HELP PLEASE! 1.9 TD Xantia

Toddman · Post by **Toddman** » 23 Aug 2004, 23:35

Hi
My brother has an R-reg Xantia 1.9 TD and the other day it started to loose power a little and the temperature rose by about 5 degrees.
Oil and water levels and condition are fine.
Starting from cold is poor but made better by pumping the priming bulb.When it starts and runs there is a bit of white smoke but not massive clouds.
When using the priming bulb air bubbles can be seen in the pipe between the filter and pump - is this normal or does this indicate the trouble to be an air leak?
Any advice appreciated
Thanks
Luke

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 24 Aug 2004, 00:06

This indicates an air leak!
Very irritating for a diesel engine - causes power loss and difficult starting.
Norlam leakage points on a Xantia are the fuel filter/water separator, then old cracked fuel hoses. They don't have to let fuel out in order to let air in! so they canbe difficult to detect. Start by checking that the seal between the filter bowl and top is flat and seals properly.
//NiSk

Stuart McB · Post by **Stuart McB** » 24 Aug 2004, 00:27

Also check the leak off pipes on the injectors. These can be a right pain for air leaks.

Toddman · Post by **Toddman** » 24 Aug 2004, 15:00

Many thanks for the relpies - the car is in the hands of my brothers father-in-law and here is what happened last night.
The priming bulb was pumped for a couple of minutes until the pipes were clear of bubbles - the car started first time.
He went for a drive and after about 5 miles power started to drop and a misfire started to develop.
He got the car home and air was again present in the pipes but 1 cylinder was misfiring - he checked each injector as best he could and determined which cylinder was the problem.
We now know which injector/cylinder is playing up - do you think it could be the injector and is it worth taking them to a diesel specialist for checking?
Cheers
Luke

Robin · Post by **Robin** » 24 Aug 2004, 22:53

The air in the pipes shows a definate air leak. An injector will miss with air in the system. You should deal with the air leak first and then question the injectors which I suspect are fine. Not an easy job finding air leaks but follow the previous advice here and do a search on air leaks. R

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 24 Aug 2004, 23:08

you cannot diagnose misfires by slackening off fuel lines to injectors on an XUD motor, loosen one pipe and it stops, you obviously have a big air leak somewhere, the small leak off pipes can do this overnight as can the filter body or a leak anywhere along the lines to the tank, good luck tracing it though.
Stewart