Loss of power and flashing glow light symbol

[Intig]

Hi ALL

After some help please, My Leon 2012 1.6 diesel has been driving fine with no issues, recently on a journey I knew I had to fuel up but i didnt until the fuel range was showing as 0. Anyway I fuel up again and off I went down the M62 no issues at all, on my journey back I was pushing around 70mph and I accelerated to overtake someone and felt immediate loss of power and glow plug light started flashing. I pulled over turned engine off and back on, light disappeared and off I went again until i got to 65mph and same happened again, OBD Read says P0087 Fuel Rail/System Pressure - Too Low / P229A Fuel Pressure Regulator 2 Exceeded Control Limits - Pressure too low.

Today as per my local garage he said change fuel filter so we did, off I went and same issue happened, loss of speed flashing glow plus light. Engine off and off, issues goes away but go over 60mph issue comes back, my Mechanic says to now change Fuel Pressure Rial and sensor or the Fuel Pump.

Anyone else experienced this issue and what do you suggest changing as I know the fuel pump will be expensive job.

Thank you

 

[WobbleFR]

Hi,

I am not a mechanic, and what I am relaying here is based upon information I have picked up since owning a diesel.

I was told never run a diesel car to empty, always put fuel in before going in to the red.

I understand that diesel is a more unrefined fuel than petrol, if you can imagine a scale, it would be closer to oil than it is to petrol.

In order to get more and more efficiency out of diesel, engineers have created extremely high pressure fuel systems in order to get the necessary spray pattern to combine with O2 and burn as much diesel as possible in a rpm, we are talking 1000 bar, or 15000 psi!

The tolerances for that pressure and the spaces the fuel travels through are tiny.

The smallest bit of debris lodged in the wrong place can cause fuel starvation, and unfortunately the filter in the fuel tank, and the fuel filter in the engine bay are unable to stop all particles from hitting the rail or injectors.

Running your car to 0 likely picked up lots of small pieces of debris that managed to go through both filters and block part of the rail or an injector, or more.

I have not experienced this personally, so I would advise you to research this issue and your engine, then make your decisions when you feel confident that it is not a waste of money.

Personally, I would start with the cheapest things first.
From my limited knowledge, i think you clearly have a blockage somewhere, that allows a certain amount of fuel through, once you floor it the fuel is being held back.

Remove the injectors and get them sonically cleaned.

Remove the rail and get that cleaned out.

Try some redex or other cleaner, as a long shot.

I have no idea if fuel pumps can be blocked, but I would research and check that before buying a new one, I dont think that your pump is failing, but i dont know if it has parts that get blocked and cannot be cleaned out.

You could get the injectors and rail cleaned then test, before doing anything with the pumps.

Replace the fuel filter in the tank at some point when replacing expensive parts is not an issue.


Hope you get this sorted.