fuel starved and dead diesel FL1

[Jof]

Hi guys,
Yesterday after 500km of country driving my 99 FL1 XEDi started hesitating, I dropped it down to 4th but no power at all, Check Engine light came on, clutch in and engine died.

No luck restarting. I don't know if the check engine light came on due to a fault or because it stopped? I can't check the codes either.
I primed the fuel bulb, no luck, got air and then fuel to come out of the valve on the filter with the hand pump, but nothing really when cranking (no check engine light either).

I can hear the injection pump crackling when the ignition is one.
I understand there is no fuel pump in the tank?

Unfortunately it's 200km away, so I'd like to know what to check before going.

The fuel cut off solenoid I need to check, but where exactly is it?
Going to get the Haynes manual now.
Any other help much appreciated, hope it isn't fuel injection pump, serious $$$, BTW it's done 230K kms, mostly country.
Cheers.

[Junosi]

Correct, there is no pump in the fuel tank on the L series diesel FL1.

You'll find the fuel cut off solenoid located on the fuel injection pump - its on top of the high pressure head part of the pump (the part that has the 4 high pressure lines that go to your injectors). You'll see the solenoid unit with a wire running to it - it unscrews to visually check and/or you can run 12v to it and hear it click open. Be careful taking it off as it has a little spring in there.

FL1 fuel injection pumps very rarely go wrong - but in worst case scenario and it is dead it isn't necessarily all that expesive to replace if you source a used one from the UK (ebay.co.uk for eg) More likely to be one of the numerous sensors that it needs to run correctly and best way to determine that is to get its codes read unfortunately.

edit: a new fuel filter can't hurt either

I can hear the injection pump crackling when the ignition is one.
I understand there is no fuel pump in the tank?

Unfortunately it's 200km away, so I'd like to know what to check before going.

The fuel cut off solenoid I need to check, but where exactly is it?
Going to get the Haynes manual now.
Any other help much appreciated, hope it isn't fuel injection pump, serious $$$, BTW it's done 230K kms, mostly country.
Cheers.

[Jof]

Just found out the wires to the fuel pump had broken, so luckily I'm
not out of pocket $2k for a refurb one.

Any guesses how to check if the pumps on the way out, or how many kms
they should last?

PS. I have a new fuel filter for next service coming up soon.
Maybe time to check out ebay UK.

[Junosi]

My injection pump lasted 230000kms - but I've read/heard of some lasting over 400000kms. They are a very robust unit asside from the occasional sticking solenoid issue. Fuel quality is possibly the biggest factor in its life expectancy - diesel quality degrades with age. So there's no real rule as how long any given pump should last - at a guess I'd say the pump usually outlasts the rest of the vehicle - so I wouldn't worry much about checking out the pump if its working.

Glad your fix was a relatively simple one.

[101RRS]

Mine has done 260,000km and despite numerous "experts" saying it has died - yet it is still running. As mentioned - the main issue is the fuel shutoff solenoid.

Garry

[Jof]

Relatively simple yes, but expensive still, being late Saturday
and 200km from Melbourne, I had to hire a car for a few days,
pay for the call out, pay for the repair, and waste a lot of time.

Time to check out the cut off solenoid, and check it isn't sticking.

BTW, it had been hesitating a bit at 2000rpm, now that the wiring
has been fixed it's gone.