Please help me solve this one:

My sister's 1999 2 litre dti vectra was relayed to me the other day.  it 
died while driving along, no codes are stored, but that may be because the 
AA cleared them, I don't know.  There is plenty of diesel in the tank and it 
is all pumping round as it should.  The spill pipes are recent (2 years) 
She says that intermittently over several months the check engine light had 
been on while driving, but everything seemed normal and the light went off 
soon.  Very recently she said it had seemed down on power ,  when I took off 
the top cover I found the turbo pipe was off, but maybe the AA left that 
off.

It appears that just nothing is being injected, as it will go with a whiff 
of easy start.

Are there any common things that fail on these?  Such as crank sensor?, fuel 
cut off valve ? (it does click) or anything like that?

Or have I actually got to do some real fault finding?

thanks for all sensible suggestions.

Mrcheerful

Mrcheerful wrote:

> Please help me solve this one:
> 
> My sister's 1999 2 litre dti vectra was relayed to me the other day.
> it died while driving along, no codes are stored, but that may be
> because the AA cleared them, I don't know.  There is plenty of diesel
> in the tank and it is all pumping round as it should.  The spill
> pipes are recent (2 years) She says that intermittently over several
> months the check engine light had been on while driving, but
> everything seemed normal and the light went off soon.  Very recently
> she said it had seemed down on power ,  when I took off the top cover
> I found the turbo pipe was off, but maybe the AA left that off.
> 
> It appears that just nothing is being injected, as it will go with a
> whiff of easy start.
> 
> Are there any common things that fail on these?  Such as crank
> sensor?, fuel cut off valve ? (it does click) or anything like that?
> 
> Or have I actually got to do some real fault finding?
> 
> thanks for all sensible suggestions.
> 
> Mrcheerful

Disconnect the fuel pipes off one of the injectors and crank it , tis
will give you a clue as to wether the fuel is being pumped or if air is
present in the system.

It could be something really stupid like a broken / dislodged wire or a
buggered fuel pump relay if you have no fuel flow

--

"Mrcheerful"  wrote in message 
news:Cuohk.31205$E41.21907@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> Please help me solve this one:
>
> My sister's 1999 2 litre dti vectra was relayed to me the other day.  it 
> died while driving along, no codes are stored, but that may be because the 
> AA cleared them, I don't know.  There is plenty of diesel in the tank and 
> it is all pumping round as it should.  The spill pipes are recent (2 
> years) She says that intermittently over several months the check engine 
> light had been on while driving, but everything seemed normal and the 
> light went off soon.  Very recently she said it had seemed down on power , 
> when I took off the top cover I found the turbo pipe was off, but maybe 
> the AA left that off.
>
> It appears that just nothing is being injected, as it will go with a whiff 
> of easy start.
>
> Are there any common things that fail on these?  Such as crank sensor?, 
> fuel cut off valve ? (it does click) or anything like that?
>
> Or have I actually got to do some real fault finding?
>
> thanks for all sensible suggestions.
>
> Mrcheerful

Sounds like the injection pump has packed in.
Generally any air leaks on the fuel system will cause bad starting problems 
long before the engine will die while being driven.

If the EML isn't coming on during cranking, then all the sensors should be 
fine - only sensor that could cause those symptoms is the crank sensor, but 
the ECU would detect a fault on cranking, as the ECU should still see an RPM 
signal from the pump, and recognise a fault with the crank sensor.
Only way to check though is with either somethign that shows data streams 
during cranking (Tech2 does, but alot of aftermarket readers don't), or to 
manually check the sensor with a oscilloscope.

Other thing to check, is there's a small gauze on the inlet pipe to the 
injection pump, which may of somehow become blocked.
Also remove the top of the fuel filter, and check to see if there's any 
magnetic metalic bits in it. If there is, then the pumps broken up (which 
could also explain the intermittent EML issue)