My Jeep is back. It only took 83 days to fix it. Back in Nov, I got what I thought was bad fuel. Refer to my post from Nov 25 or so. I paid to have the fuel cleaned out and asked them to check why there was air in the fuel system, that's when the fun started. I had fuel records from day one showing that I never got better than 20 MPG. For 3 tanks before the bad fuel, I purged the air from the filter and the mileage shot up to 26MPG.
I had a small jar of fuel and posted pictures here. After a few days the fuel I collected was clear and looked normal. During the whole thing, I wanted my fuel tested but it turns out I didn't draw enough for a complete test. The dealer didn't keep a fuel sample so no way to confirm it was bad. I think something let go in the CP3 pump and was aerating the fuel, thats why it looked cloudy but cleared up later.
The dealer replaced everything from the injectors back to the tank pick up. They claim the fuel caused the problem but said they would fix it under warranty. $6000 worth of work under warranty for something that may have been due to fuel? Maybe I read too many conspiracy novels but I don't think they would do that much work just for the heck of it. I'll leave it at that. I saw the rail they took out and it had a thimble full of black goop in it. I can't imagine how that got past the filter so it had to come from the pump. I think this thing has been sucking air from day one. The long term result is that the pump ate itself due to lack of lubrication and/or cooling. If your CRD is sucking air, get it fixed yesterday.
Why didn't I Lemon Law it? The "bad" fuel tossed a monkey wrench in this. Without properly collected fuel samples, I couldn't back up claim. The dealer agreed to fix it, they didn't have proof that the fuel was bad either. I suspect there is enough evidence that something in the system bad from the start. I had the records to prove that but didn't have the proof of good fuel. Shell Oil denied my claim, said they test the fuel daily and would have shut the pump off if they found anything in the Gasoline (that's how the letter was written). Keep in mind, the same rocket scientist that can't count out your change is the one testing the fuel. I'm waiting to hear from the station owner but oddly, I get sent to voice mail every time I call now. They haven't returned my calls for two weeks.
At this point, I want a better fuel filter, the CAT filter looks to be a good solution. I want a way to check for air in the line. VW uses a clear section of line before the pump, I need some of that. I talked to AV Lube
http://store.avlube.com/index.html about fuel testing. They sell a kit and it cost $75 for a fuel test. Call them and learn how to collect a sample. That $75 may save you $6000 when it comes time to fix your system if your fuel is bad.
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