Debris in Tank Caused Breakdowns?

[Lynn Hyde]

Hi there, I've had ongoing problems with my Fiat Scudo van (Diesel, 2007, 100,000miles) having some kind of intermittent fuel stoppage and sailing to a complete halt. And then starting again straight away and being fine for another few miles. And can be fine for another 4 weeks!

Everything was changed (fuel filters etc) and after another 3 weeks it broke down again.

Finally the garage cleaned the fuel tank and discovered 4 cigarette butt type objects in the tank. They are all identical in size and structure. They are the exact size of a cigarette butt.

My questions are:-
1)How did they get there?
2)Could they have caused the problem?

I have a hire car and am reluctant to give it back if my van is just going to carry on breaking down. I have done lots of research and some people say even a small piece of paper in the fuel tank, the size of a hole punch hole could cause fuel shortage problems.

MANY THANKS!
Lynn

 

[Mottie]

Have you got a picture of them?

 

[Burnerman]

For sure, these could cause issues if they lodge in the tank filter where the first pump is.
I guess the tank has been removed and flushed?
The debris could come from a garage with contaminated tanks or even sabotage!
John

 

[Lynn Hyde]

Here is a picture

 

[Mottie]

Here is a picture

Weird. Looks like nothing I’ve ever seen in a tank. As said, could be sabotage.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Here is a picture

Do you have a dog?

Andy

 

[Burnerman]

They won't have a Fiat part number!
Are they soft in texture?
Normally the strainer on the fuel pump would stop these things but you can only clean the tank and try again to see if the engine behaves.
John

 

[Lynn Hyde]

Yes I'm beginning to think that it was sabotage.
So you reckon they could have blocked the fuel filter on the odd times that they swirled their way to the fuel filter?

The first breakdown was along the A303, after hitting traffic for 30 minutes, it broke down on a flat road, and again broke down 3 miles later on the same road. I was in 4th gear.
The second breakdown happened after lots of hills - it broke down in second gear twice, whilst going up hills. Seems to be that once it has broken down once, it breaks down again very soon.

 

[Lynn Hyde]

Yes they are soft in texture. I was thinking that just swirling up against the fuel filter would cause a breakdown?

 

[Burnerman]

Theoretically if the problem started at the fuel garage, any debris would be held in the nozzle filter.
I'd also have thought that diesel would at least delaminate a fag end rather than leaving it whole.
The tank pump has a fairly large filter and it would take a fair amount of debris to totally block it.
Did any dashboard lamps come on?
John

 

[Lynn Hyde]

If it is a fag end, it could well have the outer skin removed. In fact I think it does.

In terms of computer errors generated, there were a couple which were linked to fuel shortage. (A fuel sensor was changed in the first attempt).
I noticed that JUST before the breakdown, there would be a strange kind of fuel gap - like a mini second when hitting the accelerator was not giving me the same amount of gas. (It would be quite shocking, even though only for a split second).

My understanding is that the computer then decides to just stop the van altogether by stopping any fuel getting through??? That is what happened anyway - even with the acceleration pedal right to the floor, there was zero gas. Grind to a halt. Turn ignition off. Restart. All fine again for another few miles.

 

[Stivino]

Once upon a time, I had a similar thing happen, only it was a petrol engined vehicle.
It turned out to be a dry joint in the fuel pump relay.
After trying another relay and the fault going away, I took the cover off the old relay, had a good look at it, re-soldered a joint then swapped it back. It never missed a beat after that.

 

[Burnerman]

If all else fails after a tank clean then you need to find a Bosch diesel specialist who can investigate the vehicle using live data, I.e as the fault is occurring.
I think there's a bit of a red herring kicking around somewhere.
John

 

[Bodgedbuild]

It's common to find large-ish bits like that in a fuel tank believe it or not, what happens is the same thing that happens when you make a snowman a small amount of dirt rolls around and more dirt sticks to it. Over years the bits can end up quite large. For the same reason, if you remove a car tyre, it almost always has a load of little balls in it. This is almost certainly not your problem though, the fuel sender/fuel filter pickup has its own swirl pot and the pump has a filter screen, these bits wont get anywhere near the pickup. You problem, I believe, will be worn brushes on the electric pump itself.

 

[Bodgedbuild]

Fuel pump/sender unit looks like this btw, it lives inside the tank....