Monetary loss of power

[Crispin]

Folks,

My time has come.

Last night on the way home I was slowly accelerating away from an intersection (behind a uhem, normal car ) and lost power. Pressed the pedal slightly and nudda. Started to move over to the side of the road and with a thump, it was back. It felt like you had turned the cruise control back on. No spluttering back to life, just a “Right, where were we?” and off we went. It was only for about 5 seconds.
Must say though, power loss was not a “oh crap I am slowing down” it was more a “I can cost here”

No amount of playing could reproduce it. Giving it some wellie through the gears did nothing, trying to accelerate in the wrong gear was normal (with normal turbo lag) etc etc.

This morning, on the way to work, I noticed the idle was slightly erratic. When idling with a warm engine, the needle is always dead still. This morning there was a slight “quiver” in it. Nothing big. Shortly thereafter, the same thing happened; no oomph. This time it was only a couple of seconds and not doing anything, it returned. Again, not able to repeat.

Both times, there was nothing to suggest it was about to do it. Both times I was in 3rd gear accelerating away from an intersection. Recovery was also swift with no fuss.

My first thought was the new tank of Tesco’s finest that I got on Monday. Could it be a fuelling issue? Would water or other contaminant not cause a splutter, not an on-off feel?
First time was about 50 minutes into a journey, second was about 10 minutes in.

Thoughts?
Will be off tomorrow to friendly dealer to see if he can read the codes for me. If it’s complicated then I’ll book it in.

 

[Gav Peter]

This sounds very similar to what happened to me in my Renault Espace, y'know, the one I had just before we got the Colorado...

You'd be driving along & zup!!! Gone, no drive nothing... In fact, when you dipped the clutch, the engine was dead. After a few times, I worked out the knocking the ignition off & instantly back on again, the engine just fired back up & ran normally until the next time it did it...

It turned out to be the injectors; fuel pressure was disappearing instantly, being detected & the engine was shutting down...

I didn't take it straight to Renault but with hindsight, I should have done just to get the codes read...

Based on the price of the injectors & the unknown provinance of the car, I traded it for the Colorado & haven't looked back

Hope you find a speedy & economical result Cris.

Cheers

 

[TonyP]

Ah bugger mate....... can't help with the issue though.

 

[fridayman]

I would also guess it is to do with the injectors, but just a guess.

 

[Andrew Prince]

I hope the "Monetary loss" in the title isn't a Freudian slip

I would suggest that the problem is a fuelling one - hopefully the problem is occurring somewhere before the injectors!
Go for the easy/cheap wins first - check or replace fuel filter. I don't know how difficult it is to access the fuel pick-up in the tank in a 120 but probably worth checking too in case you have diesel algae growing in there and clogging the pick-up.

Intermittent faults like that sound like dirty fuel to me. Not sure why an injector problem would give those symptoms unless it was an injector tip meeting a valve.... But if the engine is running smoothly the rest of the time, it shouldn't be too serious

Hope the codes throw up something helpful! Maybe there is some gremlin with the electrics controlling the IP...

Cheers,

 

[Gav Peter]

Re: Monetary lass of power

Our Renault used to run perfectly in between the cutting out moments... The symptoms sound incredibly similar & I hope it is something silly rather than what we found on our Espace...

 

[Andrew Prince]

Gav, what was the problem with the injectors in your Espace?
I'm trying to understand how an injector problem (as apparently was the case) displays as an intermittent problem. Not saying you're wrong, just trying to get a better grasp!

 

[Gary Stockton]

In the meantime, try bleed the fuel filter in case there's water present ...

 

[Gav Peter]

TBH Andy, I don't know why it was so intermittent but it took my mechanic ages to replicate it with his diagnostics kit rigged up... IIRC, it was reporting back the pressure loss & that was eventually attributed to one or more of the injectors, a well known (but not to me at the time...) weak spot on the renault deisel system...

 

[Tommo&Claire]

It does sound a little bit like bad fuel....

 

[Trevor]

Deffo need to get your codes off. I have had the same problem with our Mondeo and only just got it back after 2 weeks in the garage. It was the fuel pump on it's way out which put swarf into the fuel line, some trapped in the filter. Fault then developed into siezed injectors and after reconditioning they siezed again which was attributed to possibly crap Tesco fuel.

We were advised to run a tank of BP diesel with some injector cleaner dosing to help clear the fuel route.

The LC hopefully is better engineered than my cheapo Ford but it might be worth putting a tank of decent fuel in and see how it runs.

 

[Crispin]

Thanks folks, Andrew - yes, that was not intended. Clearly being prepared for the worst


I'm off tomorrow to get a spare (£28 ex VAT!) filter from Mr-T as well as a new wheel arch liner, He's a friendly chap so will ask if he can spare ten minutes to read the codes. Depending on what it says, might just book it in. it's not done it tonight though.

The mention of the fuel additive jogged my memory, I also have a bottle of Redex Diesel in the tank. I put on in every couple of months (8 tanks or so). No idea why
maybe it has cleaned enough crud to block the filter?

When this tank is about half I'll fill up with something else and see how it goes.

A long time ago Toyota did tell me I had 4 leaky injectors. When I challenged them it, about all 4 being duff, they cam back and said well it now looks like it's only two. That was without rechecking the car, just looking at the paperwork again. That, along with a bunch of other things they were wrong about made me leave it. Maybe, just maybe, they were right and one (or more ) injectors are faulty. At £400 ex vat, I hope not.

let's hope I can blame Tesco and their paraffin.

The driver back tonight was uneventful....

 

[Gary Stockton]

You know, this is starting to sound like driver error. You sure you didn't leave the handbrake on or something??




Run ... Duck .... Hide

I'll get my coat ...

 

[Trevor]

Crispin, if you do have leaky injectors it might be worth enquiring from a independant specialist if they can be reconditioned instead of being replaced. I know my Mondeo might not be a good comparator for price but it was £125 per injector instead of the replacement costs.

They needed to be recoded once in the vehicle which my local garage did, but it's got to be cheaper than MrT prices I would have thought for the same work

 

[Crispin]

Nope. I spoke to the Denso agent and he confirmed they throw away items as per Toyota. He can test for leak and spray pattern but do nothing about it. At 50 pounds (ex vat) per injector (test), I'll get them tested if they flag up again.

They are cheaper from the honourable Mr Rubie but still steep...



Sent from TapaTalk

 

[Rob]

Have you tried RVS in Swindon? At least I think its RVS

 

[fridayman]

Have you tried RVS in Swindon? At least I think its RVS

I'm going there on Monday - let me know if you want me to ask them any specific questions on your problem?

 

[Crispin]

I think RVS was one of the guys I called. He said the same but should also try Denso.
It's the common rail injectors, they throw away parts apparently... Not serviceable.


fridayman - worth asking.
Denso injectors for a D4D LC 120, can he test them for spray pattern, leak and if not ok, can he refurb them (or offer refurbed ones)?

Thanks
CP

 

[Crispin]

Well, new filter on today, lots of crap in old filter so lets see.
Changing fuel filter

 

[Graham]

Well, new filter on today, lots of crap in old filter so lets see.
Changing fuel filter

,
,
Fingers crossed for you Crispin, whats the miles on your's now ?

Graham