mine was fully charged up that I was able to give it enough welly on the ignition to get it going.

 

Happy days :-)

Onwards and upwards!

does anyone know what size the hose is in millie meters?

 

In Tech1e's post he says " Halfords sell a length of 7mm ID fuel hose, does the job just fine."

 

As long as it's the same pipe your talking about.

Hi digsworld... Are you having the same issue, with the same piece of hose?  I funnily enough have had the same issue myself just recently. Noticed a distinct smell of fuel, took off the engine cover and got someone to turn the ignition whilst I looked. Found a small jet of diesel leaking from the small pipe that joins the metal pipe, to the other pump type thing. (A kind of right angled, 15cm bit of rubber hose. I bandaged it up with duct tape, to get to an automotive shop, whipped it off and they matched size. I purchased half a metre and they also cut me a (slightly longer) then the old piece from that, so I have some spare for future use. That saved me trying to make a nice clean cut, in the street. Two jubilee clips as well, as the old clips are a pain to get off and perhaps harder to get on again, without proper pliers (Around a tenner on eBay, for them).

 

So, I can give you the pipes diameter, 7mm internal and around 15mm outer or if you had the time, post you a piece, to fit, for a fiver. That will cover postage and the pipes cost. I unfortunately can't give the code as I realised the piece I have left over has been chopped off, just after the first digit, which looks like an 8 so it may well be 8mm. Very hard to measure as its hard to keep perfectly round, it has a tendency to want to go very slightly oval, when not fitted. The guy who sold me some though, new instantly they correct size and as mentioned, cut just a little longer to hopefully reduce any strain on the bend. The same diameter hose seems to run around the whole engine diesel pipes so might even be worth buying a good few metres, to replace the system, if keeping an older car.

Edited 23 February, 20215 yr by mrgf