Help! Nobody else can! DCI80 won't start

[Scousebil]

Hoping somebody here can help me - I usually post over at the renault forums with it being a dci but it's pretty quiet there at the moment and I often get a lot of info from this site during my trials and tribulations. The car is an 02 DCI80 and is now off the road - she won't start at all.

Started off taking a few seconds of cranking to fire up. This got longer and longer until it eventually wouldn't start at all. During that time i hooked her up to my clip and got 3 codes:

DF116 - Camshaft sensor - no signal

DF132 - Combustion cylinder 3

DF137 - Rail pressure regulation function - maximum

Cut a long story short I replaced the crankshaft sensor thinking it was the camshaft with no luck then replaced the fuel filter and glow plugs before realising and replacing the camshaft sensor. By this point I couldn't start the car but with the ignition on I erased the codes and they never came back when cranking.

I cut the old filter open and ran a strong magnet through it but got no metal - it was dirty for sure but no metal shards. I also tested all the glow plugs were getting a 12v feed.

I hooked her up to Clip again and took some live data whilst cranking - immobiliser is inactive and there is 250ish bar in the fuel rail. No fuel flow.

So it looks to me like the pump is working as there's pressure in the rail. I pulled the return pipe off the pump when cranking and diesel pumped out too. The car didn't run low on diesel before this started and I took the sender out of the tank and cleaned a little bit of sludge off the filter - not much at all. I can't see all 4 injectors clogging at the same time ... and surely pressure would be higher than normal in the rail if one or two were blocked?

Everything seems fine, she turns over great - really strong but just won't fire. It was something which got worse over time. I've rang a few local garages (swallowed my pride after having NEVER been to a garage for a repair) but after explaining the situation none of them want to know. Funny how they all say 'no job too big' on their websites! Don't fancy a Renault dealer, especially as they seem to like blaming break up of the pump and entire fuel system replacement as a matter of course.

Any help at all with this would be massively appreciated - I can take more data on clip no problem.

 

[Dr HMS Derv Destroyer]

300bar minimum to start.
if the ecu doesn't read that and perfect rpm signal it won't fire up

 

[Scousebil]

So the pump is shot? Or would it be the regulation valve? I saw one on eBay - they say 90% of problems with the pump are actually the regulator (but they would, wouldn't they). Not sure if it would show a code or not. I've always used millers ecomax on the recommendation of the previous long term owner who also did so I thought the pump would be ok...

 

[Scousebil]

It would make sense that there's not enough pressure as sticking your foot on the accelerator used to get it going whilst cranking ...

 

[MicKPM]

Try adding some easy start and see if the rail pressure reading ramps up. I'd also consider a leak off test as it may be a faulty injector on No.3 causing the drop.

 

[Scousebil]

Try adding some easy start and see if the rail pressure reading ramps up. I'd also consider a leak off test as it may be a faulty injector on No.3 causing the drop.

Yeah good idea that would be just like bumping it I.e. factoring in some compression right? I've had her fire on easy start but didn't take any data I'll try that tomorrow night. How do I do a leak off test and which injector is no. 3? Thanks for the advice

 

[MicKPM]

Cylinder 1 is always flywheel side on Renault engines. To carryout a leak off you will need a test kit (you can make one with some tubing and a bottle but it's not gonna provide an accurate means of measurement).

Guess which one has an issue above?

 

[Scousebil]

Cylinder 1 is always flywheel side on Renault engines. To carryout a leak off you will need a test kit (you can make one with some tubing and a bottle but it's not gonna provide an accurate means of measurement).

That's great thanks mate

Guess which one has an issue above?

That's great thanks mate

 

[Scousebil]

I made a leak off test like the one above but didn't get anything coming through - the car won't run tho - I thought the test would work just cranking the engine over but I've read it needs to run to perform the test? I put a new injector on no.3 but it didn't solve the problem. Just to add to things I had to install clip onto another laptop and now I can't get it connected - either get the green can light on when it's in one usb socket, the green ISO light if it's in the other usb socket but neither together. I've also noticed there's no fuel returning from the injectors to the pump when cranking. If it's the fuel pump that's nackard I think I'll sell her salvage but a few people have mentioned the regulator on the end of the pump which looks like just a bolt on job. How can I distinguish between a regulator fault and fuel pump fault? I'd hate to let her go for a song if it was as easy as just bolting a new regulator on but with all the money I've spent so far on sensors/filter/glow plugs/injector I'd also hate to throw another 70 quid down the drain. Can anyone advise me on this?

 

[Dan@SJM]

Stop throwing money at replacing parts and get it taken to somewhere that knows what they're looking for.

 

[Bluebeard]

Stop throwing money at replacing parts and get it taken to somewhere that knows what they're looking for.

This.

It defies belief when people are too tight to pay a specialist or a dealer to look at it but are more than willing to buy a million pounds worth of parts for it and spend every weekend messing about.

 

[Scousebil]

Oh I quite agree. Except I went through the yellow pages contacting every garage in my area and none wanted to know. At that point all I'd done was replace the glow plugs and cleaned the crankshaft sensor. I'd much rather go and do my own job for a days overtime whilst the car is in the garage and pick it up working again at the end of the day - it would be much more cost effective and less stress for me. I didn't 'throw' parts at it, I was woken up one morning after a night shift when the missus couldn't get into work because the car wouldn't start. I tried the most obvious things before ploughing through the phone book trying to get a garage to take it on. None wanted to know apart from one mobile mechanic who came out, pissed around with the sender unit in the tank and charged me a £30 call out fee without giving me an answer. I hooked her up to Clip and read a fault code on number 3 cylinder and 250 bar pressure in the rail. So I changed the injector as it was probably on it's way out anyway. When I took it out it looked a lot older than the other 3 - I could no longer read the number on it unlike the others which were clear as day.

I have no problems paying a mechanic - money makes the world go round and I'd rather not have to deal with the stress of it all. Fact of the matter is tho that nobody wanted to take it, or my money because presumably they're quite happy with mots and services. I walked nearly 5 miles a few months ago around all the garages in my area with a hub off the same car asking if any of them could press the bearing out (for money) and none of them had a press! What?

I don't really appreciate you calling me 'tight' when you know nothing about me or my situation. I'm here asking for help, not because I want to but because I need to. It might have been because I just didn't have the money to pay someone - people do fall upon hard times you know? In this case I just can't get anyone to help and have a none running car sitting on my drive. If you have nothing constructive to add why didn't you just ignore the thread? Seriously, get off your soap boxes.

 

[Bluebeard]

Oh.

 

[Dan@SJM]

You need 300 bar rail pressure.