Thread: heelp! Diesel stalls on M5

Originally Posted by Gromit68

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So where does the snot come from? How did it reach my main filter? What can I do to prevent this happening again?

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There are several varieties of bacteria that infect virtually all diesel storages around the world (thirty years ago they were rare). You can assume that you have the infection. Normally they cause no problem, but the bacteria will breed up to give the result you found wherever the infection is present and there is diesel and water in contact and left undisturbed (faster if it is warm). The diesel treatment is intended to kill the bacteria, and also increase the solubility of water in the diesel, and is one form of defence. The other forms of defence are to always keep the tank(s) full to prevent condensation, and to use the vehicle regularly to keep the fuel moving. It also helps substantially to move inland where it is dry, and to change the filters more regularly. It might pay, if you haven't already done this, to drain the tank(s) to make sure that there is no water in the bottom.

John

It sounds like you've still got a fuel starvation problem. There's enough pump going on to get fuel to the engine if it isn't under load, but as soon as you put it under load it runs into problems.

I reckoned when I had the same symptoms was that the fuel filter cannister was getting filled with fuel this lasted however long that much fuel lasts under load, and as soon as it was empty there was a failure to proceed. Then I'd give it a couple of minutes to calm down and it would be fine for another short run.

I'd be looking at joins and lines from tank to sedimentor - if it's a rear sedimentor. Same for lines from lift pump to fuel filter and fuel filter to injection pump.

Seals in sedimenter and drain plug. Shouldn't be a problem in fuel filter since that's relatively recent.

Lift pump.

Big dent in bottom of fuel tank occluding/pushing the fuel pick up out of the fuel.

Injection pump.

Cheers
Simon