Waiting for my car to be towed to a specialist but thought I'd ask if anyone has experienced a similar issue to mine......

I have a 56 plate 2.7 v6 Diesel.

A week ago it went to be serviced/MOT'd at a recommended place in Wigton/Cumbria/UK and has never been the same since. The guy claimed that when he looked under the bonnet one of the rubber fuel return pipes from the injectors on one side of the engine was disconnected (had this been the case it would have been leaking fuel badly but it hadn't). He refitted the pipe and attached a pipe clip to hold it in place (pipe clips not fitted as standard).

We drove the car home and when we pulled up on the drive found the car to be smoking badly from under the bonnet. I lifted the bonnet and found another of the rubber injector return pipes on the same side of the engine to be disconnected and diesel everywhere......I refitted it and added a pipe clip. When I started the engine and revved the car to 2,000rpm it blew another one off on the same side. I added clips to the remaining rubber return pipes and the car started and run perfectly. I took it for a 5 mile drive and it ran great (all of the pipe issues were on the same side of the engine btw)

The following day the car started but felt a bit lumpy on idle. We drove the car around 1 mile and the message "Engine System Fault" came up on the dash and the engine cut out....it restarted and we managed to drive it home as it was only a mile or so.

I tried to start it this morning and it sounds like its only running on half of the cylinders (very very lumpy and clattery) and the "Engine System Fault" is showing on the dash along with "Special Programs Disabled" and the throttle does nothing except cause the car to stall when pressed.

I checked the electrical connections around the injectors and found one of them to be quite wet. I dried it out and sprayed some displacing fluid into the connection, let it dry out and then refitted the connection - this made no difference.

I called the breakdown company who sent a technician. He scanned the codes but nothing is logged, he said his computer showed that the fuel pressure may be a bit on the high side but other than that he was unable to diagnose the fault. His view was that I have a fuel pressure issue as the air intake is dry and there's nothing else standing out.

Any thoughts guys?

I just wanted to mention that I've been a member on here for around 5 years but have had to re-register as I cant find my login credentials (I know how it can be annoying when someone brand new asks for help then disappears).

Last edited by Rangie78 on Fri Jan 08 2016 8:25pm. Edited 1 time in total

First of all, do you know what brand of fuel filter was used? Some aftermarket ones are known to cause issues (assuming it was replaced at the service)

The fuel leak off pipes should all be held in place with a spring clip. If they are not fitted, the pipes will pop out, and spray fuel everywhere. It sounds as though he is talking

The injectors can leak fuel internally, up into the electronics causing a short circuit, and cause it to run poorly, but I would expect a fault code to be logged

Hi, double check that the fuel filter pipes at the filter end are on the correct way round as the White one and the smaller blue ones can be reversed and this will cause the fuel return pipes to expand or blow off under load. May not be your issue but worth a check.

Thanks for the replies, really helpful.

I will get those pipes checked and also the brand of filter as soon as the garage opens on 4th Jan. The car was taken away on the back of a truck to a RR specialist. Starting the engine on the morning it was collected was an awful experience....... even though its done 125k it sounded like new a week ago....... when we started it the other day it sounded like a knackered old transit van

Thankfully we still have our 5.0 SC monster here as the weather isn't exactly looking after the north of England these days.

Well Gav/Mike, you were both correct!

The garage in question used a Britpart fuel filter. Apparently this type doesn't come with the pipes colour coded. They connected them the wrong way and it over-pressurised the fuel system (apparently it should run at 22,000 and was actually running at 48,000 - not sure of the unit of measurement)

The immediate effect is that the leak off pipes started blowing off. It turns out they are not supposed to be clipped as the pressure after the injector should be minimal. By clipping the pipes, the pressure had nowhere to go and damaged the fuel injectors. All of the injectors had to be replaced along with a new fuel filter. At £500 each (and it needed 6) it has cost the garage that made the error quite dearly. To be fair to them when they realised that the fault was theirs they offered to pay the repair bill (which they did today). I now have the car back and its running perfectly!

Thanks for your input on this guys, you were spot on!

Fair play to the garage.