Maat

Active Member
Hello,

I recently fixed a leak on my Bosch VE injection pump, but I think I still have a leak that leads to my engine starting poorly.

When I turn the engine off, under the bonnet, somewhere in the injection pump/lift pump/injectors area I can hear air sucking in, followed by gulping in the area of the diesel lines/fuel filter housing.

Car starts immediately if it was only turned off recently (a few minutes to an hour). It has to crank for a while, however, when it's been sat for half a day or longer. I am almost certain it has nothing to do with the engine being hot or cold.

I know this isn't the proper fix, but for the moment it will have to do: I bought a no return valve that I can install on one of the lines, does anyone have any suggestions or guesses for which it would best go on? Again, I think diesel is just leaking back into the tank. Should I place it before the fuel filter, or just before the injection pump?

Many thanks,
Matt
 
The banjo bolt - that connects the leak off pipes to the front of the injector pump - has given me the same issues in the past - albiet randomly

I suspect the copper fitting joining the incoming leak off pipes to the return pipe was my issue, but I found copper washers somewhere and replaced both of them - 1 either side of the copper fitting thingy - and it solved the issue

Where was your leak on the IP - just for interest's sake
 
The banjo bolt - that connects the leak off pipes to the front of the injector pump - has given me the same issues in the past - albiet randomly

I suspect the copper fitting joining the incoming leak off pipes to the return pipe was my issue, but I found copper washers somewhere and replaced both of them - 1 either side of the copper fitting thingy - and it solved the issue

Where was your leak on the IP - just for interest's sake
Good morning,

My leak was the main seal in the rear of the pump, the big o-ring. I was scared to do it, but it started pouring recently, and my car was leaving a trail at work and at home, so I had to try and do it following Mike's tutorial (from Canada). I managed to do it easily in situ.

I can take out all those copper washers and try to anneal them.

On my engine, injector number four seems to be disconnected, or rather the leak off pipe coming from the other injectors doesn't go anywhere after injector 4. Is this normal? I've only had this car for two years and it's always been like this. With the starting problem as well.
 
Oh, another thing:

When it's cold outside (-10 to -20), and I have to put quite a bit of work with the engine (with the oils in the drivetrain being butter most likely), the engine tends to want to die if it's not quite at operating temp.

I thought this was the ip leak, but it must be the other fuel leak. Especially pulling unto the carriageway, shifting up quickly, in third gear I have to almost floor the throttle for the engine to recover and not to die.

This or when pulling at the roundabout just before, I have to tickle the throttle with the clutch down so that it doesn't die. I don't think this really happens when the engine is warm, however I try to be really gentle with the car so I wouldn't know.
 
The leak off pipes are connected to each other via that V looking thing. Injector 4 to me is the one nearest to the bulkhead / driver and the one side of the V doesn't have a hole to transfer fluid across and obviously wouldn't have a pipe connected to it

Maybe two of the V's are in the wrong place or i have misunderstood your post
 
Your post re the engine dying sounds like the lift pump. They can be quite temperamental/shyte . A cheapish part and may solve your hard starting as well
 
Your post re the engine dying sounds like the lift pump. They can be quite temperamental/shyte . A cheapish part and may solve your hard starting as well
That was my first thought when I got the car, I replaced the lift pump with a Delphi one, again following Mike's advice regarding the spacing between pump and engine block. I noticed the old one was working perfectly though, so I kept it.

I don't know if it does its job when fitted, as with the engine off I don't think it's pumping anything by hand. With the engine on I think it works. I've read online that they are a stupid design and generally only work either by hand or via camshaft, depending how far they are fitted to the block.

I gave up on it, but once leak is fixed, if there are still problems, I'll investigate further.
 
When I change my diesel filter - I will fill the filter and run the car for 2 min's , then open the top bleed screw to get the last of the air out and sometimes i am a bit frisky on the undoing of the bolt and the jet of fuel will be 1 foot high, - that's at idle

If I hand pump it it will still squirt a fair amount out but' a cheat is better

The hand pump action is a bit awkward as there is no "pressure feedback" to tell you it's pumping
 
Hi, You say that you can hear air beingg sucked in around the area of the fuel lines near the filter, firstly is your filter screwed up firm in the housing with the gasket sealing correctly and secondly is the bleed screw closed? Start with the simple stuff and keep moving along one step at a time elliminating things until you find it. Good luck finding your problem and don't forget to let us all know how you solve it.
 
Hi, You say that you can hear air beingg sucked in around the area of the fuel lines near the filter, firstly is your filter screwed up firm in the housing with the gasket sealing correctly and secondly is the bleed screw closed? Start with the simple stuff and keep moving along one step at a time elliminating things until you find it. Good luck finding your problem and don't forget to let us all know how you solve it.
I unscrewed and tightened the filter back. Problem is still there. It makes sense since I bought the car with this problem and I changed the filter at some point after, but the issue never disappeared.

I also changed the copper washers on the supply pipe from the filter housing to the IP. Today I'll check the washers on the banjo bolt that goes towards the leak off pipes.

HOWEVER, I listened more carefully, and I think I can definitely hear hissing or air being sucked in around the injectors, specifically injector number one, and the bubbling/gurgling/diesel flowing back around the filter housing area.

The leak off pipe coming from the IP (banjo bolt) to the first injector is attached to said injector and has a small zip tie on it. Maybe that needs looking at. The other hoses/pipes look fine.

Everything is dry.
 
On mine the OD of the leak off V on injector 1 is slightly thinner than the V on the back of the IP. So i have a good piece of wire around that pipe connecting the two
 

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