Transit 2.5Di help
Turbo Mini Forums

Got this message in an email from my father. Can someone shed some light on this? I can't recall the DI engine - it's 10 years since I last did any work on one - hopefully one of you will have a few pointers.


"I have a problem with my Transit . She starts readily as long as I "catch" her with the first turn of the key after using the cylinder heaters. However if she fails to start immediately then I can grind the starter moter for ages with no sign of firing. I have discovered that every time i get this problem that the diesel oil filter/resevoir is not full to the top. By topping it up with a couple of spoonsful of Derv and bleeding the injectors she will then start. I think that there is an air leak somewhere. I have tightened all the unions. Do you have any suggestions?"

i would agree with an air leak, the initial start is the residual diesel in the pump, after that it draws air. bastard to try and trace though :(

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

i had exactly this dave, if you take the fuel filter off, there should be a black rubber ring insert about the diameter of 10p piece that should be clipped into the top centre

sometimes if you take the filter off, it stays behind on the housing, and when you put the filter back on, it doesnt go all the way back home, but leaves a small gap which can leak a dribble of fuel and/or draw air through

ask your old man to take the filter off and see if the seal is still in it

good luck

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Joe - so I assume you are saying that it might just be worth going and replacing this seal regardless?

Does the DI have a seperate lift pump or is it built into the injection pump?

how old is the deisel, and what is the ambient temperatures where your dad lives, over night? could it be waxing?

Had the same issue and could never find the air leak. First question, has it a Lucas CAV or Bosch fuel pump?

If Bosch pump, there is normally an uplift pump on the drivers side on the engine. Check thats feeding the diesel filter.

If a Lucas pump (which do not have an uplift pump) I fitted a small facet between filter and tank. Saves alot of hassle bleeding too!

Edit: Also prone for leaking injectors. Especially left over night.

Edited by Jason G on 7th Dec, 2010.

He uses this once every two / three days. Diesel is prob less than a month old I reckon. He is in Manchester.

I'll find out if it's the bosch pump or Lucas pump.

dave as above but ..... dont disregard the slippage hoses which are connected to each injector and to the next one and the blanking one on the end these perrish and or split and cause this classic problem you describe.

Edited by BENROSS on 7th Dec, 2010.

A bit of a tangent, but the cold we are having is definitely having an effect on diesel. I know this as my diesel space heater which will usually fire up first try, is now taking some real persuasion, to the point that I had to feed it warm air from my hot air gun tonight to get it to fire up. Once off it was then really smokey for a while, however the lob a bit of meths in trick did really seem to help.

check the upfill pump, disconnect fuell filter end and switch on, it should flow like a tap.
then filter replacement?
If the pump's ok, a little air leak on fuel hoses can make the diesel pump not priming correctly, should sort this asap as these don't like to be lubricated with air..

Sprocket that tip about diesel waxing was interesting, it might explain a problem I had with my TD car the other day which I hope hasn't caused any damage e.g to the pump or bearings. Hmm what to do to minimize waxing may be a concern for people living to the north still in the throws of lower temperatures.

A mate showed me a bucket of waxed deisel last week- never seen that before so wasn't surprised he fecked his pump

-14 this morning in glasgow..........

When those little blanking caps crack or split they general cover the entire engine bay with diesel! Makes a right mess, silly design.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

a new filter will def come with one dave, but as long as its there, and firmly clipped into the top of the filter, it should do its job fine?

jason, might be a daft design but...when bleeding the injectors once, i managed to clumsily snap off the feed to the front injector, fortunately a blob of araldite, and swapping the hose to the other un-used one saved me a right headache, so from me, they get a thumbs up lol

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Ah...you never have to bleed the injector side of the pump on a di lump. As long as it bleed up to the pump & turned the engine a few times, should fire into action.

cracking the injectors off has done the trick a few times for me?

saying that, it was on the turbo with lucas pump? but didnt think they differed all that much?

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

What age is this tranny? If it a CRD we don't want to be cracking injectors etc due to the fuel line pressures involved please

On 5th Sep, 2011 Vegard said:
I stand corrected. You should know

One of the lads who used to work for us (God rest his soul) told me a story that when he was in the Navy, he maintained and repaired helicopters. He then went on to to tell me that one of his mates, while working on a Chinook, he found a leak from one of the hydraulic hoses, only a pin hole squirting out fluid about 20ft across the daeck. He put his thum over the leak, and the fluid promptly found its way through his thumb too!!

So yes, do not mess with high pressure fluids if you do not know what you are doing!!

^Ouch!

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

crackign common rail lines is fine, do it all the time to bleed them by the time enough diesel has escaped to meerly wet the fitting its down to 3-4 bar at most. that said, the fittings do have a finite number of uses (1 if you ask bosch) and after a few goes may stop sealing.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

Transit DI isn't common rail. Like I said before, you don't touch the injector side of the pump. All bleeding/priming is done on the filter side.