I am going to share this tale of trying to fault diagnose a problem and completely wasting their money on it! Basically, I rebuilt my fuel pump and then the engine started playing up. The story goes like this (the abridged version):
April 2012
My car was fine, boost pressure 22psi, generally healthy, just gone for the MOT. Comes back, fails due to weak handbrake, split CV gaiters and fuel leak.
Fixed the handbrake and gaitors. Fixed the fuel pump with new seals, chuck it on, starts playing up. Won't idle at normal speed, keeps cutting out, smokes a lot. It was a coincidence that it started playing up after I'd rebuilt the pump (as I would later find out).
April-August
Working on diagnosing the problem. The following work was undertaken:
retension timing belt twice
adjust throttle arm about a dozen times or more
adjust max fuel screw
rebuilt pump several times
adjusting governor shaft (the one with the jam nut)
bleed the fuel system
running the stop solenoid without the spring so it is always open
adjusted idle screw
replaced inlet/outlet banjos
checked timing (multiple times)
tried pump at full advance and full retard
pulled pump injection ports, cleaned and replaced
replaced fuel pump
new timing belt
checked valve clearences
replaced fuel lines with clear jobbies
replaced pump pulley
stripped and cleaned injectors
replaced manifolds gasket
posted problem on numerous forums
There were large gaps between these jobs and a lot of jobs I did many times over to make sure I'd done them, due to being at uni most of the time. As you can see from the list, a lot of the jobs where just speculative fixes; i.e. I was clutching at straws for what would cure the problems. This was because I had rebuilt the pump several times and was certain it was right so I started looking into other things. Every obscure possibility was looked into that I could think of.
October 2012
Post on this amazing website, several posters suggest it could be a blocked fuel filter (including the man who would later fix it). I am skeptical because of two main things 1. How would the fuel filter being blocked cause a missfire? and 2. I had run it off a bottle of veg and it was still playing up. Here is a video of how it was running:
![[Image: th_P1010002-3.jpg]](http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r233/Flynn_bucket/th_P1010002-3.jpg)
You could see why I thought it was something to do with the pump, not something as simple as a fuel filter.
November 2012
Finally manage to get it to KrisB, he looks at it for a minute and diagnoses the fuel filter right there and on the spot. After a new fuel filter and some injection timing adjustment, it is back and as good as new. And, being the legend that he is, only charged a few quid for it!
So, let's sum up how much I spent, from the top (not including hours of labour and fuel drenched hands):
Pump Seal Kit £15 pounds
Cambelt £16 pounds
Fuel (for test running engine) I estimate about £20 pounds
Several new tools £20 pounds
New Bosch pump £50 pounds
Valve feeler gauges £6 pounds
Clear fuel lines £5 pounds
New injector washers £5 pounds
Manifold gasket £8 pounds
So, all together that is £145 pounds for the sake of a fuel filter which costs about a fiver. Sometimes it is better to take the car to the mechanic, eh?I would have taken it to KrisB's earlier but I didn't think it would drive with the way it was running. God knows I've left some stuff out because I've forgotten about it, but what I have listed is the bulk of the work done/money spent.
April 2012
My car was fine, boost pressure 22psi, generally healthy, just gone for the MOT. Comes back, fails due to weak handbrake, split CV gaiters and fuel leak.
Fixed the handbrake and gaitors. Fixed the fuel pump with new seals, chuck it on, starts playing up. Won't idle at normal speed, keeps cutting out, smokes a lot. It was a coincidence that it started playing up after I'd rebuilt the pump (as I would later find out).
April-August
Working on diagnosing the problem. The following work was undertaken:
retension timing belt twice
adjust throttle arm about a dozen times or more
adjust max fuel screw
rebuilt pump several times
adjusting governor shaft (the one with the jam nut)
bleed the fuel system
running the stop solenoid without the spring so it is always open
adjusted idle screw
replaced inlet/outlet banjos
checked timing (multiple times)
tried pump at full advance and full retard
pulled pump injection ports, cleaned and replaced
replaced fuel pump
new timing belt
checked valve clearences
replaced fuel lines with clear jobbies
replaced pump pulley
stripped and cleaned injectors
replaced manifolds gasket
posted problem on numerous forums
There were large gaps between these jobs and a lot of jobs I did many times over to make sure I'd done them, due to being at uni most of the time. As you can see from the list, a lot of the jobs where just speculative fixes; i.e. I was clutching at straws for what would cure the problems. This was because I had rebuilt the pump several times and was certain it was right so I started looking into other things. Every obscure possibility was looked into that I could think of.
October 2012
Post on this amazing website, several posters suggest it could be a blocked fuel filter (including the man who would later fix it). I am skeptical because of two main things 1. How would the fuel filter being blocked cause a missfire? and 2. I had run it off a bottle of veg and it was still playing up. Here is a video of how it was running:
You could see why I thought it was something to do with the pump, not something as simple as a fuel filter.
November 2012
Finally manage to get it to KrisB, he looks at it for a minute and diagnoses the fuel filter right there and on the spot. After a new fuel filter and some injection timing adjustment, it is back and as good as new. And, being the legend that he is, only charged a few quid for it!
So, let's sum up how much I spent, from the top (not including hours of labour and fuel drenched hands):
Pump Seal Kit £15 pounds
Cambelt £16 pounds
Fuel (for test running engine) I estimate about £20 pounds
Several new tools £20 pounds
New Bosch pump £50 pounds
Valve feeler gauges £6 pounds
Clear fuel lines £5 pounds
New injector washers £5 pounds
Manifold gasket £8 pounds
So, all together that is £145 pounds for the sake of a fuel filter which costs about a fiver. Sometimes it is better to take the car to the mechanic, eh?I would have taken it to KrisB's earlier but I didn't think it would drive with the way it was running. God knows I've left some stuff out because I've forgotten about it, but what I have listed is the bulk of the work done/money spent.
![[Image: 22f2b6b2-758b-4c1c-96fb-6fa9c6059b13_zpsf306b56b.jpg]](http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss299/Ha11elujaz0rs/22f2b6b2-758b-4c1c-96fb-6fa9c6059b13_zpsf306b56b.jpg)
