Club 80-90 Forums

its started smoking(light smoke) and juddering until my foot is to the floor then it stops but is underpowered, so i presumed fuel starvation.
there is a fuel filter in the engine bay, but are any more inline elsewhere. i hope it is only a blocked filter

As far as i know thats it for fuel, could be air filter as well, change if taking it of helps.

should only be one fuel filter unless a previous owner has gone OTT.

Its in the engine bay and as you look at it, it will be at the back right to you on the wall - looks a bit like an oil filter but it will be upright (IIRC there are 2 types)

ive been using biodiesel, is that anything to do with it juddering and being underpowered? its still doing it even though ive got normal diesel in now.....

If its true bio diesel then it would have cleaned the tank out and probably blocked the filter. If in dought change it its a cheap part that should be serviced any way.

Jon

its true bio, already treated stuff from the pump. will have a go at it today
well ive cleaned the filter and its not that, so i started thinking timing.i turned the diesel pump with a ratchet (forward) and the belt seemed to jump a cog loose belt. so i turned the engine over with key and IT STARTED FINE (no smoke) just a real loud pump noise like a builders transit. will this knacker the pump?

if your talking loose cam belt here mate , dont run it until thats sorted as youll knacker the engine, maybe you,ve got a tensioner gone .....

It could knacker more than the pump.

Diesel being injected at the wrong time into the engine could pretty much knacker everything over time.

Get the thing looked at by a diesel mechanic and do not use biodiesel again.

Biodiesel (rapeseed methyl ester or whatever its called) is terrible stuff.

It's very agressive and will eat any rubberand plastic that it comes into contact with. Fuel lines, seals, the lot.

If you want to go "eco" than use pure plant oil.
But only 10 - 20 % without engine modification.

you might be right there? ive just been out and retarded the pump timing and its seems good now. i need to change the belt anyway, so i`ll give it to a diesel machanic(if i can find one) and let him set the timing at the same time
ps, i must check the belt tensioner more often

peasant wrote:
Biodiesel (rapeseed methyl ester or whatever its called) is terrible stuff.

It's very agressive and will eat any rubberand plastic that it comes into contact with. Fuel lines, seals, the lot.

If you want to go "eco" than use pure plant oil.
But only 10 - 20 % without engine modification.

Pure plant oil SVO is to thick for the pump without modification. Bio diesel is much better and less agresive then petro-diesel. with out going into vast detail ( google it if intrested) there is nothing wrong with moving from petro-diesel to bio diesel so long as you change the filter at half regular service intavals.

Jon

Have to 'chip in' and agree with other power about 10 - 20% unmodded.
Not clever, eating plastic and rubber is nothing, cos pure veg oil on an unmodified engine eats pumps for breakfast. (not cheap)

Very few vehicles have real natural rubber on em anyway, synthetic rubber is fine. Never heard of bio eating plastic, my fuel filter is in a plastic housing and has been fine for 2 years.. Same as the 'rubber' fuel lines & the 'rubber' gasket on the gauge sender unit, etc etc.........

Oh yeah, best tell the rest of europe too, cos most diesel over the water is 5% biodiesel as standard. They must be melting everything in sight

Weazelchin, all cam belt stuff aside, its possible that your fuel lines have become clogged due to the bio cleansing your tank, like other power says. There may also be some sort of filter in the tank? (long shot, but u never know).

We're talking about T3 VW's here ...

The old technology pre-chamber 1.6 diesel with its sturdy Bosch pump can take 10-20% PPO no problem. Once you exceed theses amounts you have to think about stronger injectors, stronger glow plugs, thicker fuel lines, a fuel pre-heater and slightly changed injection times.

Using PPO on a high tech, high pressure commonrail system usually needs alot more doing to it

Another problem with Bio-diesel (apart from affecting certain rubbers and plastics) is that it behaves much more like a solvent than petro diesel.

Changing from 100% petro diesel to 100% bio diesel on a new engine is no problem ...on an old lump that is well coked up it is not a good idea.

Due to its "cleaning powers" it will a) flush all sorts of crud out of every nook and cranny and deposit it elswhere in the system, leading to blockages and b) it may even find its way down worn cylinder walls and dilute the engine oil, leading to increased wear and premature engine failure.

But this should really be in the alternative engines section

peasant

Good point about engine cleaning that is easily over looked for old engines. Like the use of heavy detergent oils that get put into engines that have been using cheap oil all there life. It cleans to much of the carbon and coke.

tbh 50% - 50% bio diesel - petro diesel is the most i would go with the T3 D engines.

Put back to the post, yah get the cam changed. Also worth doing the water and alternator belts as if these go then you will be back in the sheet.

Jon