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Accelerator not responding and no revs - rare occurrence

Economic

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Location
London
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54 plate 2.2 CTDI ex
Good evening all.

I'm not sure if this is limp mode because I get no lights on the dashboard.

Basically, about 4 months ago, on a long trip from londonm to Manchester there was one instance where the accelerator (and therefore also cruise control) had no effect for about 1 minute.

No repeat issues until two months ago when I was low on fuel (needle was not on 0 but light was on) luckily I was 50 metres away from a fuel station so I fuelled up and everything was fine.

No repeat issues until two days ago when fuel tank was 25% full. I was close to home so I just parked up (again, only 1 minute's worth of issue). NExt day and today no issues whatsoever.

Back story, I bought this car three years ago and have often driven it while fuel light is on, because fuelling up then would cause a (minor) inconvenience.

Hypothesis: I've been told using up the bottom layer of fuel pulls the gunk through your system. Has this clogged my fuel filter? If so, I have read the threads and will follow the guide. However, why does my car seem to clear itself up for two months, and how come the issue only occurs for a minute?

Hypothesis 2: I did have an issue about a year ago when the car was making loud noises and I was told that the injectors needed looking at, and I was told that I was lucky they weren't too damaged but should be ok for a bit.

Is there any weight to one hypothesis over the other or maybe I'm way off? The car is on its last legs (suspension probably needs to be looked at again, ULEZ will take my car out of action in 2021 unless I get a job out of my city) so if it's unlikely to be anything costly to fix I'd rather avoid trying. Bosch fuel filter is cheap at £17 so I'm happy to do that myself.

Thanks for any and all advice!

Edit-temperature and coolant level are fine.
 
Do all lights on the dashboard come on when you first turn on the ignition ?

Have you checked for fault numbers that flag up (you can short out the pins on the diagnostic port if you haven't got a tool for it ) ?
 
Channel Hopper said:
Do all lights on the dashboard come on when you first turn on the ignition ?

Have you checked for fault numbers that flag up (you can short out the pins on the diagnostic port if you haven't got a tool for it ) ?
Dashboard is fine, no anomalies.
 
saj said:
Fuel filter. Replace with a genuine one.

I've bought the fuel filter (bosch) and I'm waiting for it to arrive. Should do in a couple of days. Have also bought able stands and will change the oil too as it's due.

For some reason I think I read you're in London. If so, do you have any time/space this weekend/next week for me to come over and you keep watch? Strange request, I know, I'm a noob. No worries if you can't. I'm confident and will persevere on my own, it's just that I don't have a garage and will be doing it on the street.
 
I would agree with cliff but the lack of any warning lights makes me suspicious. Are the lights present and working?
 
F6HAD said:
I would agree with cliff but the lack of any warning lights makes me suspicious. Are the lights present and working?
Yes. All ok. The thing is though, I did once get the engine light on for about 20 minutes on a normal drive about 3 weeks ago but the next time I started my car it was gone and haven't seen it since.
 
If you plug a diagnostic tool in it will still be able to retrieve a historical code
 
F6HAD said:
If you plug a diagnostic tool in it will still be able to retrieve a historical code
I'll try that, thanks, but I think my bluetooth tool does not pick up engine codes, not sure why I think I remember reading that
 
Try a better tool. Where are you located?
 
F6HAD said:
Try a better tool. Where are you located?
I'm in North-West London but happy to travel all over London to get an expert look at my car!
 
Renew the fuel filter, before pulling the engine apart! the first time it happened to me the engine slowly died, I stopped switched off, gave the bulb a squeeze and off we went again, but I found that it was not the squeezing that did the trick it was the switching off for a few seconds that got me going again, however after the second time it happened I was advised via this forum to change the filter and I am now proficient at filter changing. LOL
 
Suggest you try borrowing or getting a local garage to plug a decent diagnostic machine in first and retrieve whatever code is there. That will help indicate what the underlying issue might be.
 
F6HAD said:
Suggest you try borrowing or getting a local garage to plug a decent diagnostic machine in first and retrieve whatever code is there. That will help indicate what the underlying issue might be.
Shorting out the port pins should show the codes without need for the kit though, hence the reason for asking if the lights are there during the key up. Everything comes up on the dashboard, (though you do have to count the dots and dashes carefully).
 
Channel Hopper said:
Shorting out the port pins should show the codes without need for the kit though, hence the reason for asking if the lights are there during the key up. Everything comes up on the dashboard, (though you do have to count the dots and dashes carefully).
Would that also show historical errors though? Thanks.
 
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