P38A Cut out on motorway now wont start.

Driving home in my 2000 p38 diesel at about 60mph when the power vanished and it sounded a bit rattly, ran fine up to this point. pulled in and when I try to crank it there is no attempt to start and it is spinning faster than normal and doesn't sound quite right. towed it off the motorway to a layby and will go back up with nanocom when I have recovered a bit! Any thoughts on what could be amiss?

Rocker shaft in bits?

I think I would be looking at the timing chains, rocker cover off and see if all is turning ok then look at pump.

Chain Failure.

Not been able to get at it yet but if I look through the oil filler cap opening the cam is spinning when cranked? Praying it's not chain failiure!

Sounds very like it.

Think it's the fuel pump, chains and cam seem fine, bit peed off really the pump is a bosch recon unit from euro car parts three months ago!

Got my reconditioned pump from Diesel Jones in Manchester. No issues so far.

welshsteve said:

Think it's the fuel pump, chains and cam seem fine, bit peed off really the pump is a bosch recon unit from euro car parts three months ago!

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Just looked at prices Euro cars charge. Silly money.

wammers said:

Just looked at prices Euro cars charge. Silly money.

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Got it at 30% off came in at 500 quid. Cheapest I found anywhere.

welshsteve said:

Got it at 30% off came in at 500 quid. Cheapest I found anywhere.

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Euro must have changed their pricing then. At the present time Bosch exchange from them is £1987.74 with their 44% discount comes out at £1104.99. Cheapest Dtech recon is £859.99. 30% would make that £601.99. Which is the only one they have in stock.

wammers said:

Euro must have changed their pricing then. At the present time Bosch exchange from them is £1987.74 with their 44% discount comes out at £1104.99. Cheapest Dtech recon is £859.99. 30% would make that £601.99. Which is the only one they have in stock.

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Looks like they have had a slight rise see what you mean by silly money! Have to see how good their customer service is now.

welshsteve said:

Looks like they have had a slight rise see what you mean by silly money! Have to see how good their customer service is now.

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There are a few things to look at before you start taking the injection pump off. Do you not know anyone with good diag? Nanocom for instance. To late now, but Diesel Jones is an official Bosch agent. I would never get a replacement pump from a retailer like Euro. To much buggering about getting them to sort it usually. But we will have to see if it does turn out to be that. Have you looked at lift pump function?

Further to this. If it has the original lift pump fitted they have a NRV in them. Cheaper after market ones don't have NRVs, so if they fail the injection pump can easily suck fuel from tank but power will be low on hills. Specially with low fuel levels. If the lift pump has failed the NRVs are so strong they can prevent the injection pump sucking fuel from the tank. I had this happen to mine and it had a new injection pump fitted. So it may not be the injection pump that has failed. Look in the tech archive, i posted a guide in there how to test lift pump for flow. No need to remove any pipes though. Just look for air in the clear pipe from filter to injection pump. If you have air in there it will be lift pump failed. If there is air remove relay 12 and with ignition off power terminal five socket, the one nearest front of car from battery positive. You should see the air move if it doesn't lift pump is duff.

Cheers Wammers will check this out when I get home. There was no air in the clear line between the filter and pump but will check properly later.

welshsteve said:

Cheers Wammers will check this out when I get home. There was no air in the clear line between the filter and pump but will check properly later.

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Check the lift pump anyway worth a do before going for failed injection pump. Unless it's a bad connection to something or a one off bad recon where something electrical has failed, mechanically they are pretty bullet proof.

wammers said:

Check the lift pump anyway worth a do before going for failed injection pump. Unless it's a bad connection to something or a one off bad recon where something electrical has failed, mechanically they are pretty bullet proof.

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Pump might be OK but was the Woodruff key in properly or has the chain popped off?

welshsteve said:

Not been able to get at it yet but if I look through the oil filler cap opening the cam is spinning when cranked? Praying it's not chain failiure!

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If the camshaft wasnt turning then the pistons would be hitting a n open valve and possibly sieze up

welshsteve said:

Got it at 30% off came in at 500 quid. Cheapest I found anywhere.

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welsh steve if you want a secondhand pump try charles@ nantwich he,s got good pumps for around 260+postage his pone nu is07977509008 hope this helps urs bob

Daft .but is there fuel in the tank ;stop on pump connected .and if you want to risk it ,a little spray brake cleaner or if you have to cold start in air intake ,if it runs ie fires then cam timing is good ....