Travels & travails with a C15 (& other vehicles)

[CitroJim]

Steve, I think the stuff tends to work better in old-school XUD-type diesels than it does in the hi-tech unit fitted to your HDi

[elma]

Injector cleaner works well on mechanical diesels, never tried it on modern stuff.
However if you do regular long journeys or drive hard injector cleaner makes naff all difference in my experience.

[van ordinaire]

I was brought up on RedeX, as my father swore by it - at 1d a shot - & he was an engineer, so I respected his judgement.

Didn't catch the habit though, an extra penny a gallon was significant when trying to run a succession of cars I couldn't afford.

Much more recently I picked up a couple of large bottles cheap at a show, one for the Cherokee of the day, because it suffered in the fuel dept, having been run mostly on LPG & one for the Caddy, which had had many PO's who didn't keep it long or use it much (some MoT's were only 100's of miles apart) - I didn't notice any difference BUT, then again, I don't know what I might've averted.

Hence my indecision - & throwing the issue open for comment.

[van ordinaire]

Current thinking is: see what the filter looks like then, depending on what sort of a performance it is to get at the in-tank strainer, see what sort of deal I can get on a reputable treatment/cleaner. The worse the filter, the more I'll put into accessing the strainer & the more difficult &/or how bad that is, the more likely I am to spend more on the additive.

[CitroJim]

Filter health is hard to determine on sight Van. just swap it...

[van ordinaire]

Jim, THAT is the plan, it arrived yesterday but, so it seems, did October - &, if anything,, this evening's turned out even worse.
Just hoping that the old one might tell me something; I mean I can hardly remove it & not look at it (but that's now looking like Monday).

Slight rethink: I don't suppose another 200-odd miles before doing an oil/filter change will really hurt, so, with a bit (all right, a lot) of luck, I can do the fuel filter tomorrow before driving back down to Devon, do the oil/filter change on Saturday & get the tracking checked (might even find time to read up on that in-tank strainer). Then on Sunday I CAN get up to Whetherby - & back down to London in the evening.

[CitroJim]

Sounds like you are a bit like me in that you plan your busy life like a military operation Van!

Do have a lovely weekend

[van ordinaire]

I re-read my post, still seems like hopefully (as opposed to aimlessly) wandering around to me.

Little less driving than last weekend though! (but then it is only 2 1/4 days).

How lovely it will be will depend on successes AND weather - but thanks for the thought.

Oh, & Jim, you'll like this (better late than never): when I was paying for the clutch, the man says "let me know when you'll be here on a Friday, & we'll sort out the Caddy" When I protested that he didn't work Fridays, he just grinned & said "What part of it didn't you understand?"

[Hell Razor5543]

That is a man to keep on the nice side of, with an attitude like that!

[CitroJim]

Oh, & Jim, you'll like this (better late than never): when I was paying for the clutch, the man says "let me know when you'll be here on a Friday, & we'll sort out the Caddy" When I protested that he didn't work Fridays, he just grinned & said "What part of it didn't you understand?"

Good for him In my view a totally perfect attitude to take...

I use much the same phraseology but mine applies to Mondays too

James, like me, as long as I'm asked to do nothing on the aforementioned days I expect he's much like me... I do turn into a rather less lovely person when asked to do something against my will on a day that does not suit me as does he by the sounds of it...

Actually, nowadays I do NOTHING against my will at all regardless of the day of the week

A perfect combat to stress

[van ordinaire]

That is a man to keep on the nice side of, with an attitude like that!

That's what Jim told me, when I 1st recounted the tale of how he came to do the cambelt.

[van ordinaire]

The difference is he's still working for a living, but being self-employed on what amounts a semi-retired basis. It was he who told me he didn't (normally) do Fridays; why he seems so well disposed towards me remains something of a mystery BUT, am I grateful!?

[van ordinaire]

I started this early this morning when I arrived in Devon but gave up when I realised the bulk of the text, in the middle had disappeared BUT, in fairness I might have underestimated the weight of a (paperback) Haynes manual resting on the keyboard.

Home from work at a reasonable time on Friday AND it'd stopped raining! Removed fuel filter element which, as Jim had suggested, didn't tell me much, although at the bottom there was something like primitive pond life, but sort of fawn, trapped in the pleats. However peering into the filter body, revealed sort of very fine silt in the base & a few rather larger pieces of the stuff in the element. Removed it, apart from the hose I couldn't disconnect, emptied out the fuel & cleaned it out as best a could with a screwdriver & some paper towel; I could really have done with industrial cotton buds. Refitted the filter body, inserted new element, topped up with diesel (somrunningething I wasn't able to do the first time I did this job) & then went through the performance of starting it, which I've become quite adept at, just as well because I'm sure it wasn't this difficult before.

