Car wont start stopped working overnight

[pgringo]

again...WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED?!

[abuzar1]

I'm located in Orlando, Florida. Put in electric fuel pump got the car started again and drove it into my backyard. I then just used the electric fuel pump to drain out all WVO from tank. Just filled up with clean diesel. Car running again on 100% diesel. I let it run for a little bit, but then when I removed the electric pump, it started on its own, it ran for a while longer, but then it shutoff again.

Eh maybe I'll just leave the electric pump on permanently? I'm not messing with WVO anymore, I'm just gonna sell the car.

[v8volvo]

It sounds like you still have some kind of fuel system restriction, or the vane pump in your IP has failed or is still gummed up with WVO. You might give it some time to run for a while on the diesel and get good and warmed up, and running a dose of Diesel Purge might help too, anything to free up whatever the cold WVO may have stuck. Heat is definitely your friend here, so getting the motor and IP good and warm is a good goal to start with. Hopefully the IP isn't hosed/failed mechanically, but given that the problem arose suddenly as the car sat overnight, I am still thinking it is something less major than that. Usually when an IP suffers a serious failure you get some warning beforehand -- either the car dies while driving or you start to notice some symptoms like harder starting, loss of power, etc.

Now that it is running on diesel, with the electric pump installed, will it still only idle or does it run normally, make enough power to drive around, etc?

You can leave the electric pump on there, as long as it is a relatively low-pressure unit (no more than 5-10 psi max). If the electric pump is serving as a band-aid for a broken vane pump or a restricted fuel system, the car will still not run correctly that way, but it will run. However -- it is possible that the reason it started and then died after you removed the electric pump is that an airlock got introduced into the system when you had the fuel lines taken apart (particularly likely if there was still some restriction in the fuel line leading up to the electric pump that it had been sucking against). Did you try to get it running again after it quit?

Sounds like you had a good running car -- it can be that way again -- don't give up on it yet!

[abuzar1]

Tried starting with electric pump connected. It's barely putting out any fuel. It seems like fuel restriction somewhere like you guys said. I will install new fuel filter tomorrow see if that helps any. I made a video of what my current situation is like. PLEASEE check it out. I know it's a bit long (5 mins) but please check it out, I'm probably missing something and you guys could see what I'm doing wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR5PQ...ature=youtu.be

I shouldn't have messed with this. I have an OM617 300D and I run it on WVO so I thought why not this car as well. I saw the guys on Top Gear run straight WVO in the main tank on a Volvo 740 so I thought I'd try it

[v8volvo]

OK, first, a few tips to avoid making the situation worse: first, don't crank it endlessly as you were doing there. If you don't have fuel without air in it getting to the injection pump, it is not going to start, and cranking it continuously like that is only going to burn up your starter and battery. As you know, when it has a properly primed fuel system, it will start almost instantly. If it doesn't start right away, then the fuel supply problem needs to be fixed -- cranking it like that will not make it cure itself and will cause additional expense. Second, once you do get it to start, do not "give it gas" like you were describing. Racing the engine with the transmission in park or neutral will damage the trans due to the design of the ZF automatic, and it won't gain you anything. Once it starts, it should run just fine without needing to be revved above idle speed. Third, those of us trying to help you here recommended that you install your electric pump in line BEFORE the fuel filter. You have it installed AFTER the fuel filter, just ahead of the injection pump, which means any junk in that electric pump will be sent straight into the IP, potentially causing damage to it. If you want this car to get back to proper health, you need to not jeopardize the IP. That fuel pump MUST be placed ahead of the fuel filter!

The good news is that you have found your problem and it will be very simple to fix. The air in the line that that electric pump is pushing is the answer. There is air leaking into the fuel system either at or before the fuel filter, and there are only a couple of places where that can happen. Once you find and repair the air leak, the car will run as nicely as it did before and you will be a happy Volvo owner again.

Here is what I suggest you try next: take that electric pump out of there and repair the fuel line between the filter head and the IP, and install the electric pump instead in its proper place upstream of the fuel filter. Use some kind of transparent fuel line connected between the electric pump and the fuel filter so that you can see what the pump is pushing out. Energize the pump, crack the injector unions open, and see what happens. If the pump was pushing aerated fuel when positioned after the filter, but pumps clear air-free fuel when connected before the filter, then you know that your point of air ingress is at the fuel filter (and almost undoubtedly you will be led straight to it by fuel leaking *out* of the fuel filter under pressure at whatever point air was previously leaking in). If, however, the pump is still sucking air even when placed before the filter, then your air ingress point is elsewhere in the fuel line, again either due to a hose failure or a severe restriction in the line.

At that point, you need to start looking again at your fuel lines. On a Volvo this is easy because almost the entire line is metal, with only two rubber sections -- the part running from the metal line to the fuel filter housing in the engine bay, and the part running from the tank pickup to the beginning of the metal line underneath the rear of the car. Check the metal line for rusty spots or any sign of fluid leakage, and check both rubber hose sections for any damage or swelling or leakage. If there is no obvious issue, disconnect the line at both ends and blow through it in reverse direction with compressed air (or even your mouth). It should move air easily. Now connect the tank end of the line to an external can of diesel fuel, and run the return line in there too (disconnect it from the tank as well). Prime the fuel system as described here earlier, and the car should run correctly immediately.

If it does not run immediately, and still has air coming into the fuel line even after eliminating the fuel tank from the system and fully priming the system according to proper instructions with the use of an electric lift pump, that will mean that there is still a problem in the fuel line that you have not found yet. If it does run correctly at that point, as I suspect it will, then your issue is within the fuel tank, probably caused by a clogged fuel pickup. At that point all you need to do is disconnect the fuel filler hose and remaining tank lines, drop the tank, clean it, and reinstall. The car will be as good as new.

This is not a serious problem and finding and fixing it won't be that hard! Let us know what you find.

George