Arg. 406 is falling apart!!!

[munfred]

my D9 406 hdi estate has been getting crap economy for a while now.
I have known that my lower engine mount is in need of replacing, but as far as I know that was it.

Went to check my car before a long journey where I had to tow a trailer.
Heres what I found:

Exhaust had almost snapped off just before the back box;
I have a diesel leak where diesel is pooling up just infront of the rocker cover (Below the fuel lines etc)
Air con is broken (Not blowing out cold air)

WIll probably wait for the aircon til I get more £££
Have swapped the exhausts over. (I managed to bend the flange on the back box whilst trying to get the clamp off. whoops)

However if anyone has any ideas what might have caused fuel to be leaking I would be most grateful. I have checked the rubber tubing and they don't seem to be leaking or porus (spelling), and when the engine is running with the bonnet open you can see any leaks. Could it be the engine rocking due to the lower engine mount? the engine shakes alot when starting and stopping it.
Have checked all the unions and they all seem tight, (haven't tried to overtighten them as I have a habbit of snapping things)


CHeers in advance.

[Welly]

My fuel rail area has been a bit wet looking but James on here said it was just oil from the large rocker breather tube at the top - have you checked here?

Apparently, if diesel is leaking then it 'cleans' the area and everything will be wet and clean (and stink).

The exhaust failure is common just before the back box and the hanger position just before that (cost me £90.00)

The air con will probably be the condenser (£300.00 fitted) or the pipework at the rubber clip position under the battery area (again £200.00 ish fitted).

When you say crap fuel economy - how crap is crap? I pumped up my tyres to the recommended 2.3Bar and got 3MPG more!!

[habbers]

Aircon could just be a recharge - quickfit (i think, on of he nationals offer this now) do a recharge and clean for around 80.00, the recharge is a proper one, nt just a aerosol can. often the seal leak a bit and the gas escapes, a recharge will lube the seals so the work as long as they aren't completely buggered.

[steve_earwig]

And they should put some dye in it so it's easy to spot if it is leaking. I had this done on my D8 2 years ago, there was zero pressure in it so they did the dye thing. It still works now

[munfred]

Its definately a DIEsel leak as it has stripped all colouring to bare metal, and stinks. I actually managed to light the pool of diesel on the floor where I had been parking this weekend with my blow torch.
I usually get about 45ish mpg, but at the worst I was getting 35mpg. I dont even get this low when I was towing my trailer with saxo on it. Now that I have replaced the exhaust I am getting low 40's again from what I can tell, but will find out this evening once I fill up again.
On a long jouney it will smell really bad.
Thing is if I run the car with the bonnet open and rev it etc, nothing leaks, if I take the bonnet off and drive it down the road open, it is fine, if I drive it to work and back, it is fine. If I leave it a few days and check then it has a pool.

With fuel costing as much as it does these days, dont want to be wasting it. Maybe some sort of driptray is in order.
Aircon can wait until after august, as I have got wedding and honeymoon to pay for, aswell as new track tyres for the saxo.

[Welly]

I read on a diagnostics forum recently that the fuel rail pressure regulator can stick on these - it's supposed to dump the pressure when you switch off - but they can stick a bit (normally resulting in a bit of run-on after you kill the engine).

It was mostly accepted that 1ltr of cheapo oil mixed with 3ltrs of diesel or so and fed into the tank will cure it.

Don't take this as a fix here but maybe you have excess pressure on shut down?

Here's a bit about the regulator on here....http://www.ilexa.co.uk/forum/index.php/ ... l#msg73662

[munfred]

Could be something to do with the regulator as sometimes it stops dead (Juddering because of the dead engine mount) and othertimes it slows down and stops after a few seconds smoothly.
How would a sticking regulator cause it to leak?

Anyhow its typical story, you take it to the garage and it never does it when it is there. Got it booked in at the end of the month for a new engine mount, and the fuel leak will be checked again at the same time. Just hope it gets through its MOT before then.

[darrenwall]

my mothers 307 HDI had a diesel leak and it turned out to be the seal on the fuel filter housing ( £7 including a new " notched ring " ) and took 10 mins to change , it was only leaking with the engine running tho and you could see it coming from the fuel filter housing

[munfred]

replaced the whole fuel filter housing as I broke mine trying to get the top of to replace the filter. It didnt make the leak any better or worse.
The puddle is higher up and further back than the fuel filter so I dont think it is that

Cheers for suggesting that at least it is that is out of the question.

[munfred]

Think I may have found the fuel leak now. By using the well renound tape method
I basically put tape around unions, pipes and joins etc, and took it off a couple of days later. I then found that 1 of the unions was seeping.
Upon taking a 17mm spanner to it, I was able to tweak it about 1/8th a turn without putting any pressure on it.
Hopefully that would solve it.

Also I keep getting a warning that my brake fluid is low. But it is full. Any ideas???

[Welly]

Brake fluid = hand brake switch (give it a good "work out").

At the risk of sounding like a puff you were brave with your Spanner as the system is under enormous presssure and a fracture could send a jet of fuel right in your face apparently it can be very nasty/lose an eye territory

[munfred]

would it still be under pressure when the engine is off?
Didnt really tighten it much anyway! (I have a habit of snapping things)

Had a calor gas bottle explode in my face before. I expect the pain would be similar to that!

How can the Brake fluid low be caused by the switch? does it stick or something?
Thought it might have been because something was wearing out, or I buggered the car up when I was doing handbrake turns in the snow over easter.

[steve_earwig]

Depends how long it's been off. Haynes says wait at least 30 seconds (is that all?) but I'd guess it should be fairly safe if the engine was cold...

A calor gas bottle? Do you still have a head??

On D8s the same light does both the handbrake and brake fluid warnings and a sticky switch is common. I'm not sure about D9s as you get a message for each, so if you're getting a beeping and a low brake fluid message in the computer then further investigation is required. I think someone else had a similar problem recently but I can't remember the outcome, might be worth a search.

[puggy]

same on D9's its a known problem jerk handbrake up and down
a few times and it will go away for a while .