Im pretty sure i have read somewhere on here before that another member had a similar issue.

Whilst it could indeed be IP related, without swapping it with a known good one your unlikely to know.

What ended up fixing this problem that i read, was the breather line on the fuel tank was blocked, once it was replaced and the breather working properly, the problem disappeared.

Would be worthwhile checking, and reasonably cheaper than an injector pump too.

 

I'm inclined to agree with tj81. The fact that it only does it in 1st and 2nd gear, when the fuel demand is likely to be highest supports a blockage theory.

I'd try taking it for a fang with the fuel cap off and see if that makes a difference.

Let us know how you go, please.

Good luck!!

 

Surely you could replicate this in other gears.
Throw a trailer on the back.
I just don't get why it would happen in only 1st and 2nd and hence be a breathing issue. Under load in any gear I would have thought would cause it.
But hey give the breathing idea a crack for sure.

Franky.

 

Another suggestion i had was the fuel tank. I have not checked the fuel tank yet for any crap in the bottom,

Since you have a lift pump installed it's not to hard to check that the tank pickup is getting a good supply of fuel. Just disconnect the fuel line from the filter and check that a good stream of fuel is coming out with the ignition on (catch fuel in a bottle). You can do it at the IP as well to make sure there are no restrictions at the filter. Try it with the fuel cap on and off to make sure the breather is free.

 

Does it start fine after sitting for a couple of days?

Just thinking air leaks.

Franky.

 

Would no longer be any air leaks with a lift pump installed. If there was we would now be seeing fuel leaks, wouldn't we???

It does seem unusual that it is only in firs and second, you would think at some point you could get a similar load situation in at least 3rd. Presumably it is doing this both hot and cold?? Is it a gear position situation or is it a RPM situation. Are you just not getting to the same RPM points in a higher gear to replicate it in a higher gear.

 

Thanks guys i will try it without the fuel cap. Very likley its a blockage, lots of mud out here recently, could be blocked.

It starts fine Franky, i thought the same thing, but i checked the entire system for leaks and nothing.

I will let you guys know my results.

 

Corrosion on your fuel cut solenoid?

 

FesterGU, im not sure why but i cannot get it to stutter in any other gear but 1st and second. Even at close to full rev. It is very strange and why ive been chasing it for so long.. im trying the fuel cap off tonight guys i will let you know

 

id say the pump is knackered.
if the lift pump improved it id say the rest of the pump is worn as well.
my 2c worht

 

Alright, update!

Fuel cap off made no difference. No improvement, nor did it make it any worse. So its not a vaccum issue. I checked the little one way valve in the fuel cap, it only lets air into the tank. So it would be able to pull air that way anyway.

BeNos, i have been thinking this. I can get it replaced, but i dont want to spend that kind of money on a pump thats only done 260k km's and then to find out its not the issue and the pump is fine. If someone locally had a pump i could try, yeah sure. But it's still alot of work. I would want to be certain i have tried everything first (hence me reaching out on the forum).

 

my old patrol had a like splutter under plenty of boot. put a lift pump on it. was a lot better. was still kind of there ever so slightly. same engine, new car new pump and no lift pump and no splutter.
so for me pump was knackered. but yeah its a lot of coin to throw at a guess.

 

This has me stumpted as well. Its not the clutch is it.
Surely if it's a fuel issue ( or a clutch issue for that matter),you should be able to replicate it in any gear as I said before.
Maybe it's time to look at the fuel pickup in the tank. Even then why doesn't it happen in every gear in loaded up situations?

Franky.

 

Clutch is only 10k km's old. Assuming everything has been replaced correctly, then it shouldnt be the issue.

Yeah im thinking the same, time to drop the tank and check. The tank isnt a decent one, when i bought the car someone had home made a long range tank with no baffling or anything. Its just a steel box. So if i get an LRA and swap it out whilst i got it down its a bonus i suppose.

 

Actually thinking about the no baffling, the reason i assume this is that the fuel gauge only gets a read from the sender whilst im sitting still for more than a minute or so. As soon as move and the fuel sloshes the gauge drops.

If this is correct, could the fuel sloshing cause the fuel to run away from the pickup? Therefore no fuel to be sucked up?

 

That would only be an issue if the tank was nearly empty

 

Hmm. This is true. I should see signs of my tank theory elsewhere too.

I did notice it is begining to become hard to start every now and then. Most of the time it fires first go not an issue. Other times she takes two decent cracks of the starter to fire.

As said earlier an airleak would be visible with a lift pump installed, and to add to the that ive been over the fuel lines. Nothing to be found.

Can anyone think of anything else?

 

Are we talking cold starts here? That could be glow issues if that's the case.

Still thinking air leak I'm afraid. What would happen if you had an air leak between the lift pump and the tank?

I don't know. Just thinking out load.

Franky.

 

Franky, yeah cold starts. I have been a little impatient with the old girl latley at times, could also be my trigger fingers causing the faulse starts.

Hmm, my thinking was if its a hole for air to come in, its a hole for fuel to get out. So in theory with no pressure from the pump it should weep fuel at a minimum. 90% of the cars fuel line is hard line and at least 70% of it has been replaced. The only bits i havent replaced are on the tank side. Most of which i cant get to without A dropping the tank or B removing my whole drawers system to get to the inspection plate.

If it is an air leak though, once again shouldn't i be seeing this replicated throughout the gears?

