Help running out of money 300tdi discovery

I have a disco 300TDI N reg 1996

I have had it now for about 5 months and I have spent loads of money trying to cure a intermittent problem I have had.

While driving normally accelerating in 3,4,5 gear the car loses power, it can be while accelerating or driving along at 70, the car does not cut out and no lights come on, it is just as if the fuel is cut off.
Taking my foot off the accelerator while still driving and after a few seconds all is okay again, sometimes having to drop down the gears due to loss of power, but then all is okay again.

Problem is it’s intermittent sometimes not happening for weeks!!

Items replaced: battery, tappets checked, Engine oil changed + filter, Fuel cap, new fuel filter, cleaned sediment bowl, new fuel cut off solenoid, new lift pump, new fuel injector rails, new fuel injectors, air filter.

Some of the above have been done at land rover dealer and some myself.

I have listed everything that has been done to try and cure the problem, but left with i.e. dirty fuel tank? Flooding don’t know what else to try so if there is anything you guys could suggest I would appreciate it, driving along at 70 on the motorway then having to do a crawl at 20 with my daughter in the car on a motorway is not fun.

It has cost about £1000 in garage charges and parts and have not got much money left and don’t want to part with it but might have to if costs get much higher!

Just had another look under the engine on the last injector you have a return, which I think returns fuel back to the tank, running next to this is a plastic pipe, which is not connected to anything! Can’t find where it’s supposed to go but it follows the same route as the pipe going to the fuel tank?

Any help would be welcomed
cheers Marc

i had similar on a turbo car..would run all day with no load. but when accelerating it would just die.after going throught evrything i could thing of, i bite the bullet and took the tank off and found it full of crap. the pick up pipe was blocking and couldn't allow enough fuel through when under load. got some stuff from eastwoods and clean the tank out,recoated the inside and its been fine ever since.
i know its not exactly the same but it sounds like you might have the same problem

That extra pipe you see is a breather, and should be there, its not going to be a non connected part causing your problem, the car runs, it would appear to be fuel starvation.

I think it is dirt in the system before the lift pump. I would try draining the tank and washing it out with clean fuel, or even petrol (it makes a better job) I would then disconnect the fuel line from the tank, disconnect the liftpump output, put the fuel line from the tank into a clean jar of diesel, and using the priming lever pump that through, collect it in a jar and make sure its coming through clean and with little effort. Maybe even removing the tank, giving it a good inspection and clean would be better.

When my grandfather was in haulage, he had an intermittent fault like the one you mention, and it turned out to be a piece of grease proof paper that had been on a new fuel sender that was fitted, so every now and again, it would slosh under the standpipe and would get sucked onto it, causing loss of fuel until it was sloshed back off, so I am going to go for a fuel fault before the pump.

Another thing, try driving it with the air filter removed for a quick blast up the motorway and see how that goes.

Thank you both, it was a job is not wanting to do but i think its the only thing i can try!!.
might be a stupid question but if i remove the sender from the tank can you then see inside the tank ?
many thanks Marc

yes if you got a torch

Or strike a match.....................................

Had a similar thing once, turned out the fuel tank was rusting inside! Did try the coating as slob mentioned, after steaming out the tank to remove any petrol vapours and accumulated crap. Left to dry and then tipped in a coating agent from AKZO. Worked for about six months, then the problem started again. Had to buy a new tank in the end. Sorry....

no match, but i will try it with the lighter!

if you get the stuff from eastwicks/eastwoods its a mild acid stuff that strips back to clean metal .you then use the second part to recoat the inside. this stops the re-rusting you'd otherwise get.

thanks will try and track them down, Marc

http://www.frost.co.uk/productList.asp?catID=25
try here

Well decided to if i was going to take the tank off it would better just to fit a new one, as if any problem would not get a new one due to bank holiday, i checked the sediment filter just to check if any crap in, and the drain screw snapped off in my hand!!!! so had to get one of them as well, and a fuel filter.

problem is the old and new tank are plastic ( no rust in there then) so i now have a perfectly good old tank bummer!

sediment filer was full of crap ( this was supposed to have been done at land rover 4 months ago while i was having the problems)

i also replaced the fuel filter.

so we wait and see test drive yesterday all went okay we will just have to wait and see.

old tank going on ebay, new one cost £348 would be nice to get some of the money back.

thanks to all with the help will let you know if that worked.
marc

am a bit pssed at the minute but has any one checked the camshaft for wear Not being able to work the fuel pump all the time is quite well known problem

discomania said:

Another thing, try driving it with the air filter removed for a quick blast up the motorway and see how that goes.

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I would always advise against this with a diesel engine. As it relies on compresion any **** in the bore can cause a lot of damage that will not be apparent straight away.



I also doubt that a blocked air filter would cause an intermittent fault like the one you have described.

up till now all going well, thanks you all for advice.

Hi i once fitted a patern part lift pump from britpart and the angle on the lift pump lever was incorrect and would not lift enough fuel at higher revs,fitted genuine part and problem fixed,tiga

wolfie said:

sediment filer was full of crap ( this was supposed to have been done at land rover 4 months ago while i was having the problems)

i also replaced the fuel filter.

so we wait and see test drive yesterday all went okay we will just have to wait and see.

old tank going on ebay, new one cost £348 would be nice to get some of the money back.

Click to expand...

IF you got the new tank from the same place that didn't check your sedimenter - take the tank back - pick a busy day & make a fuss you may get a refund

the pump is non Gen, land rover did not have one in stock had to get on from a local garage, at that time it happened 3 or 4 times that day. after replacing the lift pump the problem stopped for over a month.

cant take the tank back as the new one is one the car but i have the sediment bowl with the white/yellow sand type crap in the bottom, which will be going back.
but they will just say thats 4/5 months of crap and they did it!!

marc

Well the problem is still there another few hundred quid up the drain! drove up to Amble today around 45/50 mile parked up, 2 hours later on my way home in 5th car died, did not stall just lost all power, it started to slow i dropped down the gears and when it went into 3rd the power can back on with the rev counter hitting the roof? stumped.
i think its going to have to go shame as it's a nice car but that's life.

If the problem was resolved with the new lift pump, and now it has returned, but you found loads of 'sand' in the tank and filter, you may well have knackered the new lift pump.