Water in my 1996 406 pls help!

[lozz]

(What I 'think' you could do is disconnect the return line under the car somewhere, maybe above the tank, and run a pipe from it to your bucket Then, without turning on the ignition, run the pump so it pushes fuel from the tank, around the system and out of the pipe you disconnected so you can check for any water in it. Presumably if there is no water (you should be able to decant this off) or any other contamination (dust, dirt, blood etc.) you can reuse this fuel.)




as what steve said ,
just take pipe off top of tank (fuel return) and collect 100ml. and throw it away.


if your thinking of taking pipe off inlet or under thebonnet,. this shouid of just been done in first place it wouid of saved you all this headache.

too late now.. your going round in circles

[406owner2]

Thanks Lozz i will do that, however what if the system won't circulate without cranking the engine ?
does the fuel rail allow fuel to circulate without cranking the engine ?

If it will circulate fine without cranking, what if there is water in engine itself, should i take off spark plugs and crank, take of fuel supply to engine and crank as i indicated earlier ?

Now i'm going to get 5 liters of petrol and put it in the tank and try the first option You and Steve mentioned just now, i just hope by not cranking the engine it will allow the system to completely circulate..? thanks.

[lozz]

The pump in the tank shouid run with ignition on long enough to send fuel to the fuel rail,

once cranked and its firing ecu shouid just tell fuel pump to run longer,



there wont be any water in the engine, if its got that far it will be in the pipework to the fuel rail,

it shouid still start eventualy but it will spit like a moody cat.

petrol floats on water so theres a good chance you've got most of it out when you cleaned out tank

[406owner2]

ok thanks Lozz, i take it by running the pump only it should circulate through the rail without needing the engine to crank, as an extra precautionary, would it be a good idea to remove the spark plugs and crank, as well as the fuel inlet to the engine/fuel flow regulator and crank the engine, or would that cause more problems ?

[lozz]

Tbh, if theres clean fuel in there,
and your sure all pipes are connected properly (no leaks)
id just try and start it,

if it does run it will be moody for abit but shouid be ok

abit of red ex or some other fuel adative may help too,

[406owner2]

Ok thanks, had to walk 5km to get fuel 5 liters, i made the trip twice, so now there is 10 liters in the tank,
i'm taking a break all this walking haha... i'll do this tomorrow, think i will then just blow out the fuel filter first to see if it's stuck ? not likely for the petrol pump filter was crystal clear, but i'll check it anyway, and blow out the pipe from the engine to the filter, connect all and hope for the best, strange thing is my car is low on oil, i opened up the oil cap in the engine and i cannot see any oil in it, however the dipstick shows there is adequate oil, no oil light went on in the car i guess it must be REALLY low on oil to show,

Anyway.... i'm praying the injectors is ok, if not i will have to take them apart, i'm going to start there car with the relay forced closed tomorrow. Hope it works.

[lozz]

(i opened up the oil cap in the engine and i cannot see any oil in it,)

oil drains back to sump when car is not running,
top of engine shouidnt be full of oil, dont be tempted to fill it right up ..you will be seeing alot of black smoke if you do,

[406owner2]

lol... heck any smoke made by the car will make me smile at this stage

Thanks for the tip, i will check oil levels if i can get the car started hopefully

[lozz]

get it running first .. then look at oil levels etc (service)


your going to end up running round in circles like agreyhound otherwise,

[406owner2]

Ok i switched on the pump and the pressure was so high it leaked from the pump pipe (clamps are on tight,
so what i did was take off both pipes from the fuel rail in the engine and used a clear piece of pipe to bypass the rail basically let the inlet pipe go straight into the outlet pipe, fuel flowed freely and came back as it was supposed to at the back where the pump is from the pump inlet.

So is the engine blocking the flow.. ? From the above that's what it seems like.... ?

Next will now be to crank the engine while the pump is on, however i spilled some fuel in the darn engine.. ...DOH... just a little but now how do i know if it's safe to crank ?

[lozz]

The flow of fuel is supposed to stop.
its normal,
The flow will start again once engine is fired up..ecu will tell it to run,

pumps working then, so its looking good,


the fuel spill shouid evaporate in a few minutes leave it 10mins to be on safe side,

[406owner2]

While i wait for the little spill to dry out, does the rail block the flow without the engine cranking ? Does anyone know if this is electronically activated, or is it simply the cranking effect of the engine that allows the flow ?

[steve_earwig]

I suspect the system *should* turn the pump off when the pressure is high enough, and then run the pump when it drops below a certain level. That is, if the relay isn't flucked. I guess if it is then you can probably get the engine started by pressing the relay with your stick for a few seconds but it'll die once the fuel runs out.

[406owner2]

mmm... i see.. thanks, i'm just thinking now, just to test (i will get a new relay) however just to test...

i want to see the engine start... so i hope it pumped the rail full of fuel when i closed down the relay with the stick then ?

You know if i can get it started, doesn't matter how sloppy, i at least know everything else is ok and it's just the relay...? You think it did let enough fuel through ? Any way to test if the rail has fuel inside it ?

[lozz]

When you turn the ignition on does the pump work can you hear it?

if yes then. theres nowt wrong wiv it,

just start car up, once your confident that theres no fuel leaks,