Mahindra Starting problems

[Duka]

Could someone assist me with the following problem. I had to make an emergency trip to Pretoria through the night on Monday 4 January.

I refueled my Mahindra 2.6 SUV at Delareyville. After refuelling,I wanted to start, nothing happened... The starter turned, but engine would not start, it was as if it did not get diesel. My Diesel fiters are not dirty, it was replaced about 2000km back. After trying about 10 times and a couple of minutes later and an almost flat battery, the Mahindra started... The problem then did not occur again. It is a bit of a concern to me. Could it be the diesel pump? Could I have a "backflow" of diesel?

Please share if you had similar problems and if you have possible solutions.

[Navigator]

It sounded if you had an airlock, did you try pump the prime pump at the fuel filters?

[Jerrycan]

1. I agree with Navigator - it sounds exactly like an airlock. Had you run tank very low before fuelling at Delareyville?

2. However, you may like to check that the remote(Security lock) on your key, has not accidentally been pushed. I am not 100% sure on the Mahindra, but many vehicles have as a security feature - an electronic fuel cut-off when "locking" vehicle and this button might have been pushed accidentally on your key remote.
Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday trip.

[Duka]

I Spoke to one of my colleagues who has 2 Diesel Mahindra's, he also agree that it could have been an airlock. The tank was between Half and a quarter of a tank when I filled up, so did not run it dry. Still strange though.... The problem did not surface again, so it was propably a once off. Maybe I did press the alarm/ immobilizer!!! I must watch out for that as it cuts the supply of diesel to the diesel pump!! Remains a mystery.. Just happy that it got going again!

Thanks Navigator & Jerrycan for the advice!!

[Duka]

Hi Navigator, almost forgot, yes, did prime the pump a couple of squeezes.

[Boomerang]

When we tested the Scorpio (long) before launch of Scorpio on 21 October 2004, we had a single vehicle which had a very bad habit of forming an airlock after every single refill of the tank if you refilled with the fuel level lower than 1/4 tank, then you had to prime that fuel pump until your arms were numb to get it going again. We returned that vehicle to the factory in Nashik with that problem. And in the first 600 vehicles imported I never encountered that issue ever again.

[johanraj]

I see there are a lot of thread for fuel quality issues and i got TATA XENON 2.2 bakkie and covered 22000 k . Is there any problem in CRDI tech or indian products got problem ?

[Duka]

On my Vehicle, definitely inferior fuel. Each time after the problem started, I removed the diesel filters, they were extremely dirty. Luckely the Mahindra has 2 Fuel filters. Good protection for engine!

[SorentoMB]

I see there are a lot of thread for fuel quality issues and i got TATA XENON 2.2 bakkie and covered 22000 k . Is there any problem in CRDI tech or indian products got problem ?

Not only limited to Indian cars, do a search on the Toyota D4d injector failures. Problem seems more related to poor quility diesel in Africa and S Africa. The SABS dont realy regulate our diesel properly. I think they only say there may not be any visible debris in the fuel. Diesel in India are so dirty that Toyota dont even sell a D4d engine option there. Most comon rail engines suffers from poor fuel quility. If you want peace of mind, install another fillter, I think Racor filters are available localy. Think they filter to 2 microns.

[Duka]

I Changed my Diesel filters this weekend after 8000km. I forgot to take pictures, but I now know where my starting problems came from......
Both were very, very dirty!!!

[Navigator]

Maybe you should have a look at your tank, if there is a lot of dirt - should be a good idea to flush your fuel tank