Considering its age (H reg) the condition of my Astra diesel estate is as
sound as a pound, unfortunately however the leak from the fuel pump isn't
getting any better, and the price that I have been quoted for fitting a
replacement refurbished unit would make it appear that my best option would
be to pay a bit extra and purchase a later registered equivalent vehicle.

I've stuck with older Astra's because I have found them to be extremely
reliable and 'usually' cheap and easy to service, so I'm looking for a
similar diesel estate up to around 800, as I only need it for my
self-employed work (another two years) and I will probably then be looking
for a decent little car for running about in.

Someone told me about a tidy Mondeo diesel estate, but is the clutch in
these this same expensive pig to replace as in the petrol versions, also do
later model Astra's suffer with similar fuel pump problems? - any advice
would be most welcome TIA.

In article , Ivan says...

> Considering its age (H reg) the condition of my Astra diesel estate is as
> sound as a pound, unfortunately however the leak from the fuel pump isn't
> getting any better, and the price that I have been quoted for fitting a
> replacement refurbished unit would make it appear that my best option would
> be to pay a bit extra and purchase a later registered equivalent vehicle.
> 
> I've stuck with older Astra's because I have found them to be extremely
> reliable and 'usually' cheap and easy to service, so I'm looking for a
> similar diesel estate up to around 800, as I only need it for my
> self-employed work (another two years) and I will probably then be looking
> for a decent little car for running about in.
> 
> Someone told me about a tidy Mondeo diesel estate, but is the clutch in
> these this same expensive pig to replace as in the petrol versions, also do
> later model Astra's suffer with similar fuel pump problems? - any advice
> would be most welcome TIA.
> 

All cars have problems and at 800 you're likely to get a car with one 
or two. THe clutches are expensive to replace in a Mondeo but it 
doesn't mean that you're likely to need to.


-- 
Conor

-You wanted an argument? Oh I'm sorry, but this is abuse. You want room 
K5, just along the corridor. Stupid git.

> Considering its age (H reg) the condition of my Astra diesel estate is as
> sound as a pound, unfortunately however the leak from the fuel pump isn't
> getting any better, and the price that I have been quoted for fitting a
> replacement refurbished unit would make it appear that my best option 
> would
> be to pay a bit extra and purchase a later registered equivalent vehicle.



Surely a pump from the scrapyard would be cheaper?  I don't know if your 
engine uses a Lucas/CAV rotodiesel pump (like the Fords of that era do), but 
my Escort diesel pump starting leaking diesel from the front seal behind the 
timing sprocket.  A new seal cost about 2 from a bearing stockist and is no 
more difficult to fit than a camshaft seal...

Darren

"Darren Jarvis"  wrote in message
news:P3_se.27794$%21.14109@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net...

> > Considering its age (H reg) the condition of my Astra diesel estate is
as
> > sound as a pound, unfortunately however the leak from the fuel pump
isn't
> > getting any better, and the price that I have been quoted for fitting a
> > replacement refurbished unit would make it appear that my best option
> > would
> > be to pay a bit extra and purchase a later registered equivalent
vehicle.
>
>
> Surely a pump from the scrapyard would be cheaper?  I don't know if your
> engine uses a Lucas/CAV rotodiesel pump (like the Fords of that era do),
but
> my Escort diesel pump starting leaking diesel from the front seal behind
the
> timing sprocket.  A new seal cost about 2 from a bearing stockist and is
no
> more difficult to fit than a camshaft seal...
>


It's a Bosch pump, which has a separate end block with the injector pipes,
this is bolted onto the main body.

The leak is between where the two sections are joined with 4 Torx Bolts, so
presumably there's some kind of gasket between the two sections which has
gone.

Although there is more than enough room to easily separate the two sections
in situ, apparently the pump is so well designed that if this is attempted
it will all fly to pieces, so as you can imagine my inquiries have resulted
in lots of sucking through clenched teeth and shaking of heads, as
apparently it will have to be removed to replace the gasket and the timing
reset, quotes for removing, servicing, refitting and re-timing have been
around 360 plus Vat.

I've toyed with your idea of a scrap pump, but searching around on the net
there's a bit of a controversy as to whether or not it's the ultra
low-sulphur diesel fuel which rots out the O rings in the older pumps, so
after all the hassle of removing a pump from a scrap vehicle, fitting it
into mine and resetting the timing, I'm worried that I may well have a
similar problem re-occurring a few months further down the line.



> Darren
>
>