Loss of power on gradients

[skyjumper]

Hello there,,

I have a Berlingo 1.9 diesel, 2004 with the DW8 engine at 136k miles and I am experiencing a problem whenever I drive up a hill.

Drives brilliantly most of the time but start driving up any hill or gradient and it's like somebody has hit the kill switch, the engine losses a lot of power and seems like iv taken my foot off the accelerator. This is not like a loss of torque or poor bhp but more like a partial cut out, however the engine still struggles on, and doesn't actually cut out.

A few seconds after passing the top of the hill, it's almost like a turbo kicks in (it doesn't have a turbo btw) and off it goes again.

Iv had the vehicle 14 month and noticed this fault for the last 6-7months. It is serviced every 6k or so, and last few times I have noticed gold metallic particles in the fuel filter housing. Not sure if this is connected to the problem.

Any advice or ideas where to start with this, I am praying its not going to be the fuel pump!

Thanks in advance

[Hell Razor5543]

Those gold particles are probably brass, and are likely to be from the low pressure fuel pump. If they get into the high pressure fuel pump they will probably kill it. It might be worth checking out the costs of a new pump.

[The Ace]

....I am praying its not going to be the fuel pump!...

Your prayer going unnoticed: Most likely

[Peter.N.]

I didn't know the DW8 had an in tank pump, you learn something every day. Has the fuel filter been changed lately?

Peter

Sorry, just re read your post, you have obviously had the filter off so presumably changed it. A failing Hdi pump certainly deposits brass filings in the filter.

[Saandy]

First of all, try pulling off both EGR control connectors.
I've had some problem with power loss on my JWY engine and it turned out one of the vacuum actuators that activate the EGR valve was a goner.
Worth a try........

[skyjumper]

I'm not 100% but I thought it was all low pressure pumping,, standard lift type in tank and a normal pressure type pump under bonnet, remembering this is not a HDi.

I remember been told the EGR had been blanked, but I'm not sure if it was done correctly I think the exhaust gas inlet pipe to the EGR is blanked or blocked out but all the actuator and electrical connector is still connected,, not sure if this would bend the ecu's brain or not ?

I was thinking the gold particles could well have been a disintegrated gauze from the tank, my prayer for the pump looks to be in avail at this point then. However it's just boggling and annoying as to why it takes an upward incline before the problem starts !

[Mandrake]

Fuel tanks don't have metal gauze in them as far as I know - the only filters in the tank will be the "sock" filter that is part of the swirl pot in the lift pump assembly, and this is like a fine nylon mesh similar to an LHM tank filter, certainly not metallic.

If you have metallic particles being caught in the fuel filter this can only really be from the lift pump disintegrating internally as any particles coming back from the high pressure pump (assuming its a recirculating system) would be caught by the sock filter before it got to the lift pump, and there is often a second filter directly on the input of the lift pump inside the swirl pump as well. So chances of metal particles getting through there and being pumped back to the filter again are slim.

Is the problem worse when the fuel tank is less than full ? It almost sounds as if the swirl pot is not functioning correctly, which could be caused by the rubber return valve in the pot not sealing properly depending on the design. It's the job of the swirl pot to keep the pump inlet submerged in fuel even when you drive on an incline or corner hard - if the swirl pot is draining unusually or part of the sock filter is clogged it may be starved for fuel when the fuel leans back in the tank.

The swirl pot fills through a one way valve in the side of the pot when the car is level, then when you corner or accelerate/brake causing the fuel in the tank to slosh to one side the valve closes keeping the pot full of fuel and the pump submerged. In a return system the return pipe dumps fuel directly into the pot as well instead of into the main tank to help keep it full, otherwise the pump would quickly pump the pot empty while the fuel in the main tank was sloshed to one side.

Given that you have probable debris from a failing lift pump and the problem seems to occur when the car is on an incline I would be suspecting the in tank fuel pump assembly first...can't think of much else that would only exhibit a problem when the car was on a slope.

OEM pump assemblies can be quite expensive but you can often get good after market pumps from the likes of Bosch at much cheaper prices. For example an OEM lift pump for a Xantia V6 is around £190 but I found a Bosch after market one for £60 that worked perfectly well. (I think that was from mister-auto.co.uk, it was a few years ago now)