28 replies to this topic

[Kinell]

***Disclaimer***
This is a typical kinell 'mishap' so I hereby agree to accept all manner of p*** taking, name calling and mental abuse as long as some bugger eventually tells me how to get my van running again


The fuel gauge on the old Tranny always shows full so I keep a spare can of diesel* in the back. Yesterday the van coughed, ran, spluttered, ran and then died on me so I topped her up at the side of the road.

The battery ran flat trying to draw fuel so I rang a mate up to help out. My 'bargain' jump leads dripped melted plastic all over their engine bay so a mate of a mate turned up with some heavy duty leads. An hour later and the cow still wouldn't start so we left her for the night.

Had another go this morning with a bag full of spanners and my favourite BFH. I thought it a bit odd that a diesel engine should smell of petrol so I realised my error and added 10 litres of diesel to the mix. I then rather sheepishly rang the AA who promised to turn up within 2 hours**

By 6.30pm, I had had enough so I left the keys under the front wheel and abandoned the van for another night. The AA man eventually turned up*** and the van is now sat outside my house again. A bit of t'internet surfing suggests that: -

a) Diesel engines prefer diesel to petrol
Diesel engines don't like air in the fuel system
and
c) I really should stick to Lego and Meccano!

So, does TC have any DIY or Professional mechanics who can tell me how to bleed the fuel system? It's an 02 Transit with a Duratorq engine, 2.0 litre I think. I've drained the fuel filter and cracked open the injector pipe thingys but it just won't fire at all...


*It should have been diesel as it was in a black can but I now reckon it was an old can of unleaded with a 70ml dose of 2 stroke oil!
** 2 hours turned into 6 hours, yes 6 ****ing hours!
*** They call themselves the "4th Emergency Service" My a***!

[davieboy]

These things are a pig to bleed.The last time I changed a fuel filter in one of these it took ages to get it to fire up again.
The petrol shouldn't make a lot of difference,may even clean it out a bit,especially in this cold weather.
It may be harder to bleed as the diesel will be very cold.
In my experience get the diesel bled up to the filter then just keep turning it over with a good battery or even tow
it in gear for a while and it will eventually fire.
Good luck.

[Baldilocks]

I will not take the Pi55

Or a member of the Battensby family will remind me of the time I filled my Sherco with Diesel. To make matters worse I had just been explaining that it still was a really sweet motor despite having finished the SSDT a week earlier....

So I starts her up, lots of smoke, some kind of pinking and then it stopped. About an hour of fettling later somebody said they could smell deisel, put sherco tank contents into van ( actually deisel plus 80ml of two stroke) put fesh petrol into bike and hey presto.

at least I didnt call the AA !

[bikespace]

Have you got all the petrol back out? Don't think there's any anti syphon stuff on an 02? Get some tubes in and fully empty it then fill the bugger to dilute it. If you've already cleared the fuel filter I reckon it'll go if dragged :-)
I reckon if you've put 10 litres of diesel and 5 litres of petrol, that's still bloody strong, but I'm guessing you've missed out some detail, like draining the petrol first?

P.S. No p*** take, it feels like cheating when it's so easy, but I'm sure it'll crop up in the future

Edited by bikespace, 10 January 2010 - 01:57 AM.

[houseape1000]

Beware, diesel can and does freeze.!!!!

[bikespace]

houseape1000, on Jan 10 2010, 02:14 AM, said:

Beware, diesel can and does freeze.!!!!

As luck would have it, petrol stops it freezing so easy.
You could have saved yerself a bit of hassle there Kinell

[John.B]

Not sure about Transit's but on my Scudo diesel engine there is a manual pump button on the fuel pump that you keep pushing or squeezing to prime the oil pump with diesel from the tank. Will do a bit of searching to see what I can find.

[GIZZA5]

We had a Pool van at work and that was round our local garage at least once a month, because the lads had filled it up with unleaded!

One thing is that the petrol can attack the seals in the fuel pump, then your talking ££££'s hopefully not. Your right they are a bugger to bleed as they have an Automatic bleeder, but its not that clever, one way to do it is release the plastic mount on the air intake (by the air filter) get somone to turn it over while you spray WD40 in there, it will draw the WD40 into the cylinders and ignite to turn the engine over then draw the diesel through. Job Done

Your now probably wondering with this knowledge if I have done something so stupid as to put unleaded in my van, well I am not such a Kn*b ......I only ran out of diesel on the day I was part exchanging my van (didn't want to give the garage any diesel)

Hopefully you will get it sorted

[Kinell]

bikespace, on Jan 10 2010, 01:55 AM, said:

P.S. No p*** take, it feels like cheating when it's so easy, but I'm sure it'll crop up in the future

Just logged in, saw 7 replies with Gizza5 as the last person to post and I sat here cringing as I clicked the mouse

[TRICKYMICKY]

I'd change the fuel filter,check the cam belt hasn't snapped,although as it faltered when it stopped it seems unlikely,then get someone to tow you to start it.

[totalshell]

i shpuld start by saying that i dont work ofr nor know anyone who works for the AA.. but look outthe window its cold and its covered in snow and most roads are impassable so any emergenct service is struggling.. even Transco are taking 3 hours to get to gas leaks that they would always get to within 30 mins. so the arrgh's might be the person who runs a vehicle with faulty controls ( fuel dial) the person who puts ul in a diesel vehicle the person who believes he can maintain some thing better than a trained and qualified person with the correct equipment. someone who blames some one who did there best to help ( remember they get a bonus for succeding) combine those 4 people in one and you have an explosive mixture that will almost certainly create an arrggh's

[MIKEE]

I've ran my transit out of desial and it was not at all hard to bleed.

just need a good battey or jump leads from a running motor and give it loads of winding over.
the trick with the WD40 helps and so does filling up the fuel fillter first.

also get as much of the petrol out as you can and fill the tank right up with desial to dilute.

No cam belt on your engine so you could try towing....

[betarick]

this is how we bleed them at ford dealers 1st remove pipe from filter housing that feeds filter from tank then you need to conect a hand primer pump between pipe and filter and pump until all air is bleed out you can do this by cracking off injectors and watching them till fuel comes out you will need ignition on for this! or you can remove filter and fill to top with fresh diesel then remove air intake pipe and get someone to crank it while you spay some easy start in! the engine should start up keeping spraying till engine runs on its own! hope this helps i have worked at ford dealer for 20 years and i know there not the best to bleed!

[betarick]

TRICKYMICKY, on Jan 10 2010, 10:02 AM, said:

I'd change the fuel filter,check the cam belt hasn't snapped,although as it faltered when it stopped it seems unlikely,then get someone to tow you to start it.

no timing belt on duratorq engine there chain driven!

[TRICKYMICKY]

betarick, on Jan 10 2010, 12:10 PM, said:

no timing belt on duratorq engine there chain driven!

Thanks,its already been noted in a previous post, if you'd read them-glad it made your day though..