 

I can see what Franky is saying here, a leak before the lift pump. Although I would expect a little bleed back after the pump has stopped but might be hard to see in your case. Still I would expect the stuttering to be all the time.
It's the first and second gear only thing that makes it strange, so many things don't make sense in only those gears. I would have also added the fuel shut solenoid wiring having an intermittent fault or short but not in only the first gears.

Don't you have a spare engine in that wagon you picked up, maybe no option but to test the pump theory.

Does it drive through the stutter in low gears or does it hold continuously if you hold that gear.

 

Hmm yeah i might go back through the fuel lines and triple check everything. It does have a pump on it, but the engine has 540k km's on it and i dont know the pump condition. I could swap it but once again it could be stuffed worse than my current one.

It does drive through the stuttering. It doesnt get stuck on it. Its only ever got stuck once and even then it still managed to push through. Its very odd. It continues to increase in revs it just stutters along the way.

I know the tappets need doing. Is this a possible cause?

 

I had similar problems - relocated lift pump from left to driver side and fitted new lift pump and its gone. Needs a new IP indicated by idling low when cold and then improving when warm. Will do IP when the problem returns. Similar probs when towing but mine was 1,2&3rd gear. Good luck!!

 

This does exactly that. At cold start it splutters into life at a low idle until she warms and then she increased in idle.

 

My GU had a little problem with fuel delivery, turned out it was a broken wire at the plug for the fuel solenoid. It was intermittent to start with, fine at idle, cutting out with a rev- the engine moves enough to wobble the break. Putting the foot down a touch more in 1st and second could do it?
From talking to a few mechanics, the fuel pump going can show up more with hots starts than cold.
Hard to tell pump issues with age= mine has done over 600,000 and goes ok for a n/a motor.

 

I found it was elimination step by step

 

Compression. Its lost some.
For years (after ingesting some water whilst playing) mine would cough, splutter and carry on from cold start. When I say cold start, I mean pretty much all the time. In summer it would idle off the start alright but would splutter and cough when moving through the first two gears. By the time you got into third it would generally be fine.

Decided to replace the head gasket a few weeks ago due to a small oil weep and when trying to determine the right gasket thickness, I got the dial gauge onto the piston tops to measure protrusion from the block.

Well, 4 of the 6 were spot on. Number 6 was lower than the other 4 but couldn't tell with the naked eye, only with the dial gauge. Number 4 on the other hand was fair f*cked and visibly lower than the others at top dead. Pulled the sump, whipped out pistons 4 and 6 and bobs your uncle, 2 bent rods.

Had driven happily like this for thousands of kays and copped a turbo in there for good measure. No scoring on the bores or damage to the piston but banana rods. Threw two new rods in and what do you know!? Instant smooth idle off cold start. No more coughing, spluttering or idling at 500rpm for the first few minutes. Straight into 800rpm and loving life. Take off at any throttle and its perfect, no splutter, no cough, no smoking out half the district like it used to.

Don't get me wrong, glow plugs and air leaks can cause these problems but these are my findings after chasing all other things first. Start simple as you are doing!

 

Thanks guys for all the help. Im going to try the wire at the back of the pump. If no luck, ill just fork out the money when i can afford it and get my spare 10mm pump on the donor car i bought rebuilt, and wack that on it.

 

I'd give the spare pump a go if you have a bit of time on your hands, worst case it doesnt work, best case scenario it has had an overhaul in its life and it runs sweet and hasn't cost you a cent.

 

Some feedback - I picked the diesel pressure issue up while towing back from Wilsons Promontory last Sep. Did the same trip this weekend and what a difference - only one hill did I have to go back to third and the slowest up any hill was about 80 towing the camper trailer of about 1t. Note that's NA no turbo. So needless to say I'm over the moon with only the cost of a new lift pump and relocating the lift pump to the drivers side ensuring enough diesel pressure.

 

Interestingly I have lived with something like the issue here for the whole time I've had my TD42T - 7 years. Starts fine, if i bring the rpm up to 1500-2000 cold (worse) or hot it will miss and puff smoke on the miss fires. At 50km/hr around town I can feel the surge/miss in the seat of my pants, others can't though. If I rev up to 3000rpm it will miss and smoke and not rev further. Lift pump didn't fix. New EFI hose clamps and new hoses, no fix. Tank is spotless clean. Blew out/clean the return line. Gauze clean. Anyway, injectors are at Cooma now and will fix a strange washer issue on the spill tube/return. See what happens from that point but I'm also at the end of the line. Watching here for any clues myself!

 

In all your trouble shooting have you had the pump itself looked at.

 

Very good question!! I have had a few arguments with mechanics as mine had the fuel screw open too far when I bought it. They all wanted to recondition the pump/fit new injectors instead of closing the fuel screw. When I then fitted injectors I had it tuned and screw turned back - voila it's fixed. To me the pump is most costly to fix so the last thing to be done but one day it'll be necessary.

 

Interesting problem. If it is a fuel restriction issue the power usually drops off with higher revs. Try 1st and 2nd low rpm only. Fuel draining back overnight or sitting for a bit causes air in the system but most often no visible sign of fuel leak. This air from sitting causes low idle at start until purged or complete stall until primed. The factory fuel filter head is notorious for leaking air when sitting. I chase air leaks by replacing low pressure flexible fuel lines (read rubber) with clear reinforced PVC temporarily. Might try this on the the 2 fuel filter lines and the fuel return from the IP.

Another thing you should check is if the hand primer is soft before start (pump it a few times and it goes hard) and during running.