Innova Fuel Pump: Replaced at Denso service center for 50% of the price of Toyota dealership Hi all. In this thread I will be discussing about some of the problems that I have faced with the Fuel Pump of my 2005 Innova D4D. I hope this thread helps other Innova owners who are facing similar issues that I have faced.
I am not very good at penning my thoughts and this being my first thread, I would request the Mods to make changes wherever necessary.
I own a 2005 model Toyota Innova G3 D4D. We bought the Innova second-hand from my father's friend in Feb 2012. It had done 116000 kms when we bought it and right now is hovering around 157000 kms. All was good with the car with nothing major to report till a few months back.
I was driving the Innova to one of the districts and around afternoon we stopped for lunch. After lunch, the Innova simply refused to start. After a lot of coaxing and cajoling, the car started and without another halt, came straight back to Hyderabad.
The very next day I took her to Radhakrishna Toyota. They inspected the car and returned the car in the evening stating that everything was fine. I took the Innova back from the workshop and the starting problem did not recur for many months.
Then during the month of June 2015, I was driving the car within the city when the car suddenly stalled in the middle of the road. I tried starting the car but again she refused to start. After a lot of cranking and many tense minutes, the car fired up. This time I knew something was up and it was not to be taken lightly. Took the car back to Radhakrishna Toyota for a complete check up. They kept the Innova for 5 days and finally they called up saying that they were unable to detect the problem.
The first start in the day was without a fuss and the Innova started with just one crank. But, as you drove her around, the car started to jerk and sometimes refused to start. Now the problem was getting from bad to worse as the days passed.
My father and me then decided to take the Innova to our trusty mechanic. He too had the car for around three days during which he cleaned the diesel tank, checked the fuel lines for any leakages and also changed the fuel filter assembly to try to diagnose the problem. What he finally came up with was that there was air that was getting into the fuel lines which was causing the delayed start. He suggested taking the car to Harsha Toyota and check for any problems by hooking up the scanner.
Took her to Harsha Toyota the very next day. They kept her for around 3 days and finally the service advisor called saying that there was a problem with the Fuel Pressure Pump and that it needed to be changed. Upon asking about the cost of the pump, very casually he said that it would cost Rs. 65000 under exchange to replace the pump. Now that is a lot of money to be spent on a 10 year old car, Actually more than 15% of the present market value of the car. Called Radhakrishna Toyota for a quote and what a shock I got. Rs. 80000. We finally contemplated selling the Innova and started looking for alternatives.
On Team-Bhp, I stumbled upon a few threads which mentioned about problems with the Innova’s Fuel pump. Then on further searching, I reached a Thai website where there were hundreds of Innova owners complaining about similar problems that I was facing. By this time I had got to know that I was not the only one facing a problem with an Innova.
The difference between all other Innovas and mine was that while the other cars were showing error codes with the scanners plugged in, mine showed absolutely none. Even the fuel pressure was within tolerance levels.
As a last resort, we took the car to the local Denso Service centre (That is the make of the Innova Fuel Pumps) and what a revelation it was. The service centre – Star Electronic Diesel Engineers is located at LB Nagar and is run by a young gentleman named Mr. Afzal Khan. They are also the distributors for Holset Turbochargers and they carry out repair work on automotive and marine fuel pumps and turbochargers. I strongly recommend Star Diesel for all engine related, turbocharger related and fuel pump related work of all brands of cars be tested here and an opinion sought before blindly heeding advice of the authorised service centres. Mr. Afzal Khan’s phone number is 90000 16661. (PS: I am in no way connected to the owners or the company in any way other than being a very satisfied customer)
Mr. Afzal Khan himself hooked up the OBD scanner to my Innova and tried to check for any fault codes. Again, no error codes showed up. He was nice enough to call up the engineers at the Denso India headquarters and discussed my car’s problems in detail. They too suggested to change the fuel pump. Now coming to the price: Star Diesel quoted Rs. 30800 for the fuel pump and Rs. 2000 for labour charges. The price difference was astonishing to say the least. Got the fuel pump changed at Star Diesel and what a difference that has made. The car runs better than a new Innova, starts like it should, has immense torque through the gears and the acceleration is unbelievable. It now feels better than it felt when we bought the Innova. |