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Bad Fuel In Mk3 Mondeo 2.0 Tddi


Cobraone3
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Hello all,

Looking for some help.

On Saturday put some fuel in, proper stuff, diesel. Drove about 10 miles and then lost power suddenly and some light coloured smoke emitted from the exhaust. I got it home, sometimes driving normally ish, but mostly kangaroo style. I managed it by keeping revs low in high gear, short changing. A couple of times it cut out and eventually restarted after much coaxing.

I have emptied the tank, syphon method via the filler,as could not get anything from the fuel filter pipe. I have emptied the filter as well and filled in with redex. New fuel in tank and I've flattened two batteries trying to start it.

The fuel that came out was a yellowy almost luminous colour, not nearly clear as it should be.

Does anybody have any ideas as to what I should do next?

It is a Mondeo Mk3 2.0 Tddi LX hatchback on a 51 plate.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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On Saturday put some fuel in, proper stuff, diesel.

When you say it was proper stuff, do you mean you have some reason for thinking it was good (which seemingly it wasn't), or it just came out of a diesel pump?

I have emptied the filter as well and filled in with redex. New fuel in tank and I've flattened two batteries trying to start it.

The fuel that came out was a yellowy almost luminous colour, not nearly clear as it should be.

RedEx - at least the ordinary stuff - is probably a mistake in these circumstances.

At this point the fuel filter is probably full of rubbish, which might be ok if you could get the car started, but you can't.

Odd coloured and cloudy fuel is usually a symptom of something going wrong in the storage. Water can build up in the tank at the fuel station, and, particularly with fuel with Bio in it, you can start getting organisms growing in the fuel. Now this isn't so bad if you only get a minute quantity, but if, for example, you get the bottom of the tank, you might get a whole load of this rubbish and then you are in trouble.

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Sorry BOF, didn't mean to confuse, proper stuff as in not petrol.

What I need if possible is a sort of checklist idea for after I've changed the filter, to cover things that I am not aware of, so I do not flatten another battery.Ta muchly.

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Incidentally, When trying to boost from a Transit truck, it would not work. Not even a spark when connecting the leads and we tried to get a spark, nothing. tried two sets of leads,one brand new. any thoughts?

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Can you measure battery voltages with a DVM? My first thought is that the batteries were not fully charged and that's why you flattened them relatively rapidly, but I could be wrong. In any case, more charge in the battery is a good thing.

Secondly, did the engine turn over reasonably quickly (reasonable crank rpm). even a slightly dubious connection (to the battery, wire to starter, ground connection, ground to battery) is enough to slow turn over, and worse reduces the voltage to the ECU, so it may not inject correctly, or the pump(s) may not produce enough injection pressure.

So, what happened when you cranked the engine?

If you can sample the fuel, does it look 'clean' and does it settle into layers? Any junk in the filter?

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battery fine 14+ volts It's a three year old Bosch high drain heavy duty.

Engine turns over with good speed.

I'm coming to the conclusion that the filter may no have been filled fully and probably has c*** in it. So changing it won't do any harm. Am I on the right lines here?

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the reason you did not get a spark is there was no potential difference between the two batteries when they are both fully charged - one would have to be flat(ter) than the other to get a spark

If you change the fuel filter it can be difficult to restart the engine after that - filling the filter up with diesel halps, it can take some cranking to bleed the system, the battery can go flat by the time the engine is ready to start, short bursts of cranking are not effective in bleeding and very lomg bursts can burn out the starter- assuming it has additional electrical power as well as the cars battery (there is a knack to it)

replacing "service" items is ok (filters etc) but you really need to find out what is wrong, it can be a mistake to jump to conclusions

a code OBD reader can help find faults and van pay for itself quickly - you will need an OBD1 one for a TDDI

TDDIs are Euro 3 so you can fit a solid EGR blanking plate with no problem (eliminating one source of potential problems)

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Thank you FOCA.

That has answered one or two questions.

