Hi all, new to the site. I've got a 96 Disco 300 TDI XS with an annoying intermittent cutting out problem. I've changed / inspected a few things, researched on the forum for similar faults, but can't find nothing. I'll explain the symptons and what I've done so far (sorry if it's a bit long).

It started after I removed the fuel tank to weld the boot floor. So i initially thought I had either damaged / snapped / trapped something. So I removed the fuel tank again, but the breather pipe was fine and un-blocked, but the unions on the sender unit had seen better days. As I was un-doing the unions on the fuel sender unit the elbow snapped off, so I replaced the sender unit for a brand new one thinking this was the problem.

The car drove fine for about 100 miles until the same thing happened, the revs would die, even with the throttle pedal hard to the floor, then the engine would start reving up to about 3000 rpm a few times, still with the pedal hard to the floor, and then just eventually cut out all together. After waiting a few minutes the car would start first time but won't idle very well. I can then drive about 500 metres and the problem starts all over again!! Rather annoying.

After researching a few things on here i've checked and replaced a few things, but the same symptons seem to occur. I've checked to see if I have the dreaded spider box, which my car hasn't got. I then cleaned the sedimentor, replaced the fuel filter. Again the car drove perfect for roughly 100 miles until the same symptoms occur.

I then replaced the fuel stop solenoid and DDS valve (the black box hiding the fuel solenoid, which has 3 wires going to it). I changed them this morning, along with a brand new battery, and the car would start first time every and idle at about 750 rpm all day. But as soon as you go to drive it the same things happen! But what i've noticed today is that alot of white smoke comes out of the exhaust when revving hard to stop the engine from cutting out. The smoke stinks of un-burnt fuel, so i removed the glow plugs to see if they were wet, but none were.

Sorry for the essay, but I'm stuck as what to do now!!!

Any help is much apprectiated.

Cheers,

James

sounds like fuel starvation and so i would check that no crap has got in the lines when you undid them from the sender.When it dies unscrew the fuel filter to see if its empty.

When it dies i check if fuel is coming out of the 10mm bleed screw on top of the fuel filter housing. Sometimes fuel pours out, when pumping the lift pump, and sometimes no fuel comes out for a minute or so. I put some diesel cleaner in the tank today to try and clear the lines. I let the engine idle for half an hour or so, which it was idling perfect, but when I went to drive it it cut out within 500 meters!!

the best check is a clear piece of plastic pipe left in between filter and front banjo of injector pump it will let you know that good clean fuel with no air is getting to pump ,lift pump ,sedimentor (best bypassed),oe sender unit ,passenger side on sender is feed pipe the other return ,white smoke (unburnt fuel variety can be egr stuck open poor injector or poor timing cam or pump,

You did replace the pipes on the fuel pump the right way around !!?

jamesmartin said:

the best check is a clear piece of plastic pipe left in between filter and front banjo of injector pump it will let you know that good clean fuel with no air is getting to pump ,lift pump ,sedimentor (best bypassed),oe sender unit ,passenger side on sender is feed pipe the other return ,white smoke (unburnt fuel variety can be egr stuck open poor injector or poor timing cam or pump,

Click to expand...

Thanks, ill give this a go to check for air bubbles.

elsie said:

You did replace the pipes on the fuel pump the right way around !!?

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Yeh, pretty sure they're the right way round. The problem was happening before i replaced the sender unit. When i removed the fuel tank first time round i left the sender unit attached to the pipes, as the unions looked like they would snap (which they eventually did).

Hello,

My 1995 tdi runs great, except occasionally it just dies. Only at low revs so far.
It can be fine for say 6 months, then just dies with no warning. Lately it has been doing it more often, maybe every 2nd month? No misfire, no smoke, no warning.
I then spend about 10 minutes trying to start it again. During the attempts to start, I move the auto gear stick back and forth, let it roll a bit try long turnovers, and short, throttle hard or none. Nothing seems to make a difference, then suddenly it fires up and I'm ok for weeks or months. It does it when the weather is hot, cool, wet, smooth road, etc. Nothing consistant.

I wonder if it could be fuel, or electrics. Maybe a loose wire on security module killing the engine or on the automatic gear selector?