Fuel Pump Failure?

[fazzy]

Alright guys,

I had a problem with my car a week back, i have a 2003 yaris D4D 1.4. diesel and i was driving on the motorway about 55-60mph when all of a sudden i felt the accelarator pedal stop working and the engine died. The orange engine light came up and i pulled over. This has never happened before but for several months now the engine has seemed to struggle coming on while turning the ignition key round.

After i pulled over I tried to start the engine but the engine didnt kick over. I gave it 5 mins and tried again, and it started up fine. I got to were i was going left the car there for the day and then at the end of the day i started the car up fine and drove back, i took it easy and it seemed fine, i decided when it was clear of course to be more aggressive with it and straight away in 4th year going about 50 ish again it died. Gave it a few minutes and it started up again, it was fine.

took it to a garage and they couldnt find anything wrong with it when they ran it through there diagnostic machine, they gave a service as well, as it was due. Ever since is run fine, even at higher speeds.

Decided to take it to toyota anyway a few days after the previous garage, they said they can check faults up to 30days before and said it was something to do with the fuel pump, though there not sure what, and it would cost £120 for them just to look and £1000 to replace it if needed.

So I was wondering does anyway have any ideas to what it could be? like i said it was that one day and the car has been running fine for about a week or so now

Also i am not the biggest car follower, but this as encouraged me to take better care of my car and possible give it a tune up/maintenance check. I know it has just been for a service but what advice would you give to keep it good shape, from top to bottom?

thanks for your time guys, hope you can help

Cheers :)

[tehl337]

dirty fuel filter, engine wasn't getting the fuel it needed.

[fazzy]

i take it the service cleaned this problem, how would i ensure it says clean?

[tehl337]

regular servicing :)

[seveer unaek]

£1000 to replace a fuel filter?!?!?! Bandits.

Just whack a 'Fuel System Cleaner' in the tank next time you fill up (available from all car accesory stores for about a fiver) this will keep the filter, the lines, the injectors etc all nice and clean. Then fill up with decent fuel... avoid supermarkets if possible. Then look after your car... a good strong drive using all the rev range from time time does nothing but good.

Regular servicing and oil changes are required. (Minimum of every 10k i'd say.)

[Ross J]

Alright guys,

i felt the accelarator pedal stop working and the engine died. The orange engine light came up and i pulled over. This has never happened before but for several months now the engine has seemed to struggle coming on while turning the ignition key round.

After i pulled over I tried to start the engine but the engine didnt kick over. I gave it 5 mins and tried again, and it started up fine. I got to were i was going left the car there for the day and then at the end of the day i started the car up fine and drove back, i took it easy and it seemed fine, i decided when it was clear of course to be more aggressive with it and straight away in 4th year going about 50 ish again it died. Gave it a few minutes and it started up again, it was fine.

took it to a garage and they couldnt find anything wrong with it when they ran it through there diagnostic machine, they gave a service as well, as it was due. Ever since is run fine, even at higher speeds.

Decided to take it to toyota anyway a few days after the previous garage, they said they can check faults up to 30days before and said it was something to do with the fuel pump, though there not sure what, and it would cost £120 for them just to look and £1000 to replace it if needed.

So I was wondering does anyway have any ideas to what it could be? like i said it was that one day and the car has been running fine for about a week or so now

Also i am not the biggest car follower, but this as encouraged me to take better care of my car and possible give it a tune up/maintenance check. I know it has just been for a service but what advice would you give to keep it good shape, from top to bottom?

thanks for your time guys, hope you can help

Cheers :)

If the engine didn't turn over, that may be a Battery problem, check the Battery terminals (where the wires connect to the battery) to see if they are tight. Also see if you can check the Battery condition, it may need replacing. This could stop the engine turning over and also prevent the glow plugs reaching correct temperature, causing problems with starting, particularly in cold weather.

[Starensis]

I also believe it's fuel starvation.

I would change your fuel filter initially & see how it runs. Do not pay the £1000, they are ripping you off!

You also need to drain the filter of water due to moisture. This also may starve the engine of fuel if not drained. Should be a tap on filter.

[Ross J]

I also believe it's fuel starvation.

I would change your fuel filter initially & see how it runs. Do not pay the £1000, they are ripping you off!

You also need to drain the filter of water due to moisture. This also may starve the engine of fuel if not drained. Should be a tap on filter.

As Starensis says, fuel starvation is a strong possibility, particularly with the engine stopping whilst it's running, draining and changing the fuel filter is always a good bet. Maybe check your service records to see when this was last done, possibly this was done when you just took it in and this may have solved the problem. As I mentioned, the Battery problems are likely to cause starting problems, but don't discount there being two problems at the same time. If the car does not have a full service record, there is a possibility that things weren't done when they should have been and this can totally knacker an engine, diesels are very prone to dying if not serviced properly, if done properly they should live for ever.

You asked how to keep it in good order, for that you need to ensure it is serviced exactly as recommended, but every week you should check the oil level, coolant level, tyre pressures, washer fluid, power steering fluid and brake fluid. Make sure they are all up to safe levels and in good condition. The levels are usually easy to see and if the fluids look dirty they are likely to need changing. Also remember that the service standards may recommend changing the oil every 10,000 miles but it is possible that you may lose all of your oil before this time. Look at the oil on the dipstick, if it is fairly black you need to change it now, if it is clear it should be okay.

