Problems with a diesel Defender

I picked up my new toy tonight (a 1990 2.5TD 110 Defender) having had a
good play with it last Sunday.

But not a good enough play obviously!!

I knew that there were a number of faults, but this one caught me out.

The engine ticks over fine, was good around town and accelerated nicely
and smoothly on the open road (well last Sunday it did anyway!)

On the first stretch of dual carriageway tonight, she lost her legs at
about 60mph (about 45mph if going up hill) - all the evidence pointed
towards fuel starvation. She would reach a maximum speed the seem to
"hunt" within about 5mph of that speed, with a fixed throttle setting
she would accelerate then decelerate at about 3 second intervals.

It was certainly a fuel problem and I guessed that it might have been
the injector pump being starved of fuel.

However, when I got home tonight and parked up I heard this hissing
noise from the back of the car (from the fuel filler cap) when I opened
the cap (a locking one) there was a rush of air (but I couldn't tell
you if it was in or out).

So, simple question after all this - should the cap on the 110 diesel be
breathable?

Or do you have any other ideas of what might be causing my problem?

Cheers

Peter

> I picked up my new toy tonight (a 1990 2.5TD 110 Defender) having had a
> good play with it last Sunday.
>
> But not a good enough play obviously!!
>
> I knew that there were a number of faults, but this one caught me out.
>
> The engine ticks over fine, was good around town and accelerated nicely
> and smoothly on the open road (well last Sunday it did anyway!)
>
> On the first stretch of dual carriageway tonight, she lost her legs at
> about 60mph (about 45mph if going up hill) - all the evidence pointed
> towards fuel starvation. She would reach a maximum speed the seem to
> "hunt" within about 5mph of that speed, with a fixed throttle setting
> she would accelerate then decelerate at about 3 second intervals.
>
> It was certainly a fuel problem and I guessed that it might have been
> the injector pump being starved of fuel.
>
> However, when I got home tonight and parked up I heard this hissing
> noise from the back of the car (from the fuel filler cap) when I opened
> the cap (a locking one) there was a rush of air (but I couldn't tell
> you if it was in or out).
>
> So, simple question after all this - should the cap on the 110 diesel be
> breathable?
>
> Or do you have any other ideas of what might be causing my problem?
>
Try driving it with the cap of, see if this cures the fault.
(make sure the tanks not too full when you do!)

If not, change the fuel filter, see if that cures it.

In article <[email protected]>, Peter
Sheppard <[email protected]> writes
>So, simple question after all this - should the cap on the 110 diesel
>be breathable?

Can't speak to the fuel starvation issue, but the cap should be
breathable. Mine forms a vacuum in the tank too, and it's very annoying.

I've had the fuel cap apart three times now. There are a couple of tiny
spring-loaded non-return air valves in it, presumably intended to let it
breathe without fuel leaking, but they don't seem to work, although
obviously I've spent ages checking they move easily and that nothing's
obstructing access to them.

This one's got me baffled, and I imagine that continued large-scale
flexing of the tank can't be good for it's paint coating either.

Any ideas?

Regards,

Simonm.

--
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SIMON MUIR, UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY, BRISTOL www.ukip.org
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