Now the thread title would immediately give the answer of 'well if you've not got a lot of fuel in the tank, the fuel pick ups in the tank probably aren't immersed in diesel, air will get into the fuel lines, you're pump is going to be shot, hence the juddering or hesitation when accelerating'..............however.........

 

This has come about now twice when my tank has started to run low on diesel, but it was more noticable last night.

 

Coming home from work and no fuel light was on. A quick 5 minute drive on the retail estate and now I'm accelerating up the slip road onto the motorway. Fuel light comes on and the range is saying 65 miles. No problem as the Shell is 10 miles away and I was planning on going there on the way home anyway. 5 minutes up the motorway and we're on A roads with traffic lights and I get stopped at 4 out of 5 sets. On the 1st set of lights, the best way to describe how it felt was as if I'd put the clutch in slightly and the car jerked forward a bit. On the next 3 sets of lights, it moved away fine, but it hesitated to accelerate (and I wasn't flooring it away either).

 

Thankfully, I made it to the petrol station and filled up. Now I was expecting to fill it very close to 50 litres, however it cut out filling at 45 and a bit litres and after another few cut outs, I topped it up to 46 litres. So before filling, there was a minimum of 4 litres left.

 

I leave the petrol station and now the car is driving normally and road the petrol station leads onto is a dual carriageway, so a 'brisk' acceleration away showed nothing wrong. I've been out this morning to the shops and back, with again, no issues.

 

Last time this happened it only did one juddered, which I dismissed and I filled up it was with 47 litres. So it's not as if I'm running it on fumes.

 

So question is.........where or what's the problem? Yes, I can see potentially having low fuel is a contributing factor, but it's not as if I've let it run dry.

Clogged pick-up? With a head of fuel in the tank the extra pressure will offer enough to overcome the blockage.  get it to an inch or so and there is no head pressure to get past the gunk.

Its programmed into the ECU to do that so that you fill up before running dry and damaging the common rail injection system.

 

My opinion, not fact, anyone disprove it?

When was the fuel filter last changed?

 

That kind of juddering I normally associate with water or air in the fuel. Maybe there is some other contamination?

https://www.ipu.co.uk/diesel-contamination/

39 minutes ago, xman said:

When was the fuel filter last changed?

 

That kind of juddering I normally associate with water or air in the fuel. Maybe there is some other contamination?

https://www.ipu.co.uk/diesel-contamination/

 

It's never been changed. With the car being idle for a while it didn't get the normal service as you'd expect.

 

When it got serviced last November, they said it didn't need to be done because of it's mileage. It was more an inspection service with an oil change rather than a full service. But I've done a bit of mileage since.

 

Reckon it would be worth throwing a bottle of Wynns dry fuel in to encourage any water to be 'burnt' off?

 

If the filter has been in more than 3 years or 20,000 miles, best to change. Thats where the water and other crud will accumulate.

I always fill up when i reach a quarter tank reducing the chamce of picking up gunk.

1 hour ago, xman said:

If the filter has been in more than 3 years or 20,000 miles, best to change. Thats where the water and other crud will accumulate.

 

This year will be it's third service and hopefully a full service. Fingers crossed it'll get done then.

 

I'll just try to keep the tank level above the level when the low fuel light would come on.

Not sure on the design of the lift pump on a car this new but struggling for fuel on a low tank could indicate that the flap on the bottom of the fuel bowl is stuck open and the pump is not fully submersed like it should be.

Edited 27 February, 20197 yr by SuperbTWM

Please delete

Edited 27 February, 20197 yr by SuperbTWM

3 hours ago, tunedude said:

 

This year will be it's third service and hopefully a full service. Fingers crossed it'll get done then.

 

I'll just try to keep the tank level above the level when the low fuel light would come on.

Rather than crossing your fingers, you can specifically tell them that you want X, Y and Z done. It's your car and your money. No one is going to turn their nose up at a car that has extra servicing done. 

6 minutes ago, Kenai said:

Rather than crossing your fingers, you can specifically tell them that you want X, Y and Z done. It's your car and your money. No one is going to turn their nose up at a car that has extra servicing done. 

 

oh I'll certainly be telling them a few things....... to sod off with the filling of an already full screenwash tank and not to replace anything (no matter how small) without prior permission