Fuel problem ... please help ... urgent

I went to the car.

Undid the 14mm/14mm joint on the inlet to the lift pump. Put a piece of fuel pipe on that inlet and put the other end in a can of diesel. Turned car over and it started in seconds and ran perfect. As it was running I opened the bleed valve on top of the filter housing. Fuel was pulsing out with a lot of force so it looks like the lift pump is fine.

I looked at lift pipes on top of fuel tank. Metal end bits were rusty but bone dry and no sign of leaks. If they are letting in air would they be wet?

Tried to remove sedimentor for cleaning. That 11mm head on the top is rounded off and rusty. You can't see it but a 11mm spanner just span around it. No grip at all.

Shall I try and remove the whole unit or just cut pipes and bypass?

id bypass it they get leaks through corrosion made worse by aliminum housing bolted to steel chassis sited poorly the pipe you need to worry about is the passenger side on sender it can suck a little air without been wet,whereas the other may be been on the return side ,but you need to check by blowing through pipe sender pick up is clear

Cheers James

I'll bypass it tomorrow and try and get it home.

Lesson to be learnt here.......dont use veg oil lol <makes mental note>

I had a similar problem with my M plate 300tdi in that it wouldn't start every bloomin winter, each time it was the fuel lift pump....and I never run her ever on veg oil...I just assumed it was a common problem with this model

I hope you get it sorted though - good luck!

Probably gelled up as its too cold. Try putting a bit of petrol in (2-3 liters) in the tank, should be fine with that just a little bit smokey. I did this when ever I filled up with veg diesel 50/50 and ran perfect all winter.

It just makes the mix flow better in these cold temps.

Thanks for the additional replies.

We keep living and learning ... well maybe I don't.

Things I've learned over the last couple of days ...

Know what's in the veg oil that you are using. Apparently in the colder weather oil that is blended and may have Palm oil in is bad to use in the cold. It gets too viscous. Rapeseed oil stays thinner longer.

Do a test ... put out a small see through bottle of veg oil by the car when it starts getting cold. If the veg oil that you wish to use stays thin and liquidy it's probably going to be ok ( check that temp isn't going to dip ).

Once that temp gets below 10 then use less oil. Maybe 25% or maybe less.

Langers

When I used to run my old Xantia on veg oil ( same pump ) I used to use 50% diesel/45% veg oil/5% unleaded. Never had a problem even over winter.

So why didn't I do this with the Landy? The honest answer is that when I got the Landy I mistakenly put some unleaded in ( not using veg at this time ). I filled up with diesel and just ran it through. A few days later I noticed the shaft seal was leaking on the injector pump. Maybe nowt do with it but it's got me paranoid about adding petrol. Mind you ... cost me about 30 quid for a new seal and to have the shaft rebushed. Car has never started so well or driven so well. So well worth it anyway.

I know it's easy saying don't use veg oil. Running on veg has halved fuel costs per week. So saving 25 / 30 quid a week. 100 / 120 a month. Yup I cocked up this time but I've learned from it and hopefully no real damage done. Just a couple of days messing about.

If you are going to keep the sedimentor then look after it. Clean every year and keep the bolt lubed and easy to remove.

He's safely back home and up the drive. So tomorrow I'll have a proper play and blow lines clear etc.

I fixed the can under bonnet. Drilled hole to a tight fit. I was aware of the vacuum issue so I'd also drilled a small hole so air could get in can.

Filled can ( about 5 litres ). Got about 2 miles down the road and ran out. Never realised there would be that much return. Main fuel tank indicator had clearly risen so I realised the fuel was going back into main tank.

So drilled 2nd hole and fitted pipe for return. I put an inline filter in line from the small new tank to lift pump as I didn't want bits of plastic from drilling stuck in system.

Ran without problems. I filled up two more cans so I could refill on way home. One hiccup ... coffed and spluttered along motorway after about 15 miles (I was going to check at 20 [ services ] ... I know I should have checked earlier but I was on Motorway within a mile of fuel station ). Pulled over on hard shoulder and checked. The can was about 1/5 full still but the feed pipe had curled up and was sucking air. Curled it back so it was at the bottom and secured it there. Filled up from spare can and ran all the way home.

Second 15 miles ( home at this point ) the can was still about half full. So it also showed that on cold start it had used far more diesel than once the engine was warm.

Had loads of help from the ex wife and her new fella. Top bloke.