Liberty stalls! ARGH

DieselJeepLuvr · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 3:58 am

Well my liberty has a problem. It has stalled on me a few times just driving around. No warning or anything just all of a sudden stalls. Starts right back up though other than one time when it spuddered for a minute then had full power again.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:44 am

change the fuel filter.

Wobbly · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 9:50 am

and ensure that the original fuel filter head has been replaced with the new model.

DieselJeepLuvr · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 3:21 pm

I just changed the fuel filter about 4500 miles ago and how can the fuel filter head cause stalling? It doesnt leak around the plug because it's dry unless it's causing an air leak. I did bleed out some air from the fuel filter though.

CATCRD · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 4:22 pm

A lot can happen in 4500 miles. Just one tank of shady fuel is all it takes to plug one. Take a flashlight and check around the rim of the fuel filter to see if it's wet with fuel. Check around the bleeder screw too. Pull the plugs out of the filter head and look in there for any scorching or wetness. Pump the primer bulb a few times while the plugs are out to see if any fuel comes out of them. If that's all ok, give the fuel filter a twist and make sure it's tight. If it is, then take your fuel filter off and make sure there are only two o-rings there. One inner and one outer. If the old inner o-ring stuck on there last time you changed it then it can cause problems. If that's ok, just put a new filter on, bleed the system and drive.

Wobbly · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 5:32 pm

DieselJeepLuvr wrote:

I just changed the fuel filter about 4500 miles ago and how can the fuel filter head cause stalling? It doesnt leak around the plug because it's dry unless it's causing an air leak. I did bleed out some air from the fuel filter though.

The topic of air leaks due to the original fuel filter head is well documented. Use the search function.

DieselJeepLuvr · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:16 pm

Okay went ahead and changed the fuel filter. Everything was dry and clean prior to replacement. I pressurized the system with the priming pump and cracked open the bleeder valve to see if it happened to have any air in it and it did so I decided that if the fuel filter was plugging up it would create unneccesary vacuum therefore sucking in air somewhere and when I went to unscrew the old filter it was quite loose which would explain the air infiltration. Hope this does the trick.

Every time I check the oil on this thing I pump the priming pump up and pull the sensor plugs to check for anything out of the ordinary but it always looks fine so I haven't changed the housing.

I have been running 50/50 mix WVO for the last couple of thousand miles so that may explain the plugged filter. We'll see.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:51 am

The 1st gen filter head failure is associated with the undersized fuel heater element. If you are still running a 1st gen head and don't want to go to the 2n gen head yet, for whatever reason, I'd recommend just unplugging the heater element (the driver's side electric plug) as no heater = no burn = no leak. If you live in warm parts of the country like I do you don't need the fuel heater anyway.

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Mon Jul 11, 2011 3:03 pm

CATCRD wrote:

If it is, then take your fuel filter off and make sure there are only two o-rings there. One inner and one outer. If the old inner o-ring stuck on there last time you changed it then it can cause problems.

Funny you mention this, just yesterday I changed my filter out, putting the new one on I had trouble getting it to start threading, pulled it back off and realized that there were two rubber inner o rings and I was trying to add a third. :jester:

Definitely something to watch out for......

camo · **Posted:** Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:44 pm

CATCRD wrote:

A lot can happen in 4500 miles. Just one tank of shady fuel is all it takes to plug one. Take a flashlight and check around the rim of the fuel filter to see if it's wet with fuel. Check around the bleeder screw too. Pull the plugs out of the filter head and look in there for any scorching or wetness. Pump the primer bulb a few times while the plugs are out to see if any fuel comes out of them. If that's all ok, give the fuel filter a twist and make sure it's tight. If it is, then take your fuel filter off and make sure there are only two o-rings there. One inner and one outer. If the old inner o-ring stuck on there last time you changed it then it can cause problems. If that's ok, just put a new filter on, bleed the system and drive.

