[gideonvanlill]

Good day,

I am turning towards this community in the hope that someone might shed light on my problem. Apologies for the long post, but this has been somewhat of a journey.

I have a 2009 Diesel CR-V with ~255,000km on the clock. A while back started smelling fuel in the cabin and heard injector blow-by coming from the engine.
Took it to my mechanic who inspected the injectors: turns out 3 of the 4 injectors need new o-rings and washers.

After the injectors were repaired and installed, they could not get the car to start. (The mechanic also struggled greatly to remove the injectors as they we fused shut to the casing).

They cleaned and inspected the fuel filter, fuel line, fuel tank filter, etc. All to no avail. They did find a lot of gunk in the fuel tank filter which was cleaned out, to no avail. Then further tests were done which indicated there is low fuel pressure which is causing the no-start.

All 4 injectors were eventually taken to a diesel injector specialist who bench-tested them. Turned out that all 4 injectors were more damaged than initially thought, and I paid them for complete reconditioning of the injectors. After the repairs they were bench-tested again and were 100% functioning as should.

Took injectors back to mechanic who installed them and yet again, the engine won't start.

I've been scouring the internet for related issues and it came down to the following possibilities:

• faulty fuel rail pressure relief valve
• faulty pressure regulator solenoid
• faulty fuel pump

All of the above was checked and seems to be fine.
At this point I am at my wit's end, it's been almost 2 months without my car. Losing all confidence in my mechanic to resolve this issue. Does anybody have any idea what might be the cause?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[UK-Kev]

What is your fuel rail pressure while trying to start the engine?

 

[gideonvanlill]

I don't know, I'd have to ask my mechanic for that reading. All I know is that the codes are referring to the fuel rail as the broblem area. Would a specific reading indicate the issue in your experience?

 

[UK-Kev]

A long with the fuel rail pressure please list the fault codes you are seeing.

 

[gideonvanlill]

Thanks for the response. I'm still waiting on codes and pressure readings.

In the meantime I did receive the follwoing from my mechanic:
He called in a Honda technician who had his own diagnostic machine. They ran tests and got a "183-2 Fuel Heater Circuit Malfunction" reading and nothing else. See attached image.

The Honda tech seems to think that its the glow plugs that are faulty. Problem is I can't find any glow plugs in Cape Town without ordering directly form Honda which is excessively priced (ZAR900 per plug).

 

[UK-Kev]

Honda code 183-2 is the ODB2 code P1031 as detailed on your picture.
Suggest you read this (see link below)
http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/2647-p1031-fault-code/

 

[gideonvanlill]

Thanks Kev,

My mechanic seems to have come to the same conclusion that it might be the fuel heater on the filter that is causing the problem. I'm waiting to hear back from him today.

The thing that baffles me is that the car was starting and running fine before I took it in for the injectors. Sure there was blow-by and fuel leakage but the car started without issue.

Now after the injectors got serviced the car won't start and the issue points to the fuel heater on the filter? How does that just happen? All I can think of is that my mechanic inadvertently damaged something during the injector install. Let's wait and see.

Thanks for your input and I'll keep you posted on the progress.

 

[UK-Kev]

You're welcome.

On the link I sent you yesterday – the guy said fuel heater circuit connector is one of the connectors you have to disconnect / remove when you change the fuel filter – Might be worth checking the connections first. The other point they say to look at is the heated O2 sensor (number one)

Me personally I would still like to know your fuel rail pressure when cranking the engine.

Ask your mechanic if the injectors where coded into the ECM after fitting them.

 

[gideonvanlill]

Hi there Kev,

Thanks for the latest.

To answer your questions:
Fuel filter heater was tested and seems to have been faulty for a long time.
Mechanic is also aware of the coding that needs to happen after injector install, this has been done.

So all diagnostics are pointing towards the fuel filter heater. They have tested it and it was found that this heater was not functioning for a long time. But since I'm situated in Cape Town, South Africa, this should not point to a significant issue. Reason being that we have very mild to hot weather conditions all around the year (hence no need for the diesel to be heated before starting). The car has started fine for the 4 years I've had it (even in winter) without the fuel being heated by that component.

My mechanic is convinced the diagnostics (only showing filter heater problem) are not helping the bigger issue which is the fuel pressure. According to him they're currently getting below 1 bar pressure, and as far as I know the pressure in that system should be around 25 to 30bar? Massive difference. So they're connecting an external high-pressure pump today to see if the car starts up.

Hopefully they'll be able to find the culprit soon, I'll keep you posted.

 

[UK-Kev]

Thanks for the feedback I guessed you had a low fuel pressure - Have a read of this and let me know if you are not able to view it >>>

How to diagnose and replace a faulty over pressure relief valve on a 2006 2.2 i-CTDi - Civinfo

As promised, a how to guide on how to diagnose a replace the over pressure relief valve on an 2006 2.2 I-CTDi engine. My thanks goes to Jon_G for his

www.civinfo.com

BTW I have a very good mate of mine that lives in CT say hi to Brian Slack if you ever run in to him.

 

[gideonvanlill]

Thanks Kev,

If I ever meet a Brian Slack I'll let him know ?

Thanks for the link, I'm going to pass that on to my mechanic.
The latest from him is that the low pressure valve might be jammed. According to him there should be some spring resistance to the valve but he isn't getting any. He's going to bench test the HPFP today and hopefully we're on the right track.

 

[rocky]

Some more modern diesels have fuel injectors programmer into the car. If not programmed in, the car won't start.

 

[gideonvanlill]

Some more modern diesels have fuel injectors programmer into the car. If not programmed in, the car won't start.

Thanks Rocky for the input,
Yes the mechanic is aware of this fact. Currently getting the HPFP bench-tested today.

 

[gideonvanlill]

Hi all, just wanted to follow up on this. Car has finally been sorted out after two months. Turns out there was a lot of deposit and buildup in the fuel pump, which caused the small pressure valves to not close properly. This in turn caused the low fuel pressure problem. Techinicians properly cleaned out the pump and checked all valves, and got it bench tested. Installed the pump back and voila, car started.

A lot of mileage (255,000km) and bad quality diesel (thanks to South Africa's high standards) has casued a lot of sludge and s#*t in the fuel system. Some of which got lodged in the filters, some in the pump, and some in the fuel rail. See attached images of the fuel tank level unit's filter. Virtually blocked! And this is was at the receiving end.

Marking this post as resolved. Thanks @UK-Kev for the valuable input, this has helped myself and my mechanic a lot.