Low fuel warning light on dash for the last few days. Low mileage in that state.

Had just left my home. Got the car up to highway speeds about 1 mile from home engine starts to lose power and cuts out. I shift into neutral and coast to the side of the road. I figure I've just run out of fuel even though the gauge doesn't seem anywhere near bottom. But the warning light has been on for a day or so. So maybe that has finally caught up with me. I have a 20 Litre jerry can of diesel in the truck. So I chuck that in the tank. Try to restart it. Several cranks and no fire. I figure it might take a while to pump new fuel to the motor. So keep cranking. Maybe 7 or 8 times. Engine is trying to start but battery gets flat before it can start.

Figuring Ive just run out of battery before the fuel could make it through, I call my wife and manage to jump it from her car. Take of again confident I have now sorted it. Another 1 mile down the road it happens again. Exactly as before.

I end up getting towed home. Car will start just fine now with a charged battery and idle perfectly. Im convinced it will stall on me again when I hit highway speeds. Will test this when I can have a friend on tow duties!

So now I figure I have EITHER run the car out of fuel as per my original thought. And that has dragged dirt through the fuel lines?

OR that wasn't the problem in the first place and instead I have a "stalling at speed' problem.

Does that sound familiar to anyone? Any simple things to check?

PLEASE NOTE this is a DIESEL car. I'm running the TD5 and the auto gearbox.

 

As I have a kind of similiar issue on mine, I have scoured the internet and have found atleast one culprit.

Look for a small breather hose from the fuel tank to the fuel filler.


On my TD5 that loop is smashed and this seems cause the fuel to "run out" even if I have over a quarter left.
Haven't seen a low fuel warning light tho.


Putting a spring over it MIGHT help to bend it back, but it would have to be quite robust, and the hose would probably need to come out for this. And as it's not a soft hose, more like a pipe, it might not help.

If I just could find a new/intact one I'd be happy. All the scrappers seem to cut it when removing the fuel tank.

For now, my fix is two 15 liter jugs o diesel on the roofrack.

 

Ill check that Dervish thanks.

Just took it for test drive again. Starts and idles fine. Can sit there for ages no problem. Drive away. Wont get to 100km/h. Starts to lose power at around 95km/h. And then gets progressively worse, slows down until ignition stops altogether and I coast to a stop. Can restart after a few minutes but only with foot to the floor on the pedal and lots of cranking. Blows a lot of smoke on start up like this.

I also note the exhaust seems way smokier in general. It used to run pretty clean.

So my uneducated guess would be some kind of fuel starvation issue. Am I on the right track?

 

My original post might not be the solution to Your problem, but a thought.

If the fuel filter is full of something else than just diesel and needs replacing, it would run out of fuel on slower speeds also on higher revs. Have You tested this?

Anyways, it wouldn't hurt to just go and replace the filter.

Heres the correct method to purge the system after running out of fuel.

So, don't just try to start it normally, and drain Your battery, let it push the air out first.

 

Ah, good spotting Dervish! Will try that.

 

Diesel filter was replaced recently. Id be surprised if that was the problem. And as long as I keep the speed down to below 50km/h it seems to keep on running just fine. Though that could just be I haven't driven it far enough like that. to trigger the problem.

 

Did the proper purge procedure. Seemed to start better after that. idles and drives normally up to about 70kmh if I use gentle acceleration. As soon as I go faster or harder than that I get no further than another mile. So Im thinking I might hve a problem (air or crap) in the High pressure lines but not in the Low pressure end. Anyway, I've come to the end of my patience or skills so it's going into the shop.

 

FIXED!

An update on this for completeness and in case anyone is searching for similar symptoms!

Finally found a mechanic with experience with the TD5. Ran the scanner on it and it came back with only 1 code which was deemed not relevant (speed sensor from memory). Car performed perfectly hooked up to the scanner. Mechanic called me to say there's nothing wrong with it! Since then it's been driving fine across all speeds and driving styles. Current theory is maybe an airlock in the fuel system which has now dissipated.

Thanks to all on here that helped.