Engine died - crank angle sensor?

[kiwi1973]

After three awesome days off road in NZ's central South Island today we returned to civilisation only to have the engine die on us. One moment we were cruising along perfectly fine at 100kph and then the engine just suddenly died and would not restart. (Very fortunate this didn't happen when we were remote off road).

A bit of reading on the forum tonight indicates the crank angle sensor might be the culprit - and I believe I may have a spare one sitting in my spares box. Any thoughts on whether the crank angle sensor is a likely culprit for this sort of fault and what is involved in locating and replacing it?

I should mention that although the fuel filter is pretty old and due replacement, I don't think that's the issue as the fuel line out of the filter seems to have a good supply of fresh diesel when the filter pump is primed by hand.

[KiwiNTPajero]

if it was fuel starvatioon surely it wouldnt be so sudden.Good luck with it.

[twisted32]

If it is a crank or cam angle sensor it should have thrown a code, well at least earlier MUTTIII protocol petrol engines will...

If it has thrown a code, clear it, and try starting the car again, if the same code comes up, then it would be a safe bet to travel down that path.

Good luck

[benckj]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought crank sensors are only on petrol ignition circuits and not diesels. For a diesel you only need fuel and compression.

On your problem I’d be checking the circuit that keeps fuel injector Pump activated. Seems like you have and electrical fault with fue supply.

Jim
NZ -Alexandra based

[erad]

Models NS onwards have common rail dieeel, and they do have a crank angel sensor. The code (if you can get a reader ) is P0016

[kiwi1973]

There is no code present, however I've read that in some cases a code is not always set for this.

We're camped next to the car presently and shortly I'll get up, search through my parts box for a crank angle sensor that I believe I put in there a few years ago when we were doing the big overseas trips. If I do have the part I may as well fit it and see what happens.

[kiwi1973]

When I pressurise using the pump on top of the fuel filter I can hear diesel leaking from the system. And I've traced the leak to a location just past the suction control valve. There appears to be an electrical connector on there that goes to something other than the suction control valve. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?

[kiwi1973]

I'm presently fairly certain that the crank angle sensor has nothing to do with my breakdown. I managed to get my mobile phone down into the engine and film where the diesel is leaking from - I've uploaded a short video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-nkFI931Ts

Looking closely at this video it is clearly not simply a case of a leaking seal or o-ring. In fact, I think it looks as if the actual casing of the high pressure diesel pump has broken through, allowing diesel to effortlessly flow out the side of the pump.

Presently I've left my Pajero with a small town workshop nearest where we broke down, and am really not sure that this will prove a wise step, as I've heard some feedback that this place creates excessive charges. Since it seems like a straight forward change over of the pump perhaps I should have attempted this myself.

So it seems that I might be about the first with a common rail Pajero to suffer a diesel pump failure, as the common rail pumps seem to just about never fail (not to be confused with pre-common rail pumps on the Gen 3's). I've been making my own independent enquiries as to the cost of a new Denso pump so that I'm not left reliant on whatever this local garage decides it should cost. So far I have quotes of $1,259 + GST and $2,538 + GST. The quotes are both for exactly the same Denso pump, but as you might guess the dearer price is a Mitsubishi dealer and the cheaper price is an approved diesel injection specialist in a large city with good reputation.

Interestingly whilst the diesel specialist confirms they have a pump available in stock to sell, they first have to get permission to sell it to me, apparently due to efforts by Mitsubishi Australia to exert control over the distribution of these parts. If this is true this would be extremely anti-competitive and no more than an effort to engineer a monopoly to force through higher dealer prices. Very concerning, but I don't know how this would really work, as there are a number of these pumps for sale on Ebay Australia around the $1,100 to $1,300 range.

[erad]

I looked at your video.

1 It looks BAD. Are you sure there is no deal there (probably not with the pressures they are using).
2 It looks EXPENSIVE. It could be worse - it could be mine which has failed.

Seriously, your comments about Mitsubishi manipulation of parts prices is concerning. Hope you get this sorted soon. Be wary of the Ebay ones - they may be used pumps and may not have as much pressure as they should.

[KiwiNTPajero]

mitsubishi cant do that.Its anti competitive.They can not exert any pressure on third parties (denso or your mechanic).They can not decide what a product is sold for outside of their network.the commerce commision might be interested in that

[kiwi1973]

Yes it sounds a bit odd and unrealistic. Looks like I'm likely to need to order a new pump though so I'll report how I get on with placing an order.

[kiwi1973]

I looked at your video.

2 It looks EXPENSIVE. It could be worse - it could be mine which has failed.

Do you mean you've experienced a supply pump failure on a Gen 4? If so has it been resolved and how?

[erad]

Do you mean you've experienced a supply pump failure on a Gen 4? If so has it been resolved and how?

Fortunately, no, and I hope never to be in your position. Sounds as if you have a handle on the problem, all it takes is money to fix it.

[benckj]

Hope you manage to get sorted. Very strange how Pump casing failed. Almost suggests a manufacture defect IMO. I’m located in lower South Island and have contacts with good shops if you need any assistance.

Jim

[kiwi1973]

Hope you manage to get sorted. Very strange how Pump casing failed. Almost suggests a manufacture defect IMO. I’m located in lower South Island and have contacts with good shops if you need any assistance.

Jim

Does this mean you saw the video and also concur the case appears broken? Anyone else view the video and agree the case looks broken?

Thing is that if the case is broken then it won't be an option to have my pump refurbished. And if a new pump is going to be required then I might as well have it on order today so that it's in distribution over the weekend.

The garage where my car is at doesn't seem too concerned with making progress - they were supposed to give me some prognosis yesterday, but all just closed up shop without even giving me a call, which I suspect means they've not even looked at it yet. I'm still cautious of this garage and wonder if I should have attempted this myself. I've removed and installed an older style pump on my Mitsubishi Delica no problem. That said, this doesn't seem the kind of job best done beside our tent! Problem is we're stranded in a small town with few alternatives.