You may want to invest in a Haynes manual as they normally give good advice, tell you how to do routine checks and suggest an order to check faults through.

[LookingAt]

Alright guys,

I had a problem with my car a week back, i have a 2003 yaris D4D 1.4. diesel and i was driving on the motorway about 55-60mph when all of a sudden i felt the accelarator pedal stop working and the engine died. The orange engine light came up and i pulled over. This has never happened before but for several months now the engine has seemed to struggle coming on while turning the ignition key round.

After i pulled over I tried to start the engine but the engine didnt kick over. I gave it 5 mins and tried again, and it started up fine. I got to were i was going left the car there for the day and then at the end of the day i started the car up fine and drove back, i took it easy and it seemed fine, i decided when it was clear of course to be more aggressive with it and straight away in 4th year going about 50 ish again it died. Gave it a few minutes and it started up again, it was fine.

took it to a garage and they couldnt find anything wrong with it when they ran it through there diagnostic machine, they gave a service as well, as it was due. Ever since is run fine, even at higher speeds.

Decided to take it to toyota anyway a few days after the previous garage, they said they can check faults up to 30days before and said it was something to do with the fuel pump, though there not sure what, and it would cost £120 for them just to look and £1000 to replace it if needed.

So I was wondering does anyway have any ideas to what it could be? like i said it was that one day and the car has been running fine for about a week or so now

Also i am not the biggest car follower, but this as encouraged me to take better care of my car and possible give it a tune up/maintenance check. I know it has just been for a service but what advice would you give to keep it good shape, from top to bottom?

thanks for your time guys, hope you can help

Cheers :)

[LookingAt]

(sorry, screwed up my first post due to lateral thinking)

In a diesel engine, their is no ignition, so unless you have lost compression (which you clearly have not, since it worked again), any failure to produce power implies that fuel is not being injected. Its a common rail engine, so the possible components that could fail are the fuel filter, the fuel pump, the engine management unit, the injectors, or one of the many sensors that the engine management unit uses. I'm sceptical about the fuel filter as a cause. In petrol engines with carburettors, it needed just a tiny piece of dirt in the float valve to cause fuel starvation. I don't believe diesel fuel pumps are so vulnerable, as they don't have a float valve, and it would take a huge amount of dirt to totally plaster a filter. Again, it is unlikely to have just started working again if that were the case. Injectors can be ruled out, as it is virtually impossible that all would fail at once. The fuel pump is basically mechanical, feeding the common rail, and if it worked again, it seems to me unlikely that a mechanical failure occured. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I believe the engine management unit controls fuel delivery from the pump to the common rail. It could do this on the basis of required flow rate (depending on engine load) or on the basis of a feedback loop controlling pressure in the common rail.

My best guess is that the engine management unit got a wrong message from one of the sensors it uses, and decided to light up the warning in the dash, and just quit. If problems like that happen intermittently, it is extremely hard for the service engineer to find it, because there is no evidence when he has it in the workshop, particularly if it is a fault triggered by driving quite hard. If you push a service organisation in such circumstances, all they can do is make a best guess and change something. Having had the car inspected, if I were you, I would make sure my AA or RAC membership is current, and my mobile fully charged, and carry on until the failure repeats more repeatably.

I would be very interested to hear how this develops, as I am looking at buying a D4D, and want to know now if there are any reliability issues.

[alanbradley]

Haynes Big-Book-Of-Lies doesn't cover the D-4D engine I'm afraid, but Seveer's right - decent fuel, Italian tune-ups and regular servicing are vital to a smooth-running car.

It may be worth re-setting the ecu just to clear out any "legacy" glitches that there might be. To do this remove either the appropriate fuse for 10 to 15 minutes or disconnect the Battery for a similar time.

And finally... just to reassure any prospective Toyota D-4D buyers, my family run a not-inconsiderable fleet of D-4D engined vehicles from right across the Toyota range. There have been NO reliability issues with any of them.

A

[welshphil]

Haynes Big-Book-Of-Lies doesn't cover the D-4D engine I'm afraid, but Seveer's right - decent fuel, Italian tune-ups and regular servicing are vital to a smooth-running car.

It may be worth re-setting the ecu just to clear out any "legacy" glitches that there might be. To do this remove either the appropriate fuse for 10 to 15 minutes or disconnect the battery for a similar time.

And finally... just to reassure any prospective Toyota D-4D buyers, my family run a not-inconsiderable fleet of D-4D engined vehicles from right across the Toyota range. There have been NO reliability issues with any of them.

A

This was a common fault with trucks in days of yore.Inevitably it was down to a piece of rag or other rubbish in fuel tank restricting pick-up pipe.Always intermittent as debris sloshed around.Simple things are often most difficult to pin-point.I was a fuel tanker driver and can assure everyone that fuel for supermarkets comes from the same storage tanks as any premium brand,it is an urban myth to claim the quality differs

[alanbradley]

I only said "decent" ;)

My car has done the vast majority of its miles on Tesco diesel. I try to avoid small, out-of-the-way garages where the diesel may have sat in old tanks for some considerable period. Supermarkets have a high throughput and regular deliveries as well as relatively new tanks. I have no issue buying from them - especially if I get Clubcard points too!

A