td5 fuel pump

Hi, my td5 discovery started to act as though it had no fuel earlier (it has plenty) after limping it home and leaving it I checked everything (oil water etc and fuel for dirt) and this was all fine. Then i drove it down the road it did the same then stopped.
There is no noise coming from the fuel pump at all when ign switch is on (as it always did to prime it and run. etc)
My thought is pump is knackered but what else should i check?
Where is the pump and does it have fuse?
Oh and i get no warning lights.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

blankwalls said:

Hi, my td5 discovery started to act as though it had no fuel earlier (it has plenty) after limping it home and leaving it I checked everything (oil water etc and fuel for dirt) and this was all fine. Then i drove it down the road it did the same then stopped.
There is no noise coming from the fuel pump at all when ign switch is on (as it always did to prime it and run. etc)
My thought is pump is knackered but what else should i check?
Where is the pump and does it have fuse?
Oh and i get no warning lights.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Check the fuses FIRST. Handbook and RAVE should tell you which ones.

The pump is mounted in the top of the fuel tank.
You CAN get at it under the boot floor carpet.
You can NOT drop the tank to do this without first undoing all the pipes and wires first, so there is no point in trying that way.

Two ways to get access to the top of the tank:

1. Strip out all the boot trim including the right side plastic panels, and get the carpet out, thus exposing the cover over the pump.

or

2. Measure carefully or feel around, and very neatly cut out a nice round hole in the carpet and insulation, thus exposing the cover over the pump.

There are 4 colour-coded plastic pipes to the pump unit, and an electrical connection. Undo the four pipes, hoick off the cable, tap the locking ring round, and wiggle the pump up and out.


CharlesY (on a borrowed PC)

Thanks i will check the pump I assume its a 12v feed? the fuse is fine so pretty sure its the pump

got 12v to the pump (white and black wires) and when plug pump direct to a 12v battery on bench its all dead so must be pump.

I have been through 3 of these. It seems to be a td5 problem. Longterm fix is fitting a different set up but will cost lots but possibly cheaper than 3 pumps!

Problem solved but a common fault is that if the pump unit is covered in a black/ grey sooty deposit the injector seals need replacing according to Keith Gotts its fairly common at around 100k miles. these seals failed will cause the pumps to fail so I guess thats next anyone done this before

Do you mean the pipe seals on top of the in tank pump where the four pipes feed and return?

My 03 was dusty but i put that down to 50k of driving over 5 years not seals...... however when one of the pumps was replaced these unions started to leak and new pipes sorted it.

Still seems to me that td5 engines are ok, its all the fuss and faff that makes them work is the problem.

Just learn to pray everytime you need to drive it. that seems to work best.

no. its the injector seals in the head you (appirently) get a leak back which kills the pump and could also put fuel into the sump. If the pump unit has the sooty deposit it voids warranty on the new pump.
Also will affect fuel consumption I guess.