Yesterday I dropped my wife at hospital for a day operation and the nurse said they would ring me at home when she was ready to be collected. I don't have a mobile phone.  A mile into the journey home, waiting at traffic lights the engine just stopped and refused to start. Engine is turning and cambelt is only 10,000 miles old. Recovery driver said it sounds like a fuel problem. No warning lights showing on dash. Car at my home, as needed to be here for message from hospital. Not managed to get it to garage yet. Any thoughts please?

Edited 17 December, 20196 yr by carbman

Which  error message or lights are being displayed? Check the easy stuff, fuel level, battery, fuses, spark. If it’s not immediately obvious , nothing appears to be visibly broken, leaking then unfortunately the next option is to have it diagnostically scanned. 

Thanks Redboy. No error messages or lights were displayed. However, I put the battery on charge for a couple of hours this morning and when the recovery man came, he tried it and it started. He followed me to the garage just in case it packed up again and it was okay, except it is definitely not pulling properly. Have left the car with them and they will sort it. thanks again.

I once had a temperature sensor inside the fuel pump fail on my sprinter which caused it to cut out and wouldn't start again. No warning lights, I don't think Merc diagnostics even knew it was there. I was lucky to get towed to a really good diesel garage where the mech eventually hooked it up to Bosch's own diagnostics and found the problem (and then fixed it within an hour).

 

The fuel solenoid needs power to let fuel into the engine, if the battery was low (alternator problem, or alternator voltage regulator problem) it could shut off the fuel, or some other system that decides it isn't safe to fuel the engine could cut the power to the solenoid.

Thanks Jim-Octavia, only just read your reply, my life's like that lately.

Just to say that the garage did all the checking he could do, including diagnostic machine, and couldn't find any fault with the car. His test drive revealed to him that my gearbox, DSG 7 speed, didn't feel as smooth as his own in a Golf. But when I drove it away from the garage I felt as though it was as smooth as it has always been in the 6 years I have had the car. His other comment related to my always using diesel from Asda. He said he wouldn't ever do that because the warning inside the filler cap says No Bio Diesel and supermarket fuel has Bio additives. I wasn't aware of that, but in 6 years of use, I have never had a previous problem. Maybe time to change my ways. Suffice to say that the car has run fine today so I can only carry on and hope. It seems these modern cars are getting too complicated for their own good.

Just one more point, the battery is the original in the car. I have given it a boost a couple of times in the past when it seemed a bit reluctant and it did all but run down while I was trying to start it. Maybe that had something to do with the outcome, ie: started next morning after a couple of hours on a 4 amp charge. Guess we'll never know.

Thanks for your comments.

I think all diesel in the UK is supposed to have some biodiesel in these days, looks as though under 7% there is no legal requirement to tell you. Sometimes you will see pumps with B-5 or B-10 on them, pretty sure that is the % of biodiesel. Probably supermarket diesel has higher % than main brands. Main brands also blend other additives differently to make their fuels superior to supermarket fuels, and differently between the regular and premium in the same brand. I stopped using supermarket diesel years ago, I noticed a difference almost immediately.

Pretty sure even the low biodiesel content is why rubber leak off hoses don't seem to last long these days, although finding decent quality hose is another issue!

 

Probably just low battery in your case - diesel engine wouldn't need a battery once started but then you would have no shut off control (you could choke it, but not very practical for everyday use), so you have a fuel solenoid which needs to be powered to let fuel through and means that turning the ignition off will stop the engine...

On 18/12/2019 at 23:08, carbman said:

His other comment related to my always using diesel from Asda. He said he wouldn't ever do that because the warning inside the filler cap says No Bio Diesel and supermarket fuel has Bio additives.

 

Regular road diesel in the UK has 7% bio additives, the "No Bio Diesel" sticker in the fuel cap is referring to the 30% additive stuff that Morrisons used to do at some of their petrol stations. I haven't seen it for years now, I don't think you can even get it any more.

Edited 20 December, 20196 yr by slow_nick

John,

I would keep a careful eye on your battery. It's doing very well at over 7 years old but could fail at any time. I replaced the battery on both my diesel Octavias at roughly 6.5 years.

Quote

 

Thanks for that slow-nick, it's good to know the reality of things. I'll be a bit choosy in future and change the fuel brands about a bit.

Thanks for the advice Sheriff. I've already been looking at new batteries with a view to replacing mine.

Have a good Christmas everyone and safe and reliable motoring..

Edited 21 December, 20196 yr by carbman

Tayna batteries online is the cheapest place I have found for batteries. Really fast and cheap delivery too. 

 

https://www.tayna.co.uk