dad went away with the patrol the other day and when he gets back there is a problem with the car, and he wasnt thrashing it or anything. in first gear it wont rev past 2800 RPM then just starts to die and when in second it wont past 2300RPM and so on, when in neutral it will rev freeley but a little rough, and towing and/or going up hill it will just die, checked the intake, fuel filter, no water in fuel, bled and purged the fuel lines, and now its getting worse, as it wont even rev freeely in neutral, dad going to take it to mechanic, but just wondering if any one knows what is going on? its a GU2 4.2L TD no intercooler, and yes we do use a turbo timer

can any one help?

Hi there
Might be a blockage in the exhaust system, I'd look in that area. And try it without the air filter if you haven't already done that.

we tried with no filter, it doesnt seam like a blockage but i will have a look at the exhaust thanx

being a diesel, i'd put my money on it being bad fuel.. he hasn't been filling with biodiesel has he?
take a big fuel sample, a litre or so, and stick it in a glass bottle and check out the contents!
if in fact the fuel is bad, could be looking at some serious cash with stuffed pump, injectors, etc

hhmmm ill check that, no we not using biodiesel, thanx

sounds like spark plugs :bowrofl: :gtfo:

SORRY this didn't really help :belt:

lack of compression? Diesels run on compression, if's it's lacking it's gonna have problems.

www.patrol4x4.com/forum

found the problem, there is a secondary fuel filter inside the fuel inlet of the fuel pump, must have had a batch of dirty fuel and it was clogged

being a diesel, i'd put my money on it being bad fuel.. he hasn't been filling with biodiesel has he?
take a big fuel sample, a litre or so, and stick it in a glass bottle and check out the contents!
if in fact the fuel is bad, could be looking at some serious cash with stuffed pump, injectors, etc

Home made biodiesel may be a problem, but biodiesel bought from a petrol station is fine! Actually the biodiesel I'm referring to, and I won't quote the outlet that sells it again! lol, actually runs so much better than normal diesel. Distillate (the proper name of the fuel used in diesel engines) is actually a dirty fuel to start with, and its only in the last few years that the quality has improved. Diesel engines were originally, and I mean the guy who actually invented it, were designed to run on vegetable oil (peanut oil or something)!

Many people are aware that unleaded does go off, this is primarily due to evaporation of the lighter components of fuel, but many people do not know that diesel actually goes off too, moreso in the classical sense! Diesel is a fuel made up of longer hydrocarbon chains, and uses a cetane (C16H34) rating instead of octane (C8H18). There is a fungus that grows in distillate which isn't good for the engine, and is one of the common reasons for blocked filters.

The organic component in biounleaded is ethanol. It is true that ethanol is hydrophilic which means that it attracts water (bad for your car), but additives are generally added to prevent this from happening, therefore making the biofuel safe. The organic component in biodiesel is vegetable oil based (nut oil, coconut oil etc can be used also) which is hydrophobic. Water does not mix with biodiesel from the start! The fungus that grows in distillate does not grow in the organic part of the biodiesel.

If the vehicle is used consistently, and the service station has a good turn over, the fuel remains relatively fresh and is not so susceptible to the 'diesel bug'. If the vehicle has had the fuel in its tanks for a few months, or is filled up at a low turnover station, there is the possibility of this contaminant. There are diesel bug inhibitors that can be bought, which are seemingly expensive but are actually quite cheap when you consider its potency. One such example is chemtech? (its an Australian made, Australian owned) diesel treatment which treats 4000L (of course you don't need to use it all at one)! with one small bottle. This serves as an antifungal and fuel system cleaner. Its main users are truckers from what I understand (well its the market they're aiming for) but of course is still ideal for 4wd's as well! The other good diesel treatment is the diesel version of Flashlube (Flashlube diesel treatment) which does the same thing as the chemtech's, but is probably more suited to the 4wd market. Thats also Australian made, Australian owned. Both are approved products as well, you're not tipping some generic named imported crap that claims to work (just like in the news the other day about companies overseas cashing in on Aboriginal art, bulk made by machine in china and india then sold with a genuine certificate claiming its hand made by traditional Australian aborigines). My point its there are a lot of imitation fuel cleaners out there but very few of them are any good or genuine, the two listed here are known to work!

You beat me to it.

I had a problem like that on my TD42T and it ended up being a clogged feul filter. Seems the wife ran the tank down further than usual and after that we had loss of power and surging......I replaced the fuel filter and cleaned out the gauze filter on the input hose to the fuel pump and all was well....

I personally won't run BIO deisel in my Patrol as for the minimal saving I can't see justification with future problems it may cause. I don't want to do a $10000 rebuild cause the fuel wasn't up to scratch....

The biofuel I was talking about is from SAFF, which i've mentioned before. Apparently its the only approved biodiesel retailer as the quality is really high. They also have premium diesel which others don't offer, which like premium unleaded has a higher octane, premium diesel has a higher cetane. A patrol running on pure premium diesel (still wil up to 20 percent bio component) not only gives more power and better economy, but it sounds so smooth its hard to tell its a diesel (the diesel knock disappears).

There is a problem with the fuel though, you're right, but this problem is common with all diesel fuels now. The Patrol diesel 4.2 (yes even in the GQ) is a very old design, using 1970's technology. For example, still uses mechanical fuel injection instead of electronic. Anyways present in the fuel naturally is a substantial amount of sulphur. It doesn't sound like much when you say parts per million, but it really is a lot! When burnt this creates sulphur dioxide which when mixed with water vapour creates sulphuric acid and hence acid rain. Therefore the amount of sulphur was first reduced to 500ppm, and now to a maximum of 50ppm (I think the 50ppm has taken effect, if it has it has only been within the last year...). Sulphur acts the same way as lead in a car requiring leaded fuel. Now at a maximum of 50ppm, when mixed with 20 percent biofuel component, that reduces it to a maxium overall of 40ppm (hope that makes sense). Either way 50ppm is not good for the patrols engine! The good news is, the SAFF biofuel has the additives in it already to counteract for this, for both unleaded and diesel.

In your case though, I highly recommend you use Flashlube Diesel Conditioner, its a necessity in the 4.2L diesel Patrols (and yes this does include even the newest 4.2L diesels)!

From http://www.flashlube.com.au
'Another of the unique features of Flashlube Diesel Conditioner is that it is specifically formulated to combat the effects of low sulphur diesel fuel, and is the only full synthetic diesel additive on the market today.'