1988 19J strange engine problems

Hello. I have a 1988 90 19j 2.5TD

The other day at a set of traffic lights i pulled away and it was even more gutless than normal. It’s as if it was in limp mode. I have no Rev counter but would estimate at around 2000-2200 rpm it ran out of steam. Flatlines, will not physically Rev any harder.

At home I changed the fuel filter and air filter. I noticed a bit of crud in the fuel filter.

Bled it up, no difference. Runs terribly idling too.

yesterday I pulled the fuel pick up line out of the tank and it was pretty nasty in there. Rust dirt etc.
I drained the tank and flushed it through several times with an airline and diesel. This took me most of the day. I wasn’t happy when it made no difference…

today I have taken off the air pipe to the turbo and ran it up the road due fear it was collapsing on the inside. Made no difference. I left the turbo end connected but it was even stalling idling and it was definitely getting enough air to idle.
I took the fuel cap off. No obvious pressure in the tank. Made no difference still would stall idling.

I don’t know where to look next? Any ideas?

photos and videos attached

thank you

I would temporarily disconnect the suction pipe from the lift pump and rig up a gravity feed direct to the fuel pump this will eliminate all of the fuel supply side from diagnosis

Thanks. I did take the suction pipe off and blow through. I also took off the pipe from the lift to the filter and blew through. Nothing was in them. I had a suggestion about the lift pump could be an issue but itv primes up easy enough

Could still be lift pump, the pump arm is cam driven and the manual lift lever connect sto the arm the pump side of the cam, so if the cam end is knackered you wont know until you physically remove the pump for a look.
If you do as Adrian suggests, bypassing the lift pump and all pipework you will soon narrow the fault down.

UPDATE


After cleaning all the crud out of the fuel tank, blowing through the fuel lines, removing the lift pump and inspecting, changing the fuel filter, air filter the problem lied with the injector pump. Nothing major thankfully. When idling lumpy and quietly I fiddled with the stop solenoid wire and it instantly ran better. Louder and no longer lumpy. Took it for a spin but it soon reverted back and still had no top end power.. I cut the solenoid wire, fitted a new terminal. Removed the solenoid to check its functionality which was good and put back. I then removed the fuel inlet into the pump and found a very fine screen filter. It was bunged right up with crud. I cleaned it, took out the various plungers and sleeves. Cleaned it all and reassembled. It nows run better than it ever has done! Way way way more power, doesn’t judder pulling away and revs much higher.


Thank you for everyone’s input and I hope this update may help someone else in the future.