Hi all,

Just did a really stupid thing and bought a non-runner ST TDCI on eBay. It was listed with injector issues, but I'm not 100% convinced yet.
According to the seller, it had a new injector on no.2 just before Christmas at a Ford dealer. They then found that number 4 was no good (seems odd they didn't notice earlier) but the previous owner didn't have the funds to get them to change that one too (they were charging him £500 a go!) He then took it to a diesel specialist local to him, who he says told him the same thing (though their receipt is pretty vague and doesn't mention what they actually found). I work in a garage (of sorts) and have since recovered the car and had a good look over it. I've been spending the last couple of nights searching these and other forums for people having similar issues, but have found nothing exactly the same as mine yet.

Where I'm at:

* It cranks, but it won't start. Doesn't really seem to get close either. The glow plug light is flashing during cranking.

* I've bled the fuel filter in and I have diesel at the injectors while cranking (seems to be high pressure too, though I've only cracked the pipes off...nothing scientific!)

* I've hooked the car up to a Solus which first gave me the following codes:
P1000 - sensors ok?
P1608 - pump fault?
P0201 - injector malfunction (guessing this was previous garages disconnecting and fiddling with injectors?)
P0202 "
P0203 "
P0204 "
P2291 low fuel pressure on cranking?

* I made a note of all these, reset the codes and tried cranking again. I then re-scanned it and the only codes left were P1000 and P2291, which apparently means low fuel pressure when cranking.

* I then misted a small dose of brake cleaner up the intake and managed to get the car to start on this, to check whether the engine had no major faults. I couldn't get the car to continue running on diesel once it was going....it would literally run as long as you squirted brake cleaner in it. Applying any throttle had no effect.

My next plan was to try a leak-off test, but (among other things) I'm wondering if this will work accurately if the engine isn't running? I was also planning to drain the fuel filter into a clear cup and let it settle to check for swarf from the pump (I'm already fearing the worst with the P1608!)

I've haven't tried recoding, though the Solus unit can do this. I've also ordered a copy of F-Super in case this helps over the next few days.

Any advice would be fully appreciated. I work with cars on a daily basis, but the world of common rail diesels is pretty foreign to me!

Cheers

 

My suspicions are injectors, more specifically the codes. If the codes are way out, it can lead to non starting issues. Check with F-Super to see if the codes are the same as the injectors. I'd strongly suspect they're not.

Even with Delphi's own Diamand recoding machine it can be very difficult to recode them when the car has logged an injector fault. It's even trickier with Solus, or other non-Delphi recoding machines. I borrowed a Delphi handset, and even with one of their most senior technicians on the other end of the phone it took a lot of messing about to get it to run.

If the glow plug light is flashing when you're cranking it suggests that it is injector related.

Go easy with the brake cleaner - it's not going to do the engine much good, nor solve your problem!

Good luck!

 

Thanks, I'll check the injector codes with F-Super when it arrives. Solus only displays the current injectors as sixteen zeros!

Was only cranking it over on brake cleaner to make sure the engine was still in one piece.....possibly ran it for 10-15secs like that to prove the theory.

How do the codes end up way out if the engine was previously running ok?

Thanks

 

Still to do a leak-off test, but F-Super arrived this morning so I thought I'd give it a whirl....



Weird....no P2291 that the Solus scanner showed. Now I've got P0190, which I'm guessing is the sensor in the end of the fuel rail. It's worth pointing out the other day I unplugged this and attempted to start the car as it was suggested the ECU reverts to a default setting if it can't pick up this sensor. Hmmmm....not sure, but I gave it a go. I thought this was the cause of my P0190, so cleared the codes and attempted to start again. Then scanned....P0190 was back! It's still plugged in, so it's possibly just a coincendence that I unplugged it the other day?

Anyway, so I switch to live data and notice something odd:



Fuel pressure at 6 bar with engine off AND when cranking?? That seems low given that it's supposed to be 1600psi when the engine's running!

Could my sensor be knackered, and wrongly telling the ECU there is only 6 bar of pressure, so it's not opening the injectors? Or could my injectors have such bad leak-past that it can't build any more pressure? I'm thinking the first one, seeing as the pressure doesn't change at all, whether cranking or not.

Leak-off test still needed, but this gave me some hope this morning!

I also read the codes stored for the injectors, but didn't get a chance to physically check them on the injectors as it was pissing down yet again!

Cheers

 

The fuel pressure reg 'could' be at fault but the sixteen zeros would strongly imply that there are no injector codes stored so would be my first task.

The problem with a non-starting car, is that the act of turning it over can flag up codes, even though the components may not actually be at fault.

I'd definitely focus my attentions on making sure that the ECU has the correct injector codes. It won't start without the right ones, and you could be swapping sensors and components all day long and get no where.

If that doesn't work then I'd take the injectors to a Delphi specialist and get them to test and recode them. It will save you a lot of hassle in the long run if you bite the bullet and get a Delphi specialist (not just any diesel garage) to help.

I've seen people try and fix them 'on the cheap' countless times over on TalkFord, and it just doesn't work. There's a reason why it was sold cheaply, so don't fall into the same trap as the previous owner!

 

Cheers Dan.

F-Super showed the codes for the injectors on in the ECU....turns out Solus can't read them, it can only re-enter them. Mind you, I'm still to check them against the injectors themselves.

That said......today I managed a leak-off test (of sorts....as best you can with a non-runner). No1 and no2 leaked no fuel off at all. No3 dribbled a tiny amount, and no4 was gushing it out. The fact I've got two invoices from previous garages saying no4 injector has failed plus what I've found has convinced me to order an injector (once I've confirmed the codes are right).
I'll put that in, and see how it goes from there. If everything else looks good I'll probably change the remaining two as well.....they can't have long left!

Thanks for your input.

 

They do tend to go at the same (ish) time, so if one goes, the others won't be far behind.

Make very sure that when you input the codes it 'takes' them. If it's showing fault codes you have to make sure that they're all deleted before you input the injector codes.

Let me know how you get on, and good luck!

 

Hi kitch29

Pal I hope I am not hijacking your post but just wanted to know if you had sorted your car out I hav the exact same problem on my car mine was throwing out loads of black smoke down to a con rod bent so replaced the engine also put four recon injectors that I bought from Merlin diesels in Preston coded them up using my f super but car would do what yours is doing now with the low fuel pressure if I squirt a little easy start it will fire up and die was gona replace the pump from my old engine tomorrow but would really like to know if you got yours sorted and if it was an easy fix

Cheers