Td5 fuel pump - take 2

[2 rocks]

Groundhog Day!

Well after swapping the howling fuel pump in 2 ROCKS for a 2nd hand unit over Christmas, the "new" one is now howling as much as the old one. :(

And today, when attempting to leave work, I had the same problem as occurred about 3 weeks ago with the old pump, viz: engine turns over and attempts to fire, maybe on a couple of cylinders but doesn't run until I apply 1/2+ throttle. Idles roughly for a few seconds and thereafter runs okay and gets me the hour's journey home.

Anyone have any thoughts, observations on the following symptoms and ideas:

* Could the pump be okay, but the howl and failure to start (similar to a re-start after a running out of fuel) mean the pump is trying to prime/overcome an air leak elsewhere in the system? Although there is no evidence of a fuel leak that I would expect if air was getting in (fuel would get out?). Fuel filter has not been recently disturbed so it's sealing should not be an issue.

* Might they be unrelated? I.e. the fuel pump is noisy but the starting problem is an injector or oil in the harness issue. Though according to documentation I received with the car, the harness had been done...

* Any other scenarios?

* Who makes a good aftermarket fuel pump and at what price, or is genuine the only way to go?

Cheers
Mike

[Redback]

If the pump is howling pretty loud, then i would suggest you have an air leak in the system somewhere, a howling pump means it's working hard to pump the fuel.

I've had this with mine, with mine it turned out that there was 2 O-rings in the centre of the fuel filter, causing an air gap as it wouldn't allow it to seal around the outer O-ring.

Baz.

[DiscoDan]

Mine was howling after I put the new fuel block in it but once the air was purged no more noise.

I have heard that the fuel lines can get pin holes in them (source LRM) and if it is on the return side then maybe the air coming in is causing the high pressure side to drop its pressure. If it was on the high pressure side I would expect a leak or a smell of raw diesel to be coming from the car. I picked the leaking fuel block by smell as there was no leaks on the ground and the drips were fairly slow (1 per 15-20 secs)

Look under and around for a damp spot this might help you find a pin hole

Hope some of this helps

Danny

[jwb]

Hi Mike,

you don't mention your car details but the symptoms sound very much like what I had on my 2002 Td5 at about 110k a year ago.

Progressively louder howling fuel pump which was replaced along with the fuel filter o-ring problem (there is a tech bulletin on that).
Then had starting issues - would run but difficult to start. Also eventually started cutting out while running.
LR techs couldn't find a leak and no info in the ECU errors.
Worked forward towards the expensive part of the car...
Found the fuel pump relay needed replacement and suspected an ECU problem but when a replacement was tried the starting issues were still there.
Finally replaced the injector seals and there has been no issues since.

[2 rocks]

JWB
That's interesting, no-one mentioned the injector seals before...now a new genuine pump is about $600, what did the pump seal job come in at dollar-wise?

Oh and sorry, it's a 2001 D2...my sub has expired so my signature has gone awol. :)
Cheers
Mike

[jwb]

I think the injector seal parts were about $700, labour I can't be definitive on as I got looked after to some extent as LR hadn't been able to find the problem earlier.

apparently there are other symptoms of the injector seals issue including fuel in the sump and an increase shows up on the dipstick and can be analysed for. I didn't see this or didn't notice it.

[Psimpson7]

I think the injector seal parts were about $700, labour I can't be definitive on as I got looked after to some extent as LR hadn't been able to find the problem earlier.


I dont think that's correct.

The copper washers at the base are about 5.70 each and the o rings about 12.50 each from LR.

5 of each.

[PhilipA]

OK you TD5 owners, you will have to thank a V8 owner for the fix.

Just reading the latest LRO and there it is .

A Pom has had a noisy fuel pump , changed it, changed fuel regulator, fuel filter and new one is noisy.

FIX- O ring seals on injectors are leaking. air is introduced into teh system by teh leaking seals and causing noisy pump and hard starting.
Fix is to replace the injector O rings.
Regards Philip A

[PhilipA]

Whoops, Last time I looked it hadn't been solved but O rings x2.
Regards Philip A