I just had the same stalling problem about 2000 miles ago and went to all the steps above, guess what, none of them solved my problem. My problem was at the fuel line, on the quick connectors near the fuel tank and a suspicious kind of looking crack on the alum inlet fuel line. So, I rid off the entire fuel line (200+ at stealership) and bought a 5/16" high pressure fuel hose from Napa auto parts, then replaced the fuel line all the way from the fuel tank to the fuel filter head (no splices of any kind) and from the fuel filter head to the fuel pump. Now, after 2k+ miles later can tell that the problem is gone for good and even the small turbo lag I had when I bought my lil tractor are gone.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:50 pm

WVO is a really bad idea in a KJ CRD. Good quality, well-dried biodiesel is fine above 40 degrees F. Ditch the WVO, use regular ULSD, keep replacing the fuel filter and pray your injection pump is not terminal.

DOC

DieselJeepLuvr · **Posted:** Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:26 am

I've been using 50/50 mix with double strength Howes Diesel treat. I premix before it goes in the tank and the liberty LOVES it. Runs smoother and has tons of power. I have a mason jar of my mix on the shelf with a brass fitting and a piece of steel to test for polymerization and they are both still shiny after 2 months. stays liquid down to 20 degrees. Are you saying damage will occur to the injector pump based on experience or speculation? If anything it should make the injector pump last longer due to increased lubrication.

racertracer · **Posted:** Tue Jul 12, 2011 7:28 am

DOC4444 wrote:

WVO is a really bad idea in a KJ CRD. Good quality, well-dried biodiesel is fine above 40 degrees F. Ditch the WVO, use regular ULSD, keep replacing the fuel filter and pray your injection pump is not terminal.

DOC

Presently running on biodiesel.

From my understanding, the VO has to be super clean and super hot before it reaches the injectors for trouble free VO use.

A fuel line temperature of 190 degees prior to reaching the injectors is key.

Doing some research on VO use in diesel motors and I found that our heated fuel filter works well with biodiesel but for VO additional heat is required.

Some have increased the temperture at the fuel rail by using high temp heated tape wrapped around the metal fuel line and the high pressure pump with success. Others are utilising heated coolant lines and a combination of both.

Many are reporting good results using VO in our CRD with 90,000 miles of use and above.

I am considering a VO conversion.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:55 am

I believe that the last two posters reflect a level of sophistication that exceeds that of most WVO users. And, I don't recall either of them posting questions about why their KJ CRD has mysteriously stopped running.

I have seen numerous TDI motors destroyed in less than 30K miles, presumably by people who are not experts with WVO.

DOC

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:59 pm

racertracer wrote:

A fuel line temperature of 190 degees prior to reaching the injectors is key.

Yup. The hotter the better. The problem with SVO/WVO is the higher viscosity. While the fuel is slightly lower in energy content(you might also compare it via energy density not energy volume) the real problem with running is getting proper atomization of the fuel. Our high pressure systems are good for atomizing the fuel, but it NEEDS to be heated up.

If you look at the above graph you will see the closer you can get to 100C the better, coolant heaters are good for this but require lots of warmup time before switchover. Once you get fuel heated up to that point it is possible to get proper droplet formation, ideally you would be able to adjust the fuel rail pressure on the fly to increase atomization a bit more.

Plus all these systems mean complexity, second tanks, switching valves, etc etc. It's a little bit of work to get a good system setup.

DieselJeepLuvr · **Posted:** Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:20 pm

Sorry guys I guess I should have posted my qualifications as well. I currently run a 93 Dodge diesel with a WVO conversion I designed and built myself based on an arsh load of research. You can view my build documented on Dieseltruckresource.com in the alternative fuels section. Yes I'm well aware of what needs to be done with WVO in order for it to be run straight but as I said I'm mixing 50/50 in the heat of the summer so viscosity should not be an issue. I filter my oil down to 5 microns currently but have ordered extra stuff to filter down to 1 micron which should fix my clogged filter issues if that was even the problem as I said my filter was kinda loose and may have just been sucking air. No problems since replacing the filter so I'm good to go!

Thanks for all the help!

Liberty stalls! ARGH

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