Hi folks,

Just picked up an 05 TDCi 130 Ghia X - cheap because it needs bodywork. However the seller neglected to tell me about the diesel leak that has caused the car to munch through 3/4's of a tankful in 175 miles (steady 60mph motorway cruise). Discovered it filling up before driving it home, the AA man reckoned a pipe was leaking around the fuel pump area but advised it was ok to drive provided I didn't thrash it.

Coming onto the M25 the glow plug light started flashing and then the engine cut out - restarted immediately with no issues. The car has cut out twice since then - both times under acceleration over 2200rpm, both times accompanied by the flashing glow plug symbol.

Anyone here able to shed some light on this? All help much appreciated!

 

Maybe fuel starvation because of the leak.
Start by repairing the leak or have the fault codes read with a scanner.

 

Stop driving the car with a fuel leak!

Fix the leak as a start point as there needs to be proper fuel pressure in the fuel rail to achieve correct running. If this is not happening you will have big problems.

I had an 03 tdci and the main rail feed union was weeping under pressure. This was enough to put it into limp mode etc. Took a while to find as it didnt leak under normal tickover pressure.

 

Had to get the car from Bedfordshire to Cornwall - it is now not going to be driven until it's fixed.

The AA chap couldn't actually pinpoint the leak - there were no visible leaks. It's somewhere around the front of the engine block due to the wetness of the area but that's all I know.

Cheers

 

Sounds like the leak I had - try tightening the main rail feed union.

 

Take the thing back,he obviously knew about it and stitched you up,you have bought a cheap 05 mondeo with bodywork and engine issues,sounds like scrap to me and if it's just a pipe needing tightened which I doubt you will be very very very lucky.

 

Private sale so no comeback. Irritating but it was cheap enough to make it worth while, even with the fuel issues.

I'll start with the main feed union as suggested, where abouts is it?

Thanks

 

All sorted

One of the unions on the high pressure pipes had worked loose - all pipes checked, resealed and refitted.

Thanks!

 

Glad its sorted - sounded exactly like the issue I had. It needed to be high pressure - on demand and then it would not allow the permissable pressure to be reached due to the leak bleeding off.

The leak would be so fine due to the pressure it atomises as it hits the atmosphere. You dont see diesel dripping etc and nothing whilst on tickover.

 

Thats magicAl Mr E Tour! glad you got it sorted could have been a hard days night fixing it! probably best to let it be now!