Vehicle (un)Reliability

Foobar

Club Member
Jul 30, 2017
2,845
2,370
Great Yarmouth, NORFOLK
Interesting review of unreliable vehicles. Ford are not listed...

https://www.lovemoney.com/news/7979...000277&utm_source=postoffice&utm_medium=email

c7673d01-f054-40b0-bece-2f81c4b1cddd-mechanic.jpg
 
Btw, Elaine had an incident with her diesel Vectra yesterday. She drove to a local garden centre about 6 miles away without issue, but on trying to return home it had a very rough idle and wouldn't rev high enough to go backwards or forwards. After about 10 minutes of lumpy idle it started to clear up and she eventually got it to move and came home. I'm thinking 'water in fuel' ( it had 1/4 tank ). I'm planning to change the fuel filter ( on order - £5.99 eBay ), but not sure if I shouldn't try and drain the tank too ( 110k miles on the clock ).

Any ideas ?
 
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You probably know - I'm certain you do - that water in Diesel in significant volume can be really bad news. But assuming it's running okay now, it's probably the case that that what's done is done.

My logic here is that oil floats on water, the fuel pickup is (almost) at the bottom of the tank, therefore if it's running okay now, then there probably isn't any water left in the usable volume of the tank. Side note: was the exhaust steaming?

I'd probably check to see what codes it's thrown (if any) and then only subject the car to light use until the filter arrives. And when it does, be careful to catch everything that comes out of it in a clear container. Let it settle and see if there's any water in there, (emusified or not).

Also consider - if your car allows for it - applying 12V directly to the pump and draining the remaining fuel into a can and checking it the same way. Just be careful not to let the pump run dry.

A pity there's no drain spigot on car fuel tanks to make such a test easy, like there are on aircraft, (Lucy's probably had to do that a few times in her training i should think) but I guess it's rare enough that it's not worth the expense. Plus cars have the option of pulling over...
 
Unfortunately I wasn't with Elaine when this happened, I was at the other end of her mobile giving my best advice. So I don't know about the exhaust colour, but it might have been cold anyway. It's worth noting though, that with KRM up on her front paws atm, Elaine is parking the opposite side of the road and due to width etc., we have to straddle the pavement. Aka, the car sits at quite an angle much of the time. I think she also lets the car get quite low, so that I have to fill it up. So we are not good at keeping the tank full, which must not only increase the probability of picking up water, but allow more moist air to be 'breathed' into the tank, to subsequently condense on the walls and run down into the bottom of the fuel. I'm suggesting keeping a tank full(ish) ought to reduce that.

I asked about lights and all she saw was the battery light because it stalled and idled very slowly. I'm surprised it didn't pickup any misfires. If you recall the US Cougar user manual warning light info that Andy kindly posted recently, it had a lot to say about misfires and fuel and some of those lights were tempoary codes too. Sadly no MIL light, but I could still run the reader on it.

I spoke earlier to the local garage and he suggested looking for a 'drain screw' on the filter. So I checked the Haynes manual and sure enough it is mentioned. There is also a 'Water Level Switch' in the filter housing, so you would have thought that ought to have triggered an MIL light. Maybe its too common and GM didn't want to make their vehicles look too 'sensitive'.

What it really needs is one of these off an old Ferguson tractor !

Massey Ferguson Diesel Filter.jpg

I have a smaller 'electric drill pump' like the ones you were looking at. I bought two at a boot sale and took one apart as it didn't work. It has a 'flap wheel' impellor, so I have to be sure to prime it and not to let it dry out in use ( the dud one had melted inside! ). I also have a 'peristaltic pump' out of something. Hopefully not out of anything hospital related. This just has rollers that pinch a replaceable piece of tube, so it can be used for anything and the tube replaced. I think the biggest problem would be getting past the antisyphon device in the filler.

If that can be done and it turns out to be a plastic tank, maybe a thin tube with a magnetic end could be manoeuvred using an old hard drive magnet, down to the lowest point. The garage also suggested using some RedeX injector cleaner ( half price in Tesco ? ) in the next tank. We're going to try not to drive it until I've done the filter at least.

Thanks for your input Chris, much appreciated as always...
 
I also have a 'peristaltic pump' out of something. Hopefully not out of anything hospital related. This just has rollers that pinch a replaceable piece of tube, so it can be used for anything and the tube replaced.

While I don't have any firm data, (because I have no idea what you've got there) what you're describing is almost certainly a medical device with a pulsed delivery. Mrs. Mako had something exactly like that for pumping enteral food. It also sounds like something you'd use to pump blood through your liver.

Does it have any identifying marks?
 
It's a part out of something. I have a tendency to visit 'Radio Rallies' where ham radio ops and computer freaks buy, sell and exchange geeky stuff. I think I paid a £1 for it. I'll take a picture when I pass it next ( its at the far end of the cave ! )

Cheers - Noel
 
Noel, get yourself one of these......

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Parker-R...t-R23107-10-/201805518148?hash=item2efc8bd544

2 micron variety, they separate water from the diesel, which could very well destroy your pump and injectors!!!! And trust me, it's flippin expensive lol, needs to go in between the OE filter and the HP pump, fitted one to the jag along with an inline paper filter (more visual for smaller particles as it stains the paper)
 
That looks like an enteral feeding system.

All of it is held outside the body and gradually pushes Satan's salty milkshake into your stomach through a pipe inserted through a "port" in your upper abdomen. You might call it a "stoma".

Source: My wife had one.
 
My old man too Chris, except his were 'out' not 'in'.
He liked being able to stand at the bar all night and only have to 'empty' when he got home:LOL: