oap Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 On the first week of January I replaced the fuel pump on a 99 Td5 defender. I've been stuck on the side of the road three times since, the three occasions I had a half tank of fuel left or maybe a little less than half. There is no warning at all like spluttering or normal stuff you would associate with a fuel problem, power just dies and she will not start. The week before last I had it towed off the motorway and let them bring it to their garage to see if they could find the problem.I picked it up few days later and was told that it was caused by oil wicking through the wiring loom into the ECU (a common Td5 problem). About ten years ago, I replaced the injector loom because of this. I cant remember the exact symptoms at the time. But it never left me stranded. This morning on the way to work, she stopped again on the motorway. Same thing a little less than half left in the fuel tank, and I got it towed to my house. I went and bought five liter's of diesel , bled the system, put some brake cleaner into the air filter and she started on the second attempt, drove it to a petrol station, filled it with diesel and she is running grand now. I forgot to mention that they had pressure tested the system, in the garage last week and they said that it was perfect. Apart from it being very slightly harder on diesel than it was before with the old pump and that the diesel gauge is much more responsive, there is no other obvious difference apart from I cant rely on it anymore. If anyone can think of what it might be that could be causing this issue please tell me. Thanks for reading such a long post. O.A.P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cackshifter Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Maybe the gauge is lying, and you run out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzar Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Pin hole in pickup pipe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Hunter Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 On 2/16/2018 at 11:06 AM, oap said: I went and bought five liter's of diesel , bled the system, put some brake cleaner into the air filter and she started on the second attempt, drove it to a petrol station, filled it with diesel and she is running grand now. How much fuel did it take to fill the tank after adding the first five litres? This will indicate if your fuel gauge is reading about right, not that LR fuel gauges are ever accurate! If the gauge checks out, then it certainly sounds like a problem with your pick-up pipe, as Gazzer suggests. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Whats the fuel filter body like? they have a habit of crumbling away and letting air into the system, but sounds like its more a pic-up orientated problem... what was the make of the fuel pump you used?... as seen as its started happening after the event of changing it I'd say its got an issue... don't get to caught up with the "as its new it must be ok" - this has caught me out a few times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oap Posted February 24, 2018 Author Share Posted February 24, 2018 On 17/02/2018 at 6:30 PM, cackshifter said: Maybe the gauge is lying, and you run out? On 17/02/2018 at 8:47 PM, Gazzar said: Pin hole in pickup pipe? On 18/02/2018 at 5:31 AM, Troll Hunter said: How much fuel did it take to fill the tank after adding the first five litres? This will indicate if your fuel gauge is reading about right, not that LR fuel gauges are ever accurate! If the gauge checks out, then it certainly sounds like a problem with your pick-up pipe, as Gazzer suggests. Mike On 19/02/2018 at 1:48 PM, Maverik said: Whats the fuel filter body like? they have a habit of crumbling away and letting air into the system, but sounds like its more a pic-up orientated problem... what was the make of the fuel pump you used?... as seen as its started happening after the event of changing it I'd say its got an issue... don't get to caught up with the "as its new it must be ok" - this has caught me out a few times. Thanks for all the replies, I'm sorry that I've taken so long to reply. The fuel gauge is pretty accurate anyway, with the old pump it wouldn't budge from the full mark until I had over one hundred miles done and then it would work like normal. With the new pump even after twenty miles the needle has already started to fall (just makes me relies how thirsty it is). This all started when I serviced it at Christmas , when I went to change the fuel filter at the time, the filter housing broke away from the chassis as I was trying to twist off the fuel filter. It also managed to snap the ends off of one of the fuel lines. As it was Christmas the land rover sat idle for two weeks, before I got a new filter housing, I put it all back together then and repaired the fuel line. But when I tried to bleed the system the fuel pump wouldn't work as in I couldn't hear it making the loud screeching noise it usually makes. So I ordered a new pump and when I replaced it I got it started no problem and its been like I described in the original post since. Here's a couple photos of the new fuel filter housing (doesn't look new now) and the repair I did. As far as I know this is a return line, but it is possible that I damaged the other lines too. Although the mechanic at the garage said he pressure tested the system and it was fine , surely if there was pinhole somewhere in the lines, he would have found it? Thanks everyone for their help so far. O.A.P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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