[Engine] Engine judders occassionally

[Stuart Motson]

Hello All
I'm a Berlingo virgin.   I bought a 53 plate Berlingo 1.9 diesel from bloke in High Wickham off Ebay a few months back.  Great van with 135k on the clock. Not too bad; local mechanic replaced the erg valve and fuel pump with second hand parts and adjusted the timing.  I changed oil, oil filter and air filter.  Fuel filter was filthy.  Mechanic also advised new fuel pump housing which he suspected as letting in air.  I got a replacement and changed this. 

Runs much better, but it judders very occasionally.  No real pattern to it.  It runs great generally, but randomly it "coughs" for a few seconds.  If you lift your foot off the accelerator momentarily, and then put your foot down gently, all is well again.  It never does it when cold.  When under load (e.g. accelerating uphill) it seems to be fine. 

I was thinking of chucking some cat cleaner through it.  And some injector cleaner.  Any one got any more specific ideas. Many thanks in anticipation.  Stu

[Col]

Certainly an injection cleaner won't do any harm and if it solves it, great! I like to empty the fuel filter and refill it with cleaner giving it a strong cleaning mix (MOT dodge)
If that doesn't sort it look deeper. Air leaks tend to cause starting probs so poss not that but worth checking just to eliminate it.

[Stuart Motson]

Certainly an injection cleaner won't do any harm and if it solves it, great! I like to empty the fuel filter and refill it with cleaner giving it a strong cleaning mix (MOT dodge)
If that doesn't sort it look deeper. Air leaks tend to cause starting probs so poss not that but worth checking just to eliminate it.

Thanks for the prompt reply Col.  I will put a bottle of Wynn's injector cleaner through it.  I a bit nervous of taking the fuel filter housing off again, since it was a absolute bugger to get on squarely.  Also it didn't want to start and I had to jump it which was a pain.  Many thanks for the affirming advice. 

[geoff]

Ok so '03 plate with 135k ..... it will never be like new ever again !

Given your fears I'd say just sling the juice in the tank and let your employee do the work ( old father time ) and run the van for a while to get to know it ..... I find that often faults will go away and other times they become less of a problem.

.... Review again in six months ....

[geoff]

Give the filter top a few taps all round and see if you can tighten the clip a bit more ....................................