td5 running out of fuel

[scotty281976]

bit of a weird on this, ive owned the discovery 3 weeks and the previous owner warned me it ran out of fuel at 1/4 full.
I removed the pump and sender unit last week to investigate and checked the sender and it seems to work fine when moved by hand from empty to full,
So I cleaned the gauze on the bottom of the pump and refitted it,

fast forward tonight sure enough it ran out of fuel at a 1/4 of a tank, so I put 10 litres of diesel in switched on the ignition and stamped on the throttle pedal 5 times to bleed it, waited 3 mins try to start it and the battery went flat within 2 turns of cranking.

so out come the jump leads and repeat the bleed procedure and fires up more or less straight away with a bit of coughing and spluttering and then drove home.

by the looks of it the pump has been replaced before its date stamped 2009, im wondering if the pump has gone weak or its sucking from the wrong height, has anyone else had the same problem

 

[jamesmartin]

or float arms bent so its not resting on bottom of tank when empty

 

[Dragonwalker]

Wrong part ?

Maybe for summat with a bigger tank ?

 

[Monkey13]

Is the defender td5 fuel pump different to the disco td5?

 

[scotty281976]

I know its not the sender at fault because if I fill it up when showing 1/2 full it takes about 50 quid to brim it,
plus looking at pics of a d2 td5 in tank pump the float and arm looks the same as mine ie: not bent

 

[GDM]

Get the pump out again and take some measurements of the pick up point and the depth of the tank, relative to the pump mounting flange. If there is a discrepancy, then the wrong pump has probably been fitted.

 

[cambridgecockney]

If its an aftermarket pump they are notoriously inaccurate.fitted one to mine put in 50lts then after 3 miles fuel warning light came on.fitted the sender and float from my original pump and all ok.

 

[Bennehboy]

I think the original poster is saying that there IS fuel in the tank when the car stops running. I'd be replacing with a genuine VDO unit and thoroughly inspecting all the other elements of the fuel system, filter block, filter, air bleed valve, FPR, cooler.

 

[sierrafery]

you can replace only the sender(YAD500040)... put a new one as even if your's works outside by hand it's sticking in the reservoir imo

 

[scotty281976]

ive just done the following, removed the pump of of the tank, I sucked the 10 litres out I put in last night after running out.
then I sucked the remainder out which was 20 litres so in other words it runs out of fuel with 20 litres still left and the gauge shows 1/4 of a tank remaining so that rules out the sender being inaccurate.
the pump when refitted physically bottoms out then you have push it about 2 inches on the spring loaded mechanism for the pump flange to meet the tank.

the pump and sender are genuine its marked VDO which were fitted from factory

 

[GDM]

ive just done the following, removed the pump of of the tank, I sucked the 10 litres out I put in last night after running out.
then I sucked the remainder out which was 20 litres so in other words it runs out of fuel with 20 litres still left and the gauge shows 1/4 of a tank remaining so that rules out the sender being inaccurate.
the pump when refitted physically bottoms out then you have push it about 2 inches on the spring loaded mechanism for the pump flange to meet the tank.

the pump and sender are genuine its marked VDO which were fitted from factory

Did you check the flange to pick-up point measurement on the pump, and compare it with the flange to tank bottom measurement?

 

[discodrivercumbria]

mine did that! 04 genuine pump, replaced it and has been ok! i ain't pushing any more!

 

[scotty281976]

yes I checked the height its fine, I think ive found the culprit. there is another filter fitted to the pump body itself the pump assembly has to be dismantled to get to it,
as you can see below its well bunged up with black crap.

 

[jamesmartin]

not uncommon its worth wiping tank out whilst pumps out

 

[cambridgecockney]

That either diesel bug or injector seals perished.

 

[blackvulcan100]

That either diesel bug or injector seals perished.

How do you get diesel bug ??

 

[cambridgecockney]

mainly from fuel thats contaminated with water.diesel tanks condensate only needs a little.then with car standing not used frequently. mainly happens to boats.

 

[Maaarrghk]

Interesting thread that has given me the motivation to have a look at mine when the weather picks up.

Mine too "runs out" at just blow 1/4 full on the gauge. Thus far I am living with it, but now I know what to be looking for my spanner fingers have started to itch.

 

[choppen]

my defender use to run out at quarter of a tank as it had loads of water in it took me ages to work it out cleaned tank out put pure diesel back in it and was fine after that may not be your problems but easy enough to check as if water in the tank undo drain plug on diesel filter and see if loads of water comes out or a mix of diesel and water

 

[johnboy6]

The main cause of water in the tank is caused by not keeping the tank topped up with fuel. When unused returned fuel enters the tank it is warm, and in colder temperatures can cause condensation on the inside of the tank if the tank is not kept topped up to a reasonable level with fuel. A place I worked at put drivers on a written warning if the vehicle they had driven that day was not fully re-fuelled before they went home. If a vehicle was left till the next day, the condensation that had happened overnight was enough to cause waxing in the filter during the winter months, this caused downtime and lost profits for them. When I first started driving I was given a really good bit of advice from my father........ It was "IT COSTS JUST THE SAME TO KEEP A VEHICLE HALF FULL TO FULL" as it does "TO KEEP IT EMPTY TO HALF FULL"