Transit MK5 1998 TD EPIC issues

[Jimbo198o]

Hi all!

So I own a 1998 TD 2.5 MK5 with the Lucas Delphi EPIC fuel pump. I've owned the van for several years and its been absolutely spot on apart from one issue.

Now I don't know if this was the beginning of my bigger issue but I will explain what's happened in detail, so very sorry for this long winded post. But i do know from what I have read on here that there are some very knowledgeable people.

Anyway, during the summer months and when the engine was at operating temperature and I was travelling at any speed over 60mph the engine management light would sometimes come on when I lifted off the throttle and coasted. It never effected the performance of the van and once I had puled over tuned the engine off and on again the engine management light would go out and not come back on till I repeated the above.

ok fast forward to about a month ago and on a long journey from the Midlands to Kent the engine management light came on unexpectedly and the van went into limp mode. I pulled over turