300tdi Cold Weather problems

Help please! Temperature has hit below -10 and now old disco wont run. She starts but runs with really low revs, if you put the foot down it just cuts out at about 1000 revs. If you put it into gear it just cuts out. Bled the fuel system and if you manually prime it with the little manual pump it will rev but then runs out of fuel I think. Any suggestions? Thanks for any help.

Could it be your diesel is freezing..?? On Saturday i changed the fuel filter on my transit van and put the old filter on top of the outside garden table and on Sunday morning i happend to pick up the filter just to look at it and it was frozen and that's down here in the midlands..Took me back to the 1950s when the Brewery lorries tried to start outside our house the drivers used to light fires under the fuel tanks to defrost them..

I dont think the fuel is frozen as its flowing out of the bottom of the fuel filter clearly with no water when bleeding

Check the lift pump - do a quick search on here for lift pump checks and follow these to see if it is pumping diesel OK.

Regarding the fuel freezing up, it's one thing flowing out the bottom of the fuel filter but another thing going through the filter element if it has waxed up.

Hi there, I think you might be right and the lift pump is knackered, no resistance even after giving the engine half a crank, but it was doing this before and no problems. Would the cold weather and a knacked lift pump cause this? Would it run okay with a shot lift pump in warm weather?

SCOTIA911 said:

Would it run okay with a shot lift pump in warm weather?

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nope

Well, the 300tdi engine can run with a knackered lift pump, it usually won't do more than about 3000rpm and it has limited pulling power.

In the colder weather, it will make it more difficult for the injection pump to suck diesel through the filter. Have you started the engine and then undone the bleedscrew on top of the filter housing? It is possible for the manual lever to fail but it's still pumping away OK on the cam. See if you get a good flow of diesel when the engine is ticking over.

Fuel is pumping when I disconnect the hose from the fuel filter but only when turning engine over, when I undo the crew nothing is coming out

thanks for all the advice have ordered a new lift pump hopefully that will do the trick. Is it a bugger to fit or straight forward

Diesel fuel in the UK legally has to be good to flow down to minus 15C.
I am old enough to remeber trying to start lorries and plant equip in the bad old days when diesel did go waxy.We used to add paraffin, and even petrol in some cases to get fuel to flow.Even further back when fuel was cheap buses ran engines all night in the depot to keep them ready for the early shift.Check your sedimenter and drain your fuel filter regularly.

Jim A.
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)

Diesel in the UK varies in composition,relative to the season(adjusted at the refinery)-in winter there is a higher naptha content in the fuel to stop waxing,this fuel actually has less energy in it than summer diesel,and consequently gives slightly less mpg-but they do not charge any less

Have you checked/cleaned out the fuel sedimentor - there is every chance that if there was ANY water in there it'll have frozen up.

To check you will need an 11mm ring spanner to remove the bowl and clean it out.

had a similar problem last year, my 200tdi defender would tick over but as soon as you tried to drive it, it just spluttered and stopped, turned out, the fuel filter was full off water that had froze up, when i took the filter off only a tiny amount of fuel came out, i put a hair dryer on the filter, and out came the water.

i decided to drain all the fuel out of the tank just to check there was no water in the tank, turned out it was froze at the bottom off the tank i put a tilley lamp under the tank to thaw out the water on the bottom of the tank, i was surprised how much water came out.

i fitted a new filter, filled it full of fuel replaced it, started the engine undone the bleed screw and it cut out as soon as i tightened the bleed screw it ran, it should run with the bleed screw open just pumps diesel out, turned out the lift pump was knackered and the main pump was pulling it through. fitted a new lift pump job done, my advice fit a bearmach pump, the broken pump was a britpart fitted 9 months earlier

atb

Hi all, sorry to hijack the thread but it seems pertinent. I've established (I think) that my sedimenter is very old and I am replacing it tomorrow. I have a choice between a £20 buy from Foundry 4x4 which is local and give an excellent service, or a £62 unit from Bearmach. Given that it is an incredibly simple unit, can the higher price really be justified? To contribute to the original thread; I'm not 100% convinced that my lift pump is not faulty but until I can get fuel flowing through the sedimenter, I can't check properly.

I think i would go with the £20 unit in this case.

Discotony said:

Hi all, sorry to hijack the thread but it seems pertinent. I've established (I think) that my sedimenter is very old and I am replacing it tomorrow. I have a choice between a £20 buy from Foundry 4x4 which is local and give an excellent service, or a £62 unit from Bearmach. Given that it is an incredibly simple unit, can the higher price really be justified? To contribute to the original thread; I'm not 100% convinced that my lift pump is not faulty but until I can get fuel flowing through the sedimenter, I can't check properly.

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Have you replaced the sedimenter seals? If the big one isn't sealing correctly, you'll be sucking air through when you try and prime the system, not diesel.

I tries to bleed my sedimenter before removal as per haynes manual and the bloody plastic nipple snapped off, AAGGGHH!! At least its not leaking and hopefully new lift pump will arrive soon

SCOTIA911 said:

I tries to bleed my sedimenter before removal as per haynes manual and the bloody plastic nipple snapped off, AAGGGHH!! At least its not leaking and hopefully new lift pump will arrive soon

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Provided the plug is still making a seal, don't worry about it. Do as The Big Lad says above and you'll have no problems.

janderson41 said:

Diesel fuel in the UK legally has to be good to flow down to minus 15C.
I am old enough to remeber trying to start lorries and plant equip in the bad old days when diesel did go waxy.We used to add paraffin, and even petrol in some cases to get fuel to flow.Even further back when fuel was cheap buses ran engines all night in the depot to keep them ready for the early shift.Check your sedimenter and drain your fuel filter regularly.

Jim A.
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)

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Ah, i remember the days of "Waxing".
Stuck on top of The Alps in Switzerland and lighting my gas cooker under my fuel tank to stop the diesel "Waxing" in -30 temperatures.
Those were the days.

Splasher said:

Ah, i remember the days of "Waxing".
Stuck on top of The Alps in Switzerland and lighting my gas cooker under my fuel tank to stop the diesel "Waxing" in -30 temperatures.
Those were the days.

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Feck me..how high did you have to jack the landy to get a cooker underneath???

Or have you got a massive kitchen??