07 MK7 2.2 110T300 SWB 5 speed ex-AA... 190,000 miles
When cold the Engine slightly hunts at low speeds (in traffic), hesitates around 1700rpm (unless the accelerator peddle is pushed down). If I get it up to 50mph in 5th gear when cold this hestiation will shake the gearstick quite hard. Once the engine gets warm this all goes away. The colder the weather is, the worse the symptoms.
I've been noticing that it seems to be down on power and a little smokier when cold. Last week I suffered no power. Luckily I had a 5l tank of diesel - put it in and the engine started and would keep running as long as very little load was put on it. There was no fuel at the filter. Managed to get it about 10km to a petrol station where I put 15l in the tank... it struggled, then started and drove off fine. I'm not sure if this is sludge in the tank, or I just ran out of fuel - which means my fuel economy is significantly down.
Other things I've noticed are it takes a couple of attempts to start when van has been sitting for more than a week; A gurgling sound from the front passenger side when I switch off the engine; A slight thud sound comes about where the tank is when stopping/starting and the tank is 3/4 full. The fuel gauge doesn't work 90% of the time, except after driving over a rough road, when the guage will rise and the distance to go starts working, but not sure how accurate. I've checked the connectors at the back of the clock and under the van and all seems okay.
I brought the van to my mechanics to drop the tank, clean it out and if necessary replace the fuel sender. They did some shaking tests and got the fuel gauge to work intermittently, traced the cables and saw theres some water damage to the BCM. They've checked the voltage against another similar transit and they reckon its faulty. I should know on Monday if this sorts the issues, but my mechanic reckons there's no need to clean out the tank if this fixes everything. I'm a bit dubious about this considering the milage.
Should I get him to check the fuel pressure release valve and do a pcm recalibration as well?
Every mechanic (and Tester) who's worked on the van says its great, nice and clean and looks like its been well maintained. I dont have the AA Service history and the owner before me serviced it regularly - although his Garage did use generic filters. Since Christmas I've had the injectors, fuel filter and egr valve replaced in Holland and 3 months (2,000km) later in Germany the EGR cooler and injector rail seals let go. The symptoms are much worse in cold weather and only started since the work was done in Holland.
Considering I've now spent more repairing the van than I originally purchased it for is there anything else I should be checking for?