During an off road event today i was driving my 200TDi along, started an incline, got half way up and lost all power and it died. Started up again and away i went. Got back down and it died again. Now it started up, revved it pulled away and the revs dropped slowly and it died, or if it didnt die it dropped to about 400rpm, even with my foot on the accelerator it wouldnt rev above the 400rpm for about 10 secs then it would rev freely again a few times, then just drop again.
We towed it home and it idled perfect out side the workshop while we made space inside for it, then went to move it and it struggled again.
I had half a tank in so its not lack of fuel in the tank but it does feel like fuelling. Im going to change the filter tomorrow incase all the movement stirred so crap up off the bottom of the tank especially as half hour before i was stuck at this angle:






Anyone else experienced the same problems and resolved them?

Sounds like mine did when the lift pump died. It will run happily on the injector pump at idle but not enough juice to do any more than that. I swapped it for a known good one to check, found it to be the problem and bought a new one for about £12

Oh right im guessing it was an ebay bargain for that price? Where do i access the lift pump from?

the lift pump is here:



just above the oil filter housing, its usually held on by a 13mm (i think) bolt on either side, but it could be allen bolts if ur unlucky...

The lift pump is on the block behind the injector pump..... it has the fuel pipes going in and out of it...... when disconnecting them, be aware they might have slight fuel pressure in them..... you don;t wanna be getting an eye full of diesel!!!!

I'd also check the air filter...... a mates truck did what you describe, and his filter had collapsed...!

Looking at that pic, i'm guessing someone fancies them selves as a plumber...LOL!!

Follow the pipe from the fuel filter tt where it attaches to the engine block. The round thing at the attachement point ist the fuel pump. Held on by 2 nuts/studs and has a thick gasket behind it. Its a 10 minute job to change it (after you have done it a few times!)
http://www.paddockspares.com/pp/DISCOVERY_...p_-_200TDI.html

Gone up a bit in the last few years but still not over expensive!

where were you for the off-roading?

Lovely, ill take a look today and see whats what.
Off road day was here:

http://www.bures-pit.co.uk/

In the second pic it looks like your fuel filler cap may have been submerged? Might it be water in the fuel?

buy another one! see classifieds for details

Well spotted threesheds....

there is a good possibility that there is more to it than a dodgy fuel pump. Water in the tank may cause the symptoms so I reckon you need to systematically check it all out. It may be that the pump is still at fault (sounds tight symptoms) but you need to establish the cause. When mine went I still had to strip the fuel lines and take the pickup our of the tank and clean that too as it turned out to be a line blockage that had caused the membrane in the pump to split!

The filler neck wasnt in the water but agreed that the ajoining pipework maybe.
Ill replace the pump and check the lines and also drain the tank if its relatively easy? Is it?
I suppose i can seperate the diesel and water (if any) off and re use the fuel...

Can anyone enlighten me on how to drain the tank?

give it to the missis t drive it will come back running on fresh air.sorry could not resist it ,good luck

We had a similar issue with a 300tdi, It turned out to be sucking air into a perished fuel line.

To drain the tank remove the boot carpet, remove the (probably rusty) screys secuting the cover plate and then undo the fuel line unions without snapping the metal pipes coming out of the sender unit. get a hammer and chisel and knock the black ribbed collar round anticlockwise, then lift out the sender.
Bit of hose pipe and suck!

Another thing that can cause these symptoms is air getting in through badly pitted and rusted metal pipes that exit the top of the fuel sender unit, check to see if there is any diesel staining around them before you disconnect them.

Cock! Ive welded a new floor in without inspection cover LOL. Out comes the angle grinder tomorrow then!

Before you get very dirty & do a lot of hard work - try the easy bits first.
It could be simply that the fuel filter under the bonnet is LOOSE, OR FULL OF DIRT/BLOCKED,
OR LOOSE UNIONS SUCKING AIR.

You could bleed the injectors also & see if they are full of air.

The lift pump is easilly checked by loosening the union at the side of the under bonnet fuel filter - AFTER - you have run engine for a while re-creating the lack of power issue, then loosen the union.
If the lift pump works, fuel will splurt all over the place. . . . . .have a rag handy, you only have to crack it open a turn or so. . . this will happen provided the fuel can get there.
I'd check the crap trap under the fuel tank/ boot floor first.

If you try to drain/empty the crap trap under the boot floor, don't bother to drain it with the little screw flap - it will likely break off, just remove the whole bowl - 10/11mm bolt under centre.
You may find that it is full of jelly from the veggy oil in most pump diesel now - I had this problem.

Good luck, hope you get rolling again soon.
Filthy

check the filter sediment trap at the back just in front of the tank mine was full of an egg yolk substance worth a look before you take the floor out

Ive already replaced the fuel filter on Monday. It had about a tablespoon of fuel in it...
The new lift pump has arrived so ill change it anyway...
Is the tank easy to remove? I may just drain it anyway incase there is water/dirt in there....

Im going to state the obvious here,the fact that there was only a table spoon full of fuel in the filter would indicate to me that your problem is from the fuel filter back towards the tank.As already mentioned follow the lines back and check for splits cracks pitting and leaks and then move back from there and so on and so forth,sorry i cant help more but sometimes the simplist things are missed,best of luck mate.

I had very bad running and when I checked the filter was almost empty - turned out to be the lift pump. Mine had a DELPHI lift pump fitted wich has a stupid very fine filter in the top of it which gets blocked to easily (normal lift pumps ar enon servicable) It just required the filter to be removed and all was fixed

Well its all up on the ramps ready for the tank to be removed (still need directions on this), lines off to be replaced, chassis panited, axles painted, wading kit fitted, and body undersealed.
Going to do the lot while theres a break in the off road day calander!

We think we found the problem today. The level sender metal pipes had corroded leaving a hole, infact once touched the both fell off so air was being sucked in.
We drained the secondary filter infront of the tank and that was all clean fuel, and full so thats good.
So need to order a level sender and go from there....