[angus]

Hi all,  I have taken my i30crdi to the service center today after having the "acceleration problem" yet again.
My car is an 05/10 build and developed the symptoms as explained in other posts here at about 13000klms and under one year of owning it brand new. 

Took the car to one service place at the first occurance and the mechanic said it was airation in the fuel due to a cracked fuel filter assembly. This part was supposedly replaced (on warranty) but he said that another reason for this problem exists still and the car could develop the symptoms again.
He claimed my cars fuel tank was crudded up with an organic matter causing the fuel pickup to become partially blocked. He said I should have tank and lines cleaned at my expense($300). I declined and he got rather defensive and asked if i was calling him a liar for saying my tank was dirty after only 13K.
Anyway, the car went ok for 2 days and then was back to the old ways again of dying without warning or not reving up over 3000rpm.
As I was busy with work I couldn't get the car to a service place again until today. I didn't take the car back to the same place again as I was dissatisfied with the last mechanics attitude and obvious lack of logic and reason when trying to lie to me, hehe.

Today the mechanic went with me for a test run where the car displayed the fault and the mechanic was able to diagnose the problem.  The fault was put down to the fuel pressure sensor. This part is a warranty fix and will be replaced at a cost of approximately $1800 once they have the part ordered. The car had its 15K logbook service and it was noted that the problem had been identified and will be rectified by replacing the "fuel rail and tubes".
On my 13K service the offending service center had made a note on the invoice that the "customer declined to have the fuel tank cleaned as per recommendation"
What do you guys think about this ?
I think I should pay the original service center a little visit soon and give them a piece of my mind , hehe.

The main thing i have gotten out of all this is you have to find a service center that -
- listens to you
- does not treat customers like fools
-does not try to rip you off or waste your time and money.
Seems as though some mobs think they are a law unto their own and there is nothing we can do about that.

[Dazzler]

Hi Angus.. all is well that ends well...

Thanks for sharing your story .. some dealers have no idea.

[angus]

Yeah, I hope it will all end well. 

[eye30]

He claimed my cars fuel tank was crudded up with an organic matter causing the fuel pickup to become partially blocked. He said I should have tank and lines cleaned at my expense($300).

Why not ask the service centre what evidence was presented to cause them to come to this conclusion i.e. Did they say what the organic matter was?

Today the mechanic went with me for a test run where the car displayed the fault and the mechanic was able to diagnose the problem.  The fault was put down to the fuel pressure sensor. This part is a warranty fix and will be replaced at a cost of approximately $1800 once they have the part ordered. The car had its 15K logbook service and it was noted that the problem had been identified and will be rectified by replacing the "fuel rail and tubes".

Then ask them why this was not identified which would appear to be right out of the fault finding book. 

Then again they won't admit they got it wrong so the only thing to do is not bother visiting them in the future.

[angus]

I will wait until my car is repaired under warranty and then if i can be bothered wasting my time to vent my frustration on them i will scan and email the second service center's report outling the fault rectification along with the first service center's report containing the bogus repair proposal which i rejected.
I will explain that i do not like being mucked around and lied to.
Bearing in mind that when i first had the acceleration problem i googled the problem and found the solution to it on this forum. So i wasn't going to take their dirty tank reason as the cause.
I think they were going to do their own claim on fixing the real fault while charging me for a full tank clean and filter and fuel line renewal.

[Dazzler]

That sounds like the best way to handle it Angus 

I think you might be being a little harsh regarding the original diagnosis. Algae in the tank is a real problem and I believe does cause the symptom you described when the filter clogs.

It's not as if they made up something bogus.

[angus]

Hi Pip, I asked to have the tank inspected the second time i took the car in and they said there was nothing wrong with the tank itself. the first mob were just useless, didn't rectify the problem and told me some B.S to cover up there own incompetence.

if you ever come across a company that doesn't deliver the service you expect and in my case needed why would you go back to them again?

[angus]

Another update to my story guys.      Took the car in early this morning and left it with them to carry out the replacement of the fuel rail and tubes.
Got a call to say the car was ready at 11am. I was very tired after working till 3am that morning so i could not get my car as soon as it was ready.
Got another call to say someone backed into my car at 1pm at the service center yard. (another story)
Drove up the road and immediately the car was hesitating changing gears.  :faint:auto shift wasn't smooth and timely. shortly after the revs were being limited to just under 3000 rpm again.
I rang the service desk and arranged to take the car back to them 5 mins later.
I went for a drive with the tech as he used the scan tool on the obd2 port. the tool was displaying a fuel pressure monitoring code but did not exhibit the rev symptoms again while the tech was watching.
The tech noticed the fuel rail pressure was not being kept at a high enough pressure at all times.
He put the reason of the fault reoccurring down to the fuel pressure regulator on the injector pump.
This is a major deal to replace. expensive and two days off the road.
I was told the part will need to be ordered in from Korea and it would mean a bit of waiting until i would get the repair done.
So my car is slowly getting there. one step forward and too steps back today though.
Has anyone had a problem like this with their cars fuel system?

 

[Shambles]

Damn that's sorry to hear.

I thought they'd already diagnosed a fuel pressure problem... now they're saying it's a fuel pressure problem

[angus]

yes, by process of elimination it seems they are working their way right through the whole fuel sytem.
Now they have to replace the whole fuel injetor pump to eliminate the fuel regulator as the problem.

[bryanj86]

OMG i am sorry to hear about this! I would almost want to burn my car in a fire or send it down  clif if it was happening to me ....I ALSO wanted to ask about ALGE in fuel tanks. I thought petrol and diesel etc is POISON and thus would inhibit life within a dark, poluted, chemical area; the fuel tank?'

[Dazzler]

....I ALSO wanted to ask about ALGE in fuel tanks. I thought petrol and diesel etc is POISON and thus would inhibit life within a dark, poluted, chemical area; the fuel tank?'

I did a quick search on the web and although this site makes things sound a bit dramatic (and I don't know anything about their product) it makes for interesting reading...

http://www.diesel-fuels.com/

This is an interesting extract from Wiki ..

"Algae, microbes, and water contamination
 
There has been much discussion and misunderstanding of algae in diesel fuel.[21] Algae need light to live and grow. As there is no sunlight in a closed fuel tank, no algae can survive, but some microbes can survive and feed on the diesel fuel.
 
These microbes form a colony that lives at the interface of fuel and water. They grow quite fast in warmer temperatures. They can even grow in cold weather when fuel tank heaters are installed. Parts of the colony can break off and clog the fuel lines and fuel filters."

From here:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_fuel

Ironically, there is a lot on the web about making Diesel FROM algae...

[Shambles]

Ironically, there is a lot on the web about making Diesel FROM algae...

That's called payback 

[Lom8220]

Hi, Have just read your message as a new member and we have had the same problem with fuel filter - diagnostic code was "low fuel pressure" and the engine died.  No acceleration and no power.  Garage are trying to say it is not covered under warranty.  The filter should have bee changed at 25,000 mile service?  Has anybody else had this problem?

[Lom8220]

Hi, Have just read your message as a new member and we have had the same problem with fuel filter - diagnostic code was "low fuel pressure" and the engine died.  No acceleration and no power.  Garage are trying to say it is not covered under warranty.  The filter should have bee changed at 25,000 mile service?  Has anybody else had this problem?

[Phil №❶]

If someone told me the tank was dirty, I'd say show me what you found on the filter element. If the can't then it BS. 

i had the same Problem in my i30 a year ago it was crap in the fuel tank i clean it out and change the fuel filter all fix no worrys to the injecters stuffed up  two months ago

[angus]

Hi Guys,
I payed for a tank clean even after i was initially told the fuel tank and fuel filter were both clean. it is a real atitude changer when someone says one thing and goes back on it and says the opposite!! I gave them the benefit of the doubt and the benefit of my cash!  if there is any water or other stuff in the tank the sensors will pick it up. may not be visible to us but if the filter is not flowing high enough rate of fuel then the code for fuel pressure monitoring comes up and you have a limp home state until you turn the key off and then on again. Water is trapped by the filter and i imagine that if enough water is in there it will prevent the diesel from flowing through the filter membrane. So you might want to try changing your fuel filter to eliminate that as the reason.
And it is a pity we aren't all mechanics and know everything about these highly technical cars these days. the cars of old were a more simple beast to figure out.