I am going to start with a "filled with fresh diesel" new filter and as suggested short bursts. Lets see what happens.

Thanks for the blanking plate info, useful.

I will post back in a day or two.

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Well I put in the new filter and filled it with fresh diesel. It started in 9 seconds and ran like a dream..smooth. Went to the shop, stop start, running nice. Took it for a run, five miles, loss of power..grey smoke, dipped the clutch revs dropped right down made it to a lay-by and it stopped.. It would not restart.

Called the RAC and after the OBD1 suggested that the "main relay" was the problem the man did some more checking.

He shorted the fuel relay to see if the lift pump was working and it was making noise, as if working, but no fuel was coming out from the pipe that he had separated, by all accounts it should have gushed out, but only got a dribble of yellow stuff, thin liquid.

Sort of stumped.

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Oh, the engine fired up when he sprayed in brake cleaner.

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He shorted the fuel relay to see if the lift pump was working and it was making noise, as if working, but no fuel was coming out from the pipe that he had separated, by all accounts it should have gushed out, but only got a dribble of yellow stuff, thin liquid.

If you only have a dribble of fuel, then you have narrowed the problem down. The possibilities seem to be the pump is knackered, there is a blockage in the feed to the pump or the voltage to the pump is insufficient (and, I know that the RAC man seems to have checked it, but that may or may not be reliable).

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I have to agree BOF, I'm going to get one tomorrow. I'll post the result. On the same lines, it is probably a good idea to blow the lines clear. Any ideas on how to do that or do I just get my Balloon blowing cheeks working?

By the way, thanks for your help.

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take all connections out of the fuse board, reseat them and try again - just in case the connections are loose causing the issue.

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Update:

New lift pump fitted after some wiring issues. She started, with the help of a second battery and allowed her to prime herself. Took her for a run, 10-11 miles of spirited highspeed high revving driving. On the return, started coughing a little, some smoke, parked up some place safe and she died, would not restart.

Poured some diesel directly into the filter, she started and got her home.

Now what?

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Probably a leak at the fuel filter drawing air in, could be the seal isn't fitting right...?

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Thanks jeebowhite,

Checked that, and pretty much all connections.

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Try charging the battery and then putting more fuel in the filter. Unless you are 150 percent sure the filter is fuel filled and no air I'm there its worth trying.

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Recapping: battery good, new filter-may change again, new lift pump. Car runs sweetly when the filter is filled with new diesel. Cuts out and won't re-start when that fuel has been used.

It seems that the filter is not being refilled from the tank. Definite whoosh when the fuel line on the side of the head block is disconnected (vacuum?).

Wondering if this car has a non-return valve in the line. Somebody mentioned about a pump in the tank?? along with the sender? Is that right, or is that petrol only?

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I think the pump is in the tank, but I think your best off taking the car to a dealer to sort it...

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Yes the pump is in the tank and can be got at under the rear seat drivers side

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Can it be got at without dropping the tank? Why is it there as the lift pump is only a foot away?

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According to Haynes, there is a pump & sender unit in a petrol tank. It does not say that there is not a pump attached, but it implies that there isn't one. Stumped.

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Is it possible for the relay to work only intermittently?

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I don't seem to have power to the lift pump.

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Got cheeky and 'phoned a Ford stealer service dept. No pump in tank, only the sender, the pump in tank is on petrol only not diesel. Secondly, there is no non-return valve ,possibly on petrols again.

Found something on the tinterweb about relays. From what I gleaned from what I looked at, I dismantled the relay, stuck a 9 volt on the terminals and it clicked okay, at the sametime tried to take a multimeter reading for resistance and got nothing. Well it showed an intial high reading and then very quickly dropped to 0.02 -0.03,bugger all basically. When the RAC man came to tow me home a couple of weeks ago, he shorted the relay socket with a wire and could hear the lift pump. Since then I have replaced that pump with a brand new one and now showing no power to it hence I'm looking at this area.

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