Outer Limits 4x4 Board

hey
just bought a td42 gq wagon and have already had some problems with it: it is taking a long time from cold to fire (cranking is fine) and when it finally does fire, gets a puff of smoke out the exhaust(not black smoke but a grey colour, not white and not blue).
the other problem is that it occaisonally stalls - i'll drive it, turn it off for about half an hour, start then it will stall about 100-200 metres down the rd and again takes ages to fire. it also seems to be very slightly spluttering when it gets to around 2800rpm sometimes. to me, it says a fuel line problem or similar...???

sounds like the is an air leak around the filter (fuel filter) make sure all the fuels lines and filter are tight ,then bleed the system via the hand pump on top of the fuel filter and also check filter for water. BTW is a genuine filter or a CAV with a glass bowl on the bottom ?

ps also make sure all the O-RINGS are in place in the filter,if it is a genuinme disposable filter throw it away and get a cav filter with adaptor

joelt wrote:hey
just bought a td42 gq wagon and have already had some problems with it: it is taking a long time from cold to fire (cranking is fine) and when it finally does fire, gets a puff of smoke out the exhaust(not black smoke but a grey colour, not white and not blue).
the other problem is that it occaisonally stalls - i'll drive it, turn it off for about half an hour, start then it will stall about 100-200 metres down the rd and again takes ages to fire. it also seems to be very slightly spluttering when it gets to around 2800rpm sometimes. to me, it says a fuel line problem or similar...???

Had the same symptoms with my GQ. Changed the fuel filter (CAV) and problem solved.

i'm assuming that a CAV filter is a brand? how much are they? i also heard there are many places that air could be getting into the fuel system. is this correct?

usually around the filter is where they leak but anywhere in the fuel system is possible. About $99 for a cav adaptor kit.

joelt wrote:i'm assuming that a CAV filter is a brand? how much are they? i also heard there are many places that air could be getting into the fuel system. is this correct?

This is the mob that make 'em. Have a look here

http://www.dencodiesel.com/pdfs/adaptor.pdf

Joelt,
I have had similar problems, won't start, stalling when hot, stalling at idle when hot when ac clicks in etc. Grey/White smoke in start up, but went fairly well when cruising. Took the thimble filter out of the inj. pump, added a CAV filter, checked the glow plugs, everything. Finally had to conceed defeat and get the Injectors and Injector pump reconditioned. Now I have a different car, it goes better than our 04 4.2tdi.
Cheers Juro.

that's interesting cos i had the injectors looked at and they're fine. how much/how hard is the injector pump to reco? and is the injector pump the thing that the accelerator cable attaches to in the engine bay? cos that appears to be leaking a bit of fuel.

it cost a mate $2500 to get his injector pump done.
pretty exxxy

Joel, if you are leaking fuel out of your pump, air will be able to get in once its sitting. This may be the whole problem.

Fair pricing for a pump would be to strip and quote it. If it needed only small parts and the housing, head and rotor and camplate are ok, normal pricing to do these pumps ranges from $800-1200.

Hope this helps.


Andy

and maybe why fuel consumption is higher than expected!
not being very mechanically minded (which i aim to change as time goes by), are there any obvious places for fuel leakage in the pump? how easy can these sorts of leaks be to fix?

I think Hiflo can do a reconditioned pump for $1200 with you giving them your old core: http://www.hiflo.com.au/. Dieselspares might be another place to check out for a price: http://www.dieselspares.com.au/index.html. As Dzltec said, your pump just may need seals which is a h*ll of a lot cheaper than a rebuild. However, you should do the seal on the timing gear shaft as well. So it needs to come off the truck. Depending on the kms on the pump, you might just as well go the rebuild route once you pay for the labour to remove it, fit seals, put it back on and time it. I'd say if you are over 200,000 kms than a rebuilt may be the best way to go.

joelt wrote:and maybe why fuel consumption is higher than expected!
not being very mechanically minded (which i aim to change as time goes by), are there any obvious places for fuel leakage in the pump? how easy can these sorts of leaks be to fix?

Get it looked at before you do anything. GQ's are known for leaky seals on the injector pump. I also had this problem and thought it was gonna cost a packet - the underside of my car was wet with fuel and it used to leave a sizeable puddle when parked, but it turned out that it was just a seal on the throttle linkage input shaft (if I remember correctly) and it cost me a whole $30. The mob that did it knew what it was when I asked them about it over the phone. That was 3 years ago and it hasn't looked like playing up since. If you're lucky this may be the issue with yours.
Cheers

Sorry Joelt I have been out of town, I took my pump and injectors out of the car myself and handed them to the experts. I live in Weipa and was going on holidays to Cairns and picked them up on the way out. The total cost was $1535 for everything. I didn't have any fuel leaks at all, but your other symptoms seem very similar to mine.
Cheers Juro.

Could it be a blocked fuel line or something like that?

I find most problems are usually the most simplest of things to fix like the seal around the water drain could have broken thus allowing air in.

Might take ages to find it but hopefully you don't spend too much in trying to find it.

Talk to a few diesel experts in your area. One thing that annoyed me the most about them was that they didn't want to talk about the problem or help diagnose it buy asking questions, it was a gruff $2500, $2000 or $1800, the black art of diesel injection i suppose. I narrowed it down to two and one was out of town when I needed it done and I am very happy with the end result.

You could do what zagan suggested by getting hold of a compressor and blasting the line from the filter end to the tank, might help.

i think i have found the problem. knowing almost nothing about the mechanics of cars, it looks like it may be a seal. started it up last night, manually throttled at the cable join on the pump and there's little tiny air bubbles in what is obviously fuel, coming out of some sort of seal at the front of the pump between the main part of the pump and the banjo fitting. does anyone know how easy it is to fix these seals?