S40 V40 Cars: Broke down on A12 today: problem solved - hair in diesel!

[pphilpot]

Jeeez, had this car a few months and I haven't yet let the fuel get under half a tank. After adding BG244 to the tank at last fill up I was planning on running the tank as low as I could. Well, today heading towards London for lunch the car lost power on the A12. Pulled over, cranked it over a few times and it started. Drove off and a mile or two later it did it again, the third time it wouldn't start again.

Fortunately Baldmosher had encouraged me to join the AA last week (thanks a million mate) and because we were in a dangerous place they got to us quickly (as did the Police for safety) and towed us off at the next junction. The hand priming pump was empty. But there was about 20 litres of fuel in the tank. He primed it, and it started OK. Read the code, which came up with a fuel pressure fault.

His best guess was that maybe the sender was loose, or had a problem. Towed me to a fuel station and I filled up, and he followed us half way home. When I got home (40 miles) I checked the fuel sender only to discover some hair on the float arm. Then when I separated it, the lower section had a large clump of hair in it! I can only guess that as the level of the fuel dropped, that hair got sucked onto the fuel sender filter. The car is running OK for now.

One question: would the primer be empty due to a blockage like this? What I mean is, if the fuel line is under pressure, would the primer be sucked in under vacuum where a blockage was causing no fuel...?

The picture below shows the diesel that came out of the sender, and the clump of hair on the tissue that I fished out of it.

Oh and the missus said to me "Do you think the Woman who sold it to us sabotaged the car to get her husband to buy her a new one?"

Only a woman could think like that, as I'm baffled how that much hair could be in the fuel sender.

Cheers all.

Paul

[neanderthal]

hair today gone tomorrow

[scottishvolvo]

This might sound silly but there is a reason.
Do you use bio diesel?
Our transport manager issued a memo that forbids us using bio-diesel because of a build-up of crud in fuel lines. Is it definitely 'hair'

[pphilpot]

Yeah, it's definitely hair - look at the clump on the tissue paper in the picture... But maybe the previous owner was using bio-diesel at some stage that became contaminated...

Now I just have to find out how much more there is in the tank!

[scottishvolvo]

Found this...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...y-engines.html

[pphilpot]

Originally Posted by scottishvolvo

Found this...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...y-engines.html

I must say that the mucky sludge that came out of the fuel sender did stink a bit...

[neanderthal]

i know this may have people scratching their heads,but this is what stopped my car from running(picture 1 horse hair,but it came from the exhaust.and picture 2.black powdery stuff left behind when removed...

[pphilpot]

Originally Posted by neanderthal

i know this may have people scratching their heads,but this is what stopped my car from running(picture 1 horse hair,but it came from the exhaust.and picture 2.black powdery stuff left behind when removed...

That's even weirder than hair in the tank!

[kebab10]

Is you an hairdresser by trade?

[Craigs T4]

Originally Posted by neanderthal

i know this may have people scratching their heads,but this is what stopped my car from running(picture 1 horse hair,but it came from the exhaust.and picture 2.black powdery stuff left behind when removed...

Thats silencer material from the exhaust.