fuel starvation????

[nickp419]

Hi Guys,

I'm a newbie and have read with great interest a lot of the posts on here.

Hope somebody can help with my problem.

I've recently bought a '92 surf 2.4TD ssr-x, I was told by previous owner it had been running on WVO.

I drove home in it for 45 miles or so with no problems.

I then added 20 litres WVO to 1/4 tank and started running, everything was fine for approx 5 miles stop start running. Then lost all power and engine check light came on and lost power, max speed dropped to approx 10 - 15 mph. I thought that maybe this was too much for the engine to take so added 1/4 tank diesel with the WVO. Still getting problems so checked this site for info. Did a fault code check and coming out with code 12, fuel pump TCV fault. I then changed the fuel filter, bled lines etc. same fault.
The fault only seems to appear after 5 - 10 mins running.
I then resorted to draining the fuel tank completely and refilling with 1/4 tank fresh diesel, fitted a new fuel filter and bled through lines. I also added some redex to try to clean the system out.
Still getting the same problem, everything ok on start up sounds really sweet, but after 5 mins running, can only reach 5 - 10 mph with engine check light on. Still giving code 12 after resetting ECU. (removing fuse for 30 secs. and disconnecting battery)
I've tried running with filler tank cap removed as i thought that maybe fuel tank breather had become blocked but to no avail.
When the problems start ie after 5-10 mins there is a lot of white smoke issuing from tail pipe which leads me to think fuel starvation, I'm pretty sure that it is whit smoke rather than steam hopefully discounting head/gasket probs.
Thank you all in advance for any replies which will be most welcome and i will revert with any further developments.
No conversion has been fitted for running on WVO, just been mixed in diesel tank.

[stormforce]

Disconnect the batteries for 15-20 mins or over night to reset the ecu.I had the same sort of thing but after having a s/s exhaust fitted and since resetting the ecu i've had no probs at all

[nickp419]

Thanks for reply will try that again now.

[nickp419]

Hi again,

Had battery disconnected for an hour, checked obd to ensure all faults cleared which they had. Re-connected battery and tried again.
Same fault appeared after running for about 3-5 minutes lots white smoke and revs not going above 2000 with foot flat down in neutral engine check light on.
code 12 (TCV) given again after diagnosis.
Any more ideas anybody??
anything greatly appreciated
Thanks
Nick

[sledge]

do yo know if any work has been done on it. it sounds like the pump might be out of sync with the engine. when was the timing belt changed?

[nero279]

this may sound like a daft question, but i take it the WVO you used was at least filtered?

If it's starvation it could be something as simple as the fuel filter needs changing, or there's a gauze in the tank outlet that can get blocked.

[nickp419]

Hi, Not sure when timing belt was last changed, I've tried to remove belt cover to check timing marks but gave up in the end as seems impossible without removing radiator.??

The fuel filter has been changed twice by myself, once when on WVO then again after draining tank and filling with clean diesel.

WVO was filtered.

The mesh screen on tank outlet sounds like a possibility. can it be reached from outside of the tank. ie I'm thinking in the suction line??
Thanks again
Nick

[nickp419]

Thanks to all of you who replied, Problem is now sorted.
I first blew compressed air down to the tank from the fuel filter, this cured the problem for about 10 minutes but it resurface, at least i knew i was getting somewhere!
I then bit the bullet and removed the fuel tank, the gauze was full of fatty substance (probably from me not filtering wvo enough).
I put some diesel into the tank and vigorously shook it for a few minutes and then upended it overnight.
With a nice shiny clean tank this morning proceeded to refit it (bit of a B*gger to do!) and hey presto no more problems as of yet.
Thanks again everybody
One more thing, when i was having the problems the priming pump on top of the filter housing took a long time to pop up after being operated, i didn't realise that this was abnormal not having used it before the probs started. but this could be a good indication of mesh filter inside of the tank being blocked if anybody else has a similar problem!!

[mancubas]

Sorry for dragging up such an old thread, but I felt I had too.

I had exactly the same symptons, so over the past 2 weeks I've been repairing the truck myself. I'm proud to say that sophie the surf has made a full recovery! Didn't want to pay french mechanics, who would've charged an absolute fortune.

Thanks Nick and all the others involved!