[QLD] Bad Fuel?

[ozrockracing]

Just be careful with dumping too much cleaner etc into the tank as depending on the tank's age it might dislodge crap at the bottom and clog your injectors defeating the purpose. You mention cloudy fuel?
So wait till this tank is finished, put in proper fuel and then replace that filter

Besides the metho i would have suggested adding a bit of 98 (it has cleaning additives built in too which is good). I don't trust aftermarket "cleaning" products

Car has done 150 000 klm's, I am going to let this tank run through and when down to 1/4 tank refill with fresh Hi-Octane Fuel, I didnt want to go overboard with additives

Out of curiosity what feul have you been running it on?? cause if its the E10 stuff it would explain all the black rubbish in the feul filter

I have only had the car 3 weeks so I cant be sure about the fuel prior to that, My first tank was regular unleaded, and the top up the day before xmas was Freedom Fuel's Unleaded, I am not to sure if they are an E10 blend.
I am however only going to fuel up at newly refurbished fuel stations from here on, and avoid the little stations that have had tanks in the ground for decades.

 

[rambunctious]

I am however only going to fuel up at newly refurbished fuel stations from here on, and avoid the little stations that have had tanks in the ground for decades.[/QUOTE]

Good luck with that idea.
Out my way they just culled a Mobil and rebuilt it as a 7 Eleven, total refurbish, but they did not touch the tanks.

 

[Dr HaxZaw]

Yeah the only time they touch the tanks is when they dig them up... doesnt happen very often cause its quite expensive

 

[ozrockracing]

I am however only going to fuel up at newly refurbished fuel stations from here on, and avoid the little stations that have had tanks in the ground for decades.

Bugger...that theory has been blown out the window

Good luck with that idea.
Out my way they just culled a Mobil and rebuilt it as a 7 Eleven, total refurbish, but they did not touch the tanks.[/QUOTE]

I was under the impression, the tanks were required to be changed every so many years becvause of the potential to leak due to rust and so on

Yeah the only time they touch the tanks is when they dig them up... doesnt happen very often cause its quite expensive

 

[Dr HaxZaw]

I was under the impression, the tanks were required to be changed every so many years becvause of the potential to leak due to rust and so on

not as far as im aware... pretty sure they only change them when they leak or the feul is going bad in the tank

 

[Daggy082]

Try and get a fuel pump for any modern Deisel under $4k. Its not just the captiva's, its every modern deisel...

 

[ozrockracing]

Update...

Finally my mechanic is back from holidays, so after trying a few more options on the week-end and still no luck, I took it down to him this morning to receive the bad news.

The intake manifold gaskets have blown, not what I was wanting to hear and of course the standard warranty has expied (of course).

I am hoping that this will be the end of the darn thing and some smooth operation is due to come my way.

Looks like the dodgy wiring job from the relay box under the bonnet to the thermo fan may have been a give away....a direct wire from the Neg battery terminal and a Pos wire from the main Ign relay, so the fan would be on when ever the car was turned on. It appears that was done to over-ride the 2 speed relays that normally control the Thermo Fan...needless to say, I will be getting the relays checked, and the thermo wiring and having it put back how it should be.

 

[ozrockracing]

Update...

So far we have removed the intake completly, and refitted with all new gaskets and seals, fired it up and the miss was still there. Figured there may be an electrical problem that was still undetected, so tried plugs, coils, DFI module, still the miss was there, hooked up the exhaust gas analyser and the reading were all over the place, the computer scan was a little ordinary also.

Analyser was saying Lean, and the Scanner was reading B1 O2 sensor over voltage, B2 O2 sensor laging and sluggish. Replaced the pair of them and the miss was gone, after inspecting the old O2 sensors, it was apparent what had happened.

At some point, the thermo fans blew a fusible link, and the previous owner obviously had no idea how to fix the problem, so they just pulled a 12v power supply direct from the main (Pink) wire in the fuse box under the bonnet, and ran a ground direct from the battery. The overheating issue has caused the inlet manifold gaskets (plastic) to fry and water to begin seeping into the combustion chambers, causing the plugs to missfire at startup, once the water had been burnt off, the engine would begin to fire normally. All the excess coolant (Glycol) has been trickling down the exhaust and has caused the O2 sensors to short and eventually fail.

With the O2 sensors not working correctly, the computer goes into a default mode and is set to run lean until you give it full throttle with adds fuel and causes the engine to richen up, as you back off the computer management takes over and immediately thinks too much fuel, no O2 reading...Default...lean out.

Radiator desperately needs a clean out still to remove all the oil build up and the overflow bottle could do with a clean as well, but with a little luck, it should be all back together tomorrow.
Run it for 1000klms and then dump the oil, after it has had a chance to catch and filter all the excess grunge that has ended up in the engine.

Mystery solved.....a multitude of little things all stemming from a blown fusible link on the thermo fans sometime in the past.