Citroen ZX 1.9D 'kangerooing'

[shamous]

Hello

Please could someone give me some pointers on a problem I'm having with my ZX 1.9D. When picking up the throttle at low revs (around 2000ish) my car jerks and kangeroos like I'm learning to drive again. This seems worse under load but if I jam my foot down it goes away. It started doing it during the winter so I put it down to the cold but no improvement with warmer weather and in fact it's getting worse.

I have to test my mettle with my first a cam belt change soon but as it looks quite involved I'm not keen on wasting my time and money if the car has a serious problem. It's fitted with a Lucas pump and I've changed fuel and air filters. Also accelerator cable can't be adjusted any more than already is. Other than a leaky fuel pump 'o' ring, knocking suspension and heater issues she's been pretty reliable for an old one during the 2 years I've had her I've done some searching but other than getting side tracked reading some very interesting info on other peoples projects (I'm too easily distracted) I didn't spot anything similar. I'm hopeful that someone can point me in the right direction.

Many thanks

Shamous

[AndersDK]

Hi -

Your ZX has got fuelling problems.

On a diesel there is no throttle valve. The engine takes in all the air it possibly can - constantly.
Instead the amount of injected fuel is varied to adjust engine power as necessary during drive.

Any smallish problem with the fuel supply is therefore promptly indicated by bad engine running symptoms.

My first suspect candidate would always be the fuel feed lines, as even the tiniest smallish pin hiole will admit air in the fuel to the diesel pum.
And then the fuel pump fuel volume regulutaor is disturbed as the first problem.
Becuase the volume regulator works on pressurised fuel any air will immediately introduce a spongy effect.

You should therefore replace the last piece of fuel line from the filter to the diesel pump with a piece of suitable dia clear PVC hosing. Then its evident if you have air in the fuel.
Next you go backwards in the fuel supply lines to find and correct the problem : brittle/cracked rubber lines, rusty lines etc ...

Remember : even the smalliest amount of air will instantly introduce problems in a diesel engine fuel system.

[citronut]

first thing is dose your pump have the servo sticking out the front towards the rad, and also on front of pump the contacts in the cold start mechanisum/linkage, if it dose the make sure your wax stat is functioning corectly, to check this see if the cable going to the lever on the pump from the wax stat is taught with cold engine, and slack with hot engine, if this is ok check/clean the contacts and make sure they are making a good clean conection, as these contacts feed the advance/retard servo with an earth conection,

the other thing which can cause the jerkys/kangerooeeees is if the clutch is bitting at the top of the pedel travel (out of adjustment)

regards malcolm

[G4EIY]

If the above suggestions fail to cure the problem, then inspect the bottom engine rubber mount.

If this is all spungy and soaked in oil, can produce your sympton.

Good Luck

[shamous]

Thaks you very much for the assistance. Been out today but will try and get hold of some clear hose tomorrow, hopefully Halfords will have some. Come to think of it when I changed the fuel filter last time I had alot of trouble getting it started afterwards, even after pumping the primer rubber bulb thingy, though she was kangerooing before that.

Pump does seem to have the servo though the rubber seems perished around it. Will check and clean cold start contacts as suggested.

Oil leak around filler which may be dripping down to mounting so looks like I've a busy day planned, good job it's a bank holiday.

Thanks again for all ideas. I'm not too clued up on diesels so it's great to get a little more info.

Sean