Problem while on the Road. Seeking Advice...

diesel_fool · Post by **diesel_fool** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:09 pm

Hey all.

Today I started on a longish drive from Asheville NC to Cincinnati and made it without incident for a good 300 miles. Then very suddenly, while going 65-70 mph on the freeway, the car lost power and the ability to hold speed and drifted down until around 40 mph. I was then able to accelerate again until I got up to around 60 and then the same problem. The engine doesn't stall... it just looses power entirely - the pedal doesn't seem to have any effect.

I pulled over and looked under the hood. The only obvious thing wrong was that the rubber cap on injector #4 had a little tear in it and was squirting diesel all over the place. Also, the injector return lines that connect the injectors were soaked with fuel where they connect to injectors #2 and 3. I took the leaky cap off and taped it well but that didn't fix the problem. I can't duplicate the problem by revving the engine to the high rpms in neutral, so it seems to happen only under load.

This happened tonight after dark, so I ended up pulling over and getting a hotel room. I'm trying to brainstorm what else to look for when I troubleshoot tomorrow. Luckily the town I'm in has a variety of auto parts stores. My first thoughts are a clogged fuel filter or air filter. I don't understand why I would have driven just fine for so long and then so suddenly lost power though. The only other thing I can think of right now is maybe the return line from the IP got clogged somehow. Any other ideas about this?

Oh, if it helps it's a 79' Rabbit w/ 1.6 n/a.

-Jarek.

Brian Rages · Post by **Brian Rages** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:24 pm

Sounds like air bubble issue to me.

1. Use mouth suction to draw fuel from the tank through the fuel filter. Easy or difficult? Could be a clogged intake screen, or plugged check valve (not sure if A1's have those).

2. Blow through the return hose... is it clogged?

3. Replace anything that's leaking - injector cap, lines between injectors...

vwkook · Post by **vwkook** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:54 pm

As well as taking care of the leaks, change the fuel filter and clean the screen in the fuel tank. I think you can get to it from under the back seat in a rabbit.

diesel_fool · Post by **diesel_fool** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:12 am

Thanks for the advice. I ended up changing the fuel filter the next morning and that corrected the problem. I am planning on cleaning the tank filter when I get home.