Mainly thanks to road closures, diversions & "incidents" the journey down was rather trying & much longer than it should've been.

Only had one "moment" with the C15 though, when it "ran out of fuel" with 1/4 tank, but this time it on a slow meander around Somerset lanes between the 303 & A30, due to the former being closed.

With 50-odd miles to go it was the old 5 litres of diesel + 5 of sunflower oil trick to complete my journey. On arriving, whipped out sump plug & left it to drain overnight (what was left of it!) & in the morning rewarded the Cherokee for starting immediately, on its (just) 3 year old battery, after standing for 3 weeks, with a trip out over the Moor. After a little lunch, completed the oil/filter change - although now I'm not sure it was actually due for a filter. Still never mind, its done now! When I came to dispose of the oil container, I noticed there's a little perforated section of the label on the back you can complete with date, kilometreage (it's French remember - l'huil, I mean), whether filter was changed & when next oil change due, tear off, remove backing strip & attach to the vehicle, These sort of reminders used to be common - curiously, they still are in America - & for those of us running several vehicles, they really are very useful.

All done with just enough time, & fuel, to get to tyre shop to have tracking re-checked, now all the more important since the clutch had been done. Unfortunately, because it was more than a week or so after they did the job I had to pay again, could've done same cash deal BUT - didn't have enough on me. Truth be told, I was just glad to get it done, it's never been right, the steering wheel's straight now - &, anyway, how many tyres can you buy for £24?

Wasn't going to risk getting back to Paignton on the remaining fuel, so stuck £5-worth in, to get me to nearest cheap garage (about 5 miles on), pulled off forecourt (a tricky right turn) & almost immediately onto a roundabout. As I entered the v- it cut out, with the fuel guage hovering under 1/2. It restarted &, this time, required nothing more than sitting there, for what seemed an eternity, 'til the tickover evened out & it would rev.
Now:-
is it getting worse?
does this development tell those that know more'n I anything?
is it in someway related to the float/guage, given that it is always slow to respond to refuelling, so immediately after, it is showing a lot less than there actually is in the tank? (although that kind of weirdness is more what I associate with cars stuffed to the gills with electronics).

[CitroJim]

In my experience Van, the fuel gauges in well-used diesels, especially if they've run on veg,can get inaccurate and I put this down to a film of semi-insulating stuff (a sort of varnish) building up on the resistive element of the sender...

An unreliable gauge would do my head in so I'd try to get it sorted as a priority... Have the sender out of the tank and give it a good clean in the first instance...

This is perfect opportunity to check/clean the in-tank fuel strainer

I'd also tend to drive on the trip mileage recorder too - You get to know how many miles a tankful will do over time...

If the engine is cutting out despite plenty of fuel then I'd be looking for air leaks on the fuel lines/filter housing... If you know the strainer is clean...

[van ordinaire]

Despite the hour, when you send that I was about 10 minutes up the road, with a view to getting to Wetherby at a reasonable time - & not been back long.

I well remember reading that to make an accurate fuel guage it would mean it was the most expensive instrument in a car - & the technology's not changed since then, as far I know, however I do know what you mean - although I did about 1,000 miles in VietNam with no working guage & an odometer that never worked long enough to assess its inaccuracy!

The funny thing is, until the 1st incident the guage had always been remarkably accurate (increasingly so, as the level dropped), & even then my rough calculations (set out in the earlier post) seemed to confirm that at the time it appeared to run out, it did indeed have about a 1/4 tank, as indicated. It was only yesterday that it seemed to be about 1/4-tank optimistic. THAT seemed to be borne out today because when I refueled in Rotherham, with the guage reading 1/2, it took 37 litres, i.e. about 3/4. In which case, there isnt actually a problem, beyond having to re-learn the guage.

As for the remedy - & cleaning the strainer, as it's a tank out job, it's not going to happen any time soon!

Now the water loss, I thought I'd found the cause: a damp spot in the rt bottom corner of the rad. However, after allowing it to cool a little after arriving at Wetherby, the outside of the rad was bone dry, & the expansion tank was full although I think I overfilled it. Bank in London this evening, I checked as soon as I parked, still dry & the tank was hot to the touch, suggesting it was full. Meanwhile, I'd made an offer for a new rad, so not sure what to do now. Maybe, if my offers accepted, because, at the price its almost an investment.