TDi Help - Daughter in North London, Turnpike Lane, Muswell Hill

Colink · Jul 1, 2015

Hi

I am in Northern Ireland, daughters car is in North London, Turnpike Lane, Muswell Hill.

Is there anyone who could help diagnose non starting of my daughters 2001 Cordoba 1.9tdi (fuel pump not in tank).

Brief background.

Car ran out of fuel a few weeks ago, last week failed to start after a short drive.

Brief outline
Highly unhelpful LAR services arrived with a bad attitude. No diagnostics, no attempt to repair. "Diagnosed" blocked fuel filter AND airlock. Said "home or garage - hurry up and make up your mind". Car taken to her house.

I guided non tech boyfriend to fit a fuel filter and bypass 109 relay - fuel shut off valve seems to be OK.

No fuel coming to injectors or returning to tank (T piece off filter - no fuel when cranked).

Breakdown company 2 arrived. Did not check 109 relay / fuel shut off valve. Read "Quantity Adjuster Upper Limit Reached" Diagnosed faulty injector (one with Needle Lift sensor) - I doubt this is causing non starting.

Mechanic 3 and 4 - no show.

Based on uncertain diagnostics I suspect some issue around / inside the mechanical pump.

Would greatly appreciate if someone who knows what they are doing could look at it and do proper diagnostics / fix.

Happy to pay expenses 'and a drink'

Or if you are professional mechanic, pay a reasonable rate.

Feel free to ask questions here or PM me if you think you can help.

Colink · Jul 22, 2015

Without going into the background of the last month I still need help with this if anyone has some suggestions.

Muttley · Jul 22, 2015

You are correct about the needle lift sender. From this brochure describing the VEP TDI engine. page 4 says
"Substitute function
If the needle lift sender fails, an emergency running program is started. In this program,
the commencement of fuel injection is controlled according to fixed setpoints
as defined in a map. The injection quantity reduced in addition."

So it should not cause the engine to stop running. But there are some faults that will prevent restart, e.g.
Modulating Piston Movement Sender (page 7)
Accelerator pedal position sensor (page 13)
If the engine speed sender *and* the needle lift sender both fail, then the engine shuts off (page 13)

Regarding fuel out of the T-piece on the fuel filter, the valve is thermostatic and as far as I know does not open until it sees hot fuel on one side and cold fuel on the other. So it may not be a great diagnostic tool, but I've never tried it myself so I could be talking through my hat (a well-loved cloth Tilley, I 'd hate to get diesel on it...)

Has a VCDS scan been done? I'd guess not or you'd have said so.

The instructions for refitting the injection pump do say that you need to fill it with fuel, so it is not entirely self-priming. But since it was running after the no-fuel incident, it seems unlikely that the pump has suddenly emptied itself. But, from what others have said, it can sometimes take a long time for the pump to overcome an airlock in the system, so has your daughter tried cranking the engine for a long time to see if fuel arrives eventually? The pump is not very good at pumping air so can take a long time to overcome a big airlock. Can anything be seen in the tranparent sections of fuel pipe, if there are any (it's been a while since I had an ASV-engined Toledo)

If the fuel filter was not refilled after replacement, then that can cause an airlock too.

Colink · Jul 22, 2015

Muttley

I really appreciate your suggestions. I learned a few things. I have had two weeks of fighting with a well known motoring organisation and arranging to get multiple parking tickets successfully cancelled.

The car was looked at today by a competent mechanic and needs an injector pump, the guy is on holiday for a week so that gives me time to find one.

Colink

Andrewcupra TDI · Dec 14, 2016

Muttley said:
You are correct about the needle lift sender. From this brochure describing the VEP TDI engine. page 4 says
"Substitute function
If the needle lift sender fails, an emergency running program is started. In this program,
the commencement of fuel injection is controlled according to fixed setpoints
as defined in a map. The injection quantity reduced in addition."

So it should not cause the engine to stop running. But there are some faults that will prevent restart, e.g.
Modulating Piston Movement Sender (page 7)
Accelerator pedal position sensor (page 13)
If the engine speed sender *and* the needle lift sender both fail, then the engine shuts off (page 13)

Regarding fuel out of the T-piece on the fuel filter, the valve is thermostatic and as far as I know does not open until it sees hot fuel on one side and cold fuel on the other. So it may not be a great diagnostic tool, but I've never tried it myself so I could be talking through my hat (a well-loved cloth Tilley, I 'd hate to get diesel on it...)

Has a VCDS scan been done? I'd guess not or you'd have said so.

The instructions for refitting the injection pump do say that you need to fill it with fuel, so it is not entirely self-priming. But since it was running after the no-fuel incident, it seems unlikely that the pump has suddenly emptied itself. But, from what others have said, it can sometimes take a long time for the pump to overcome an airlock in the system, so has your daughter tried cranking the engine for a long time to see if fuel arrives eventually? The pump is not very good at pumping air so can take a long time to overcome a big airlock. Can anything be seen in the tranparent sections of fuel pipe, if there are any (it's been a while since I had an ASV-engined Toledo)

If the fuel filter was not refilled after replacement, then that can cause an airlock too.

HI Mutley
dragging an old thread up here however don't suppose you have the same brochure for the pd150 ARL engine , seems good info on it

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TDi Help - Daughter in North London, Turnpike Lane, Muswell Hill

Colink

Active Member

Colink

Active Member

Muttley

Catch that diesel!

Colink

Active Member

Andrewcupra TDI

Resident Desk Jockey

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