Bleeding Diesel !

....and that's putting it politely!

But before I mention anything else, be aware there's a slitty under the bonnet (Daihatsu fourtrak 2.8)

As it's Christmas an' all that, I thought it was about time my Gertie had a by-pass and along wiv all the other liquids required to keep her going I decided she needed a new fuel filter. Que problems!

The boyf, who very generously took on the job of the winter service has now rendered my pile of nuts and bolts immobile on his drive. The problem being all air and no diesel reaching the engine. As far as he can tell there is no manual priming pump anywhere, only a bleed valve on top of the filter housing. The poor old girl (a series 3 Lightweight) has been turned over and over and over (ad finitum) and refuses to start. The battery is now on charge overnight

Anyone got any ideas and/or live locally and has spanners? :love:

The boyf is now p1ssed and is useless so comments on the back of a postcard please. I'm blond BTW so speak slowly.

Ta!!!!

I'd take the filter off and check that all the seals and O-rings are in place, because if they're not air will get sucked in. Did he fill the filter with diesel before fitting it? If not then do that before putting it back together.

Well, it could certainly be a starting point...!! The new filter came with 4 seals but we could only find a home for 3, and the old filter only had 3 on it too so I'm really not sure what that was all about and in the end we put it down to new parts just being supplied with enough rings for universal fitments and only to use what was required. No we didn't realise that the new filter should be filled with diesel first? Does that really make a difference? I got the fitting instructions from a mate who used to be a bus engineer and he never mentioned it but we could certainly give it a go. First thing tomorrow then else I guess I shall be back on first name terms with my friendly RAC chappie.

Will let you know how it goes! Many ta's...

yes you need to fill the filter with diesel. also open bleed valve and crank engine over til fuel is flowing out of it then close valve and loosen the fuel pipe furthest from the filter where it joins the injector. and crank until fuel comes out of that. if it still doesn't work phone RAC.

If there is no lift pump, then the fuel is drawn to the injection pump by suction, so if you open the blead screw on the filter housing air will be sucked in through it - so keep it closed. Only use open the blead screw on the filter housing if there is a pump somewhere between the filter and the tank. If it's being really stubborn I suppose you could try to top up the filter by pouring fuel into it via the bleed screw. Another possibility would be to take the glow plugs out - that way you can spin the engine over as much as you want without putting much load on the battery because all cylinder compression will be lost (mind the power supply cable to the plugs does not short on something). A few minutes of that should have it bled. Good luck

Wahoo, she started and stayed started :high5:

Once again you guys have been life savers and I can't thank you enough and best of all I get to keep the NDC on my RAC fees next year (or maybe I shouldn't shout too soon about that eh?)



raise:




The boyf isn't useless after all (and just when he was getting to like the taste of syphoning diesel, awww!) :amen: