Have to prime fuel system every morning

Jaf · Unread post by **Jaf** » 14 Jul 2011, 14:19

Hello. My "Fred" has been getting worse at starting in the morning.

I'm having to squeeze the priming bulb 20 - 30 times. Once I do that she starts nicely and will start easily for the rest of the day.

Runs very well though sometimes has a little hiccup when accelerating hard with the air con on (but that could be because I'm not used to air con, it was only fixed 2 weeks ago after having the car 4 years).

There was a leak from the pipe on the top of the pump (pipe comes from the fuel filter) which only showed up when squeezing the primer bulb (didn't leak at all when the engine was running). Can't find any other spots of diesel so I'm guessing the leak is only sucking air in rather than letting fuel out.

Can anyone suggest where else I could look?

Thanks, Jaf

Gibbo2286 · Unread post by **Gibbo2286** » 14 Jul 2011, 15:25

What's happening here usually is that the one way valve in the filter is worn or has picked up some grit and is allowing the fuel to syphon back to the tank overnight, I think on that car the valve comes as part of the filter bowl and isn't avaiable separately.
You can overcome the problem cheaply by fitting one of these into the fuel line.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/8mm-Fuel-Non-Retu ... 4cf7f365e5

G.

Jaf · Unread post by **Jaf** » 14 Jul 2011, 15:33

Thanks G. That makes sense to me!

wotwot · Unread post by **wotwot** » 14 Jul 2011, 16:39

That seems like a good idea gibbo !!.
You say the pipe was leaking air did you replace it,if you did not then thats a good place to start.
I dont recall there being a one way valve in the filter housing, the priming bulb is a one way valve and should stop the fuel draining back.However if your having to pump that many times then i would suspect the primer hand pump to be at fault.easy find in the scrappies citroen, peugeot and others use the same pump.

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 14 Jul 2011, 19:51

Could also be leak off pipes.

Unread post by **Rhothgar** » 15 Jul 2011, 18:37

Had this problem with Sylvia's ZX recently.

What pump do you have? It's probably a Bosch BUT if it's a Lucas, the boost solenoid can unscrew and leak diesel on very hard acceleration. Overnight, air bled into Sylvia's system with no clue at all.

Changed leak-off pipes to no avail and checked the glow plugs all fine.

Search for ZX Cold Start Problem on Forum. I'm sure I uploaded a video link on to Youtube of what was happening!