Coldest day since I bought 300D - weird aceleration issue

[JamesStein]

Ok.. this morning the temp was 28°. While not super cold by most standards its the coldest morning I think since I bought my 300CD.

Typically it accelerates wonderfully from a dead stop. Today, after driving for a while (engine warmed up). I was accelerating from a dead stop like normal. Than the car lurched and a large black cloud of smoke belched out the back and I had no power at all. Once I let off the accelerator pedal and slowly applied it, I had power again.

Anythoughts on what could have caused that? Perhaps its just that the fuel is very cold?

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by JamesStein

Ok.. this morning the temp was 28°. While not super cold by most standards its the coldest morning I think since I bought my 300CD.

Typically it accelerates wonderfully from a dead stop. Today, after driving for a while (engine warmed up). I was accelerating from a dead stop like normal. Than the car lurched and a large black cloud of smoke belched out the back and I had no power at all. Once I let off the accelerator pedal and slowly applied it, I had power again.

Anythoughts on what could have caused that? Perhaps its just that the fuel is very cold?

If you have a tank full of summer fuel it could be some has jelled......

[TimK]

28 degrees F for number 2 Diesel should show no signs of gelling but if you are running some mix with WVO, that can change things. Where I grew up in Wyoming it got really cold in the winter time and dad was always found of running #2 diesel as long as possible. He would keep a glass mason jar of what ever fuel he was running outside on a bench. This allowed him to see what the fuel was doing depending on what the temperature was outside.

What you describe sounds like momentary fuel starvation. I had a similiar problem once on my Diesel Land Rover. I was cruising down the hiway fat dumb and happy when it felt like the engine went right to an idle and I had no power. I backed of on the throttle all the way and when I re-engaged I had power again. I have a fuel pressure guage in the dash and at idle it said 7 psi but as I would go down the hiway at high speed (well high for a Rover) the fuel pressure would continue to drop until it hit 2 PSI then the power would cutout.

I pulled over and replaced the fuel filter and that solved the problem. On the Rover there is a check valve on the input to the injection pump. If there isn't enough pressure to open the check valve, then the pump kicks back to idle.

TimK

[KCampbell]

Originally Posted by TimK

.... I would go down the hiway at high speed (well high for a Rover) ...
TimK

Tim

I'm assuming it's an 88"? Canvas or SW body? A IIA with a 2.5 can probably top out at around 50 or 55 I'm guessing?

My 109" SW with Ashcroft TX case gears and Chevy 250 would manage 70 or 80 quite well, but at that point the handling was really scary. Even with parabolics and all new ball joints/links, it was a wild ride on the freeway

My 107" Series I SW wasn't really road worthy, so it never saw more than about 15 or 20 bumping around the fields.

Kevin

[TimK]

Kevin,

It's an 1967 88" SWB that originally had a 2.25L gas engine. I got a 2.5L Rover diesel from a guy in the Rover club. Without the an OD I could do 55 but it was close to deafening in the cab. I eventually got a new Fairey OD from my dad and that helped a lot. I can cruise down the highway at 65 MPH without hearing loss and average 25 mpg. Yes, anything over 65 and the handling is scarey.

TimK

[JamesStein]

Stop! Hijacker!


Anyhow.. as it turns out.. during recent repairs I messed up the transmission vacuum lines.

What happened was a completely inappropriate up**** into 4th gear (going 30mph). I think my Mazda pickup would have just sputtered and died had I shifted it like that. My 300CD just runs slower. Go figure.