Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai Sachin and I reached Somvarpet around 10:45PM. My Jeep is having a small hickup, it is switching off if I stay in idle. Even while driving, if I come to neutral at a stop, and be in idle for few seconds, the engine switched off. Sachin says idle setting is low, it can be fixed in the fuel pump. Gotta find out how to do it, in the morning. |
This turned out to be a much bigger problem. At first, if I stay in idle for few seconds, the engine switches off. I started noticing this on my way to the Somvarpet event. When the fuel tank is full, it only happens after few seconds of idling, as in a stopped Jeep. But as the fuel level drops to say 2/3rd tank, the symptom becomes serious. Then the engine will switch off if the rpm drops to idle even for 1-2 seconds while down-shifting. Say I am braking and down-shifting from 4 to 3 or 3 to 2 in a corner, the engine switches off in the brief state of idling. It can be dangerous if there is a vehicle behind you. I almost got hit by my cousin's Gurkha once because of this.
Another symptom is I start losing power while climbing a hill. Say I am climbing in 2WD 2nd gear, normally the torque of my Jeep can take me flying up that hill, but I start losing power and stall the engine. And I am unable start even in 1st, despite using toe-heeling. This happened on the way to Pushpagiri Hills and back. I was forced to go 1st low in order to overcome the hill, on tarmac, at least 4 times. Then I took many incline roads (tarmac) in 2WD 1st gear instead of 2nd gear just to avoid the stall.
There were certain trails near Mallali falls and Beedalli where 4WD is required. I didn't encounter any trouble in 4L since the rpms remain high.
Since Sachin had shown me the way to increase the idle rpm, I decided to fix it while waiting in Beedalli, which is the starting point for trekkers into Pushpagiri hills.
Here is the Bosch fuel pump. At first I had thought marker A is the bolt I need to adjust. But that is a fixed bolt, can't be moved. After some close observation, I realized I need to manipulate marker B bolt. The marker D is the solenoid switch which died on me last month while coming back from Coorg.
So I loosened the bolt B and moved it along the curve and keep the idle at a higher acceleration. Notice the marker C bolt is mostly covered now.
After this I thought I had solved the low idle problem. But the stalling while climbing was still bothering me. I didn't think that had anything to do with low idling speed. That stalling was happening even with a floored pedal, it is accompanied with falling oil pressure. Generally the oil pressure should hit 4 bar when the key is turned, even before cranking. But here it was only rising if I start the engine and floor the pedal.
With the above problem in hand, I enter bisle ghat. Yes, I am a sucker for Jeep trouble.

Bisle ghat is probably the most desolate and most pathetic ghat road of Karnataka. You might pass no more than 5 vehicles during the 30kms stretch during day. Don't know about night.
Since Bisle ghat consists of very very twisty roads, I started having this problem in every turn. Finally I stopped at the only section where I get signal and called Sachin and told him the problem. He quickly checked with the mechanic and then asked me to check the oil level, which was normal. After the rebuild, the electronic fuel pump had been misbehaving, probably because it was idle for 4.5 months. Even the Coorg mechanic had complained about having issues with it. Later the Udupi mechanic too found it defective and finally replaced it with EFP from a FC truck. Now Sachin+Mechanic concluded that EFP must be the culprit again. In other words, it is not a grave problem, the vehicle can be driven although in a limp mode. I was advised to pull, push and drag it back home somehow. Not a challenge for a Jeeper,

so I managed to drag it 175kms in 5.5 hours with lots of drama and reach home. Gory details will be covered in the OTR report.
After refueling at Subramanya, I didn't have any stalling problem for first 100kms. After that it started stalling again very 5-6kms or so whenever I slow down to downshift. Now I started improvising, instead of stopping, I used to fully press the clutch and then release it, achieving a jump start. After a few times I took mercy on the clutch and started stopping again after every stall.
The only silver lining to the whole episode was, I could start in 2-3 cranks after every stall.
Now for the dumb questions:
1) Why the heck do I have a electronic fuel pump?
2) Can't the Bosch FIP do the whole job?
3) What should I do to throw away the electronic fuel pump?
I have been told that the FIP needs to be recalibrated, etc. But I want to understand the full function of the diesel Jeep FIP, and how it works, and why it needs the crutch of EFP sometimes.