Intermittent power loss

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danielj

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
688
Having a intermittent problem with T2 seeming to lose power while driving. All running fine most of the time but then suddenly feels very heavy and won't take accellerator and picks up very slow. If I keep boot down it will only build up speed slowly but if I push down clutch or put it into neutral it will rev freely and take accellerator fine. Once engage clutch again power seems to be gone again. (Feels a bit like its not getting enough air or fuel.) Once I stop and turn off the engine and start again it runs fine. As it has only happened when temperatures were at or below -3 I was wondering would it be diesel freezing or some sensor or other freezing or clogging in the cold and freeing up or resetting once I switch off and switch back on again. Any ideas anyone?
 
Having a intermittent problem with T2 seeming to lose power while driving. All running fine most of the time but then suddenly feels very heavy and won't take accellerator and picks up very slow. If I keep boot down it will only build up speed slowly but if I push down clutch or put it into neutral it will rev freely and take accellerator fine. Once engage clutch again power seems to be gone again. (Feels a bit like its not getting enough air or fuel.) Once I stop and turn off the engine and start again it runs fine. As it has only happened when temperatures were at or below -3 I was wondering would it be diesel freezing or some sensor or other freezing or clogging in the cold and freeing up or resetting once I switch off and switch back on again. Any ideas anyone?

I can't honestly imagine its diesel Dan. The days of lorry drivers lighting fires under their tanks are long since gone. I'm not saying diesel won't thicken a bit but its much less of an issue than it was....my truck has been parked out for quite a few nights in temperatures here and in Wales as low as -17C, and thats without wind chill.......but absolutely no running problems.

Not denying it might be temperature-related somehow but think I'd be looking elsewhere than fuel supply, unless its contamination or water?
 
I can't honestly imagine its diesel Dan. The days of lorry drivers lighting fires under their tanks are long since gone. I'm not saying diesel won't thicken a bit but its much less of an issue than it was....my truck has been parked out for quite a few nights in temperatures here and in Wales as low as -17C, and thats without wind chill.......but absolutely no running problems.

Not denying it might be temperature-related somehow but think I'd be looking elsewhere than fuel supply, unless its contamination or water?

Just thinking it might be diesel thickening and clogging now and then because there is a few stations here with diesel frozen in the pumps. Might be water or contamination. Will try draining off the fuel filter in the coming few days just in case. Oddly, it has been down to -10 here and I can go out and start up at -6 or -7 no problem also.
 
Just thinking it might be diesel thickening and clogging now and then because there is a few stations here with diesel frozen in the pumps. Might be water or contamination. Will try draining off the fuel filter in the coming few days just in case. Oddly, it has been down to -10 here and I can go out and start up at -6 or -7 no problem also.

Interesting - not seen any reports of that here Dan and we've had some killer temperatures the last couple of weeks.....

Might be worth running some injector cleaner through just in case?
 
you could put a couple of gallon of petrol in and see how i goes, i've seen it done many time without and problems. :thumbs
 
Interesting - not seen any reports of that here Dan and we've had some killer temperatures the last couple of weeks.....

Might be worth running some injector cleaner through just in case?

Don't know if the diesel at the local station has thawed yet. Was frozen in the pumps last weekend. Diesel is not from one of the multinational oil companies though so might be just diesel from smaller independent fuel importers.
Injector cleaner sounds like a good idea.
 
dan, the diesel your talking about could be the same as tesco's derv, it has to be regassed before it sold, and comes from europe somewhere through ireland, even the tanker drivers wont use it in their motors, they sell it and go to BP :lol:naughty
 
dan, the diesel your talking about could be the same as tesco's derv, it has to be regassed before it sold, and comes from europe somewhere through ireland, even the tanker drivers wont use it in their motors, they sell it and go to BP :lol:naughty

what the hell is regassing terry?

Its a good point though Dan - if you've got a decent national petrol station of some kind like Murphys (LOL I made that up!) or BP/Shell its worth getting a tank of the good stuff and see how that goes. I've never had a problem with diesel clagging up....
 
what the hell is regassing terry?

Its a good point though Dan - if you've got a decent national petrol station of some kind like Murphys (LOL I made that up!) or BP/Shell its worth getting a tank of the good stuff and see how that goes. I've never had a problem with diesel clagging up....

a mate of mine is a tanker driver, and when he worked for tesco, they re-gassed the derv, i think they put a octane booster in, there was a group of people down this way who carried out experiments with the derv and tescos was the worst for mpg and performance, i dont put tescos petrol in my turbo, it dont like it, my bother in law swears he can get more mpg out of esso, shell etc, than tesco's.:thumbs
 
a mate of mine is a tanker driver, and when he worked for tesco, they re-gassed the derv, i think they put a octane booster in, there was a group of people down this way who carried out experiments with the derv and tescos was the worst for mpg and performance, i dont put tescos petrol in my turbo, it dont like it, my bother in law swears he can get more mpg out of esso, shell etc, than tesco's.:thumbs

Hmm, I agree, I use Shell, Esso or BP in preference. Had a few tanks of Morrisons 30% Bio and that runs nicely.
 
Hmm, I agree, I use Shell, Esso or BP in preference. Had a few tanks of Morrisons 30% Bio and that runs nicely.

so you can get bio from morrisons, i rang our local store before xmas, and they have stopped selling it, im going svo next month, it works out at £14.25 for 20 lts =71.2 lt:thumbs
 
Don't know if the diesel at the local station has thawed yet. Was frozen in the pumps last weekend. Diesel is not from one of the multinational oil companies though so might be just diesel from smaller independent fuel importers.
Injector cleaner sounds like a good idea.

Hi Daniel

If you go to a local small filling station to fill up it may well have solidified deisel. The composition of deisel changes depending on the season. Summer deisel is only effective to -5 or -15 - cant quite remember. In the winter they change the fraction and put in additive to stop it waxing up.

If your local has big tanks and a low turnover, they may well still have summer deisel in the pumps.

On the subject of lack of power - it sounds like it is going into limp mode in which case there should be a fault code - I think.

As ever take my thoughts with a pinch of salt - I am no mechanic just someone who reads alot on the internet:augie
 
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Had the T2 out today and lowest temp while had it out was -1 but was generally 0. Had no problem.
As it has been mentioned I did notice the local pump that froze is designated diesel/derv so it must be some form of derivitative. Generally I don't buy from these locals anyway as they tend to be more expensive. Tesco's is cheaper by a few cent but usually don't buy there either. No particular reason until now except I didn't like the place for some reason. Few independent places here like Morris Oil and Amber that I'm not sure about as problem did arise after getting diesel in one of these. I have also seen pumps taped closed in the severe cold in some of the larger stations like Topaz (think they bought out Statoil) but don't know if that's because of frozen pumps or not. Other places like Apple Green seem to be independents and a few cents cheaper than others and have had no problem in other vehicle with their diesel.
Had thought about the limp home mode kicking in because of a possible fault but thought on limp home that it would stay below a certain speed or level of revs. When problem happens I can get up to and over 60 mph and 3000 revs or so but takes a long time to get there.
 
Dont ever discount dodgy diesel. I used asdas in my jeep, got the ecu warning light on and off. Cut a long story short over many miles, asda diesel in, warning light on. BP, shell et al in warning light off.

If I hadnt experienced it I would have been extremely dubious.

After a bit of research with local storage/producers/benders etc it would seem they all start of with a similar if not identical base product. Pre delivery they then add their own brand chemical concoction which differs a great deal from company to company.
I'm not saying adsas diesel is crap. It just doesnt agree with my car, bit like if I gave our spaniel a curry :D
 
Dont ever discount dodgy diesel. I used asdas in my jeep, got the ecu warning light on and off. Cut a long story short over many miles, asda diesel in, warning light on. BP, shell et al in warning light off.

If I hadnt experienced it I would have been extremely dubious.

After a bit of research with local storage/producers/benders etc it would seem they all start of with a similar if not identical base product. Pre delivery they then add their own brand chemical concoction which differs a great deal from company to company.
I'm not saying adsas diesel is crap. It just doesnt agree with my car, bit like if I gave our spaniel a curry :D

Thanks for heads up on that daved. It could well be just a particular brand of diesel in the sever cold not doing my motor any favours. While I have heard of diesel freezing in pumps I have not heard of general reports of people having problems with diesel motors.
 
hi.all i have had a lot of trouble with my terrano 2:-( so with smoke and misfire! so today i put shell diesel in my truck.and it seems to of helped.the problem is still their.. but it dose not smoke like it did with morrisons diesel in it!!! cant get champain at lemon aid prices!!!! so think i will stick to the more expensive fuel from now on:) think i will put it in my old d21 pickup and see if i can get her to give up on smoking and may be get 85mph out of her!!!:naughty well may be not dont want to blow her up!!!! she is my pride and joy:)
 
Thanks for heads up on that daved. It could well be just a particular brand of diesel in the sever cold not doing my motor any favours. While I have heard of diesel freezing in pumps I have not heard of general reports of people having problems with diesel motors.

I think Zippys comment is a good one Dan - I've seriously not seen diesel freezing or even thickening over here for years and its quite possible that some of your garages still have summer diesel grade....
 
I think Zippys comment is a good one Dan - I've seriously not seen diesel freezing or even thickening over here for years and its quite possible that some of your garages still have summer diesel grade....

Zippy is probably correct about the big tanks and small turnover at small stations so they may get caught out with the wrong type of additives in the diesel for winter conditions like the present. But would limp home mode not mean speed and revs would be limited to a certain point and not that you can get high revs and high speed but it take a while to get there?
 
Zippy is probably correct about the big tanks and small turnover at small stations so they may get caught out with the wrong type of additives in the diesel for winter conditions like the present. But would limp home mode not mean speed and revs would be limited to a certain point and not that you can get high revs and high speed but it take a while to get there?

Well I have to be honest, its the first I've ever heard of a reference to a limp home mode on these trucks......I'm not going to argue cos that always gets me in trouble, but if someone has a reference to it in their handbook...?
 
What may also affect the diesel is the mix in the tanker and garage tank.

When a tanker delivers petrol, if it is nominally empty it does not have to be cleaned before taking on the next load which may be more petrol or diesel.

Therfore you can and do get petrol in diesel. its not enough to change the classification of the fuel but if you have a "sensitive" car it nay pick up on the grade of the fuel you effectively have.

I have had the whiff of petrol from my diesel tank on a couple of occasions. I presume it separates or tries to evaporate so when you open the filler cap :confused:

Always seems to be a bit of an anomiy to me that one but one haulier pointed out that if all his multi use tankers had to have all their pots cleaned after swapping fuel loads the price of the fuel would have to go up to cover it.
 

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