Vr Ute fuel pump issue?

[SUS231]

Hey guys, so I’ve posted this problem before on my vr v6 thinking it was something else, here’s a recap anyway in case you missed it.

I got this problem that’s giving me grief about my Ute lol, when I bought the Ute a year ago, everything was sweet on it, ran pretty good for what it was.

Anyway about 9 months ago it started sputtering and missing as if it was out of fuel, put more fuel in and still was the same. So I cleaned the plugs and swapped over some spare coils I had lying around in and seemed to fix it.

Then it came back about 2 months after just slightly, I could start to feel it have no power at full throttle, back it off a bit and off it went again. Weird.

Done the same, but put new plugs in this time and cleaned the dfi plug to see if it was the dfi module. After that it ran sweet again. But for less time.

Felt it start to do it again, then it got bad till I couldn’t give it any more than 20% throttle it would just miss bad.

Thinking it’s he dfi plug, turned off the car, wiggled the base of the plug and it was good again.

Since then the problem has always been there, sometimes hours within each other or weeks until it’ll do it again. Turning it off and moving the dfi plug seemed to be what I think fixes it.

Now I haven’t gotten a new dfi module and coils yet though they’re coming soon, but now the problem is real bad.

I think it might be fuel issue, when I got it she did run dry cause the fuel gauge was dodgy reading no less than bit over a quarter, and ran out bout 2km from home.

Would the fuel pump be slowly dying?

When I took the plugs out the other day they weren’t wet or black as if it’s ignition and running rich, instead they looked a little like it’s been running lean. So I took the injectors out and gave them a quick clean, problem still there.

Now it will barely go past 3500rpm if you slowly give it some, and at full throttle it’ll just completely cut out as if you’ve turned the key off.. would the pump be slowly dying? Not keeping pressure for higher revs? But it’ll eventually do it at 1500rpm if you don’t pull over, turn it off and supposedly mess with the dfi plug.

Got me stuffed but what are your thoughts before I spend too much on fixing it lol

 

[losh1971]

If it has done over 200k on the pump then good chance it is buggard but try a fuel filter first as it will be far easier to fit. The pumps are a bastard to get the float out and back in again.

 

[SUS231]

Yeah it’s done 220k, already had the tank and pump out to fix the return line on swirl pot lol so been there getting it out didn’t find it too hard just a bit fiddly, yeah already got new fuel filter put a new one in a couple weeks ago no change

 

[jeepster]

I've had a sick fuel pump. It would happily go to redline with tranny in neutral, and cruise along a flat road, but as soon as you need more fuel, like going uphill, then it stumbles.
Although a bad DFI coil can give similar symptoms.

 

[SUS231]

Yeah that’s what it does, it’ll rev great in neutral, at the start of the trip you can give it some load and I’ll get up to speed quick, doesn’t like full throttle though. then by the end of the trip it’ll keep its speed on a flat road with cruise on but any sort of hills it needs like 30% throttle to keep speed I’ll just watch the pedal go to the floor but nothing happens it’ll just sputter and carry on lol. I feel like it’s a mix of both, fuel pump and dodgy dfi module. Maybe turning off and on the key the pump recovers maybe cools down a bit and will operate as normal but after 50 mins of driving it just slowly loses its pressure

 

[losh1971]

Is it affecting gear shifting? Try using manual shifting and see if anything changes.

 

[Deuce]

My initial thought was a blocked cat or exh. Although with more info maybe not.
Worth checking anyway though.

 

[SUS231]

My initial thought was a blocked cat or exh. Although with more info maybe not.
Worth checking anyway though.

Hehe it has no cat anymore was my thought too so gutted it but still no change, exhaust is 2.5” custom straight through with megaflow centre muffler and extractors so I don’t think it has any trouble breathing lol

 

[losh1971]

I'm thinking it could be a TPS, which is why i suggested try manual shifting.

 

[SUS231]

Yeah I thought tps too, yeah still does it when manual shifting, I usually manual shift anyway lol. How well would it run with tps unplugged just for a quick run full throttle And manual shifting? I know gear changes wont be good but does it make the car run bad?