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| NickMc Member Since: 01 Oct 2014 Location: Norn Iron Posts: 1627   
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Has the crimp split on the inter cooler?
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3rd Dec 2018 12:12am |
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| NAS90 Member Since: 26 Sep 2018 Location: Norfolk Posts: 45 
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Sounds like your issue might be what my local independent specialists call slugs in the fuel tank, when I was in there last week they had two Pumas in with the same issue.
The mechanic showed me the contacts of one tank, to me it looks like cat poo in the tank but apparently it's a build up of some organism that gets into the diesel and clumps together in the tank then as the pump runs it sucks the "slugs" in and limits the fuel intake, if you keep driving it the pump eventually sucks some of it up into the pipe and you end up stranded. For the moment each time you turn the ignition off the pump stops and the blockage floats away form the intake and it runs for a while until it suck the blockage up again. Only happens to the Puma apparently, solution is tank out, clean the "slugs" out and add new diesel plus an additive that kills off any remaining bugs and you're all sorted. Is there such a thing as too many Defenders?.... NAS90 Soft Top, 50th Anniversary, Spectre 110 Puma, Ex Italian Police 90 with JE V8 Auto |
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3rd Dec 2018 8:57am |
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| dorsetsmith Member Since: 30 Oct 2011 Location: South West Posts: 4554 |
There are known to be over 20 species of fuel bugs that can contaminate your fuel storage tank. If the conditions are suitable they 'move in' and start to multiply. The fungal spores are carried by air and water, entering your fuel system via filling ports and vents. The air space above the fuel in tanks contains water vapour. The walls of the tanks are cool and the water vapour condenses on these surfaces. This water subsequently accumulates and sinks to the bottom of the tank creating an ideal environment for the growth of the most common of fungi "Cladisporium resinae".
Once in a fuel supply this contamination can exist virtually undetected and wait for the right conditions for growth. They can double their numbers every 20 minutes and one single spore can produce over 260,000 cloned descendants in six hours. Each spore lives for about 48 hours and as older fungi die their bodies accumulate, forming a slime that ultimately floats upwards into the fuel, a bit like soft candy floss- so it doesn't take long for the bugs to dominate the entire fuel system. Fungal infestation can 'spoil' the fuel and the sludge and residue is drawn into the engine, quickly clogging filters, causing loss of power, narrowing fuel lines and eventually leading to engine breakdown. The damage does not stop there. A portion of sludge adheres to the inner walls of the tank and fuel lines producing corrosive hydrogen sulphide that causes metal defects and pitting of the injectors and fuel related components. Condensation can and will occur at many points of discharge and delivery including the refinery, fuel depots and fuel jetties, in holding tanks and in all storage tanks. At the fuel/water interface there is both hydrocarbons and dissolved oxygen providing the idea environment for the fuel bug. Cladisporium resinae can have many guises ranging from mousse, treacle, candyfloss, cotton wool etc and forms tangled threads a few microns in diameter, forming thick, tough mycelium mats at fuel/water interface. These micro-organisms will consume rubber gaskets, O-rings, hoses, tank linings and coatings in an effort to obtain their mineral content. Diesel bug is not a single species of microbe. It can comprise a collection of bacteria, yeasts and moulds. It can exist even in fuel that is quite clean, but at low levels. If it does not enjoy suitable conditions to enable it to flourish, there is little to worry about, as minor contamination will be filtered out as the fuel is drawn through to the engine. 'Suitable conditions' essentially means the presence of water, because the microbes live and multiply on a fuel/water interface. They live and reproduce in the water, but feed on the nutrients in the fuel. Given the presence of water, warm or humid conditions will also help them to propagate. The number of bugs required to pose a problem is many millions, so the level of contamination is measured as a logarithmic power in colony-forming units (CFUs). 'Clean' fuel will have a rating of up to a few thousand (2x103cfu/lt), light contamination which is enough to cause a problem is up to a couple of million (2x106cfu/lt), while heavy contamination will be up in the tens of millions (1x107cfu/lt). Identifying diesel bug is easy through oil analysis and there are several ways of eliminating the contamination through additives and filtration. 
Click image to enlarge |
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3rd Dec 2018 9:47am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17414 
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Symptoms of this kind have been extensively covered on the forum over the years. In the absence of any stored DTCs, I would suggest that the infamous VCV is a good place to start, alternatively a malfunctioning turbo actuator can produce the same symptoms.
The diesel bug is not a Puma-only problem, any diesel vehicle can suffer from it. Both the TD5 and TDCi fuel systems have a number of design weaknesses which make them susceptible to bug growth (principally the provision of an open breather pipe terminating behind a back wheel), it is more likely to cause problems in the 2.4 TDCi than the TD5 or 2.2TDCi since the 2.4 relies upon suction from an engine-mounted pump, the others have a tank mounted pump. If you sort out the breather, the diesel bug is only likely to be a problem if you do low mileages, the vehicle stands for long periods with a partially-filled tank, you use fuel that has been stored for a long time, or you have the misfortune to fill up with fuel that is already contaminated. The diesel bug, or any form of contamination in the fuel will destroy the VCV in a heartbeat. |
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3rd Dec 2018 10:04am |
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| churchy Member Since: 28 Jul 2011 Location: UK Posts: 237 
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Hi all,
Update - today replaced all glow plugs - 3 weren’t functioning. Inter cooler replaced and as per NickMc there was a split down the seem on the drivers and the rubber seal was showing through the casing. Upshot is power is restored! Still blowing a little black smoke on hard acceleration however not as bad as before. Took opportunity to clean up the air intake manifold while doing glow plugs and it was exceptionally coked up and oily. Going to follow and programme of additive / cleaners and see where we go from here. Thanks for all advice so far - much appreciated! |
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10th Dec 2018 6:02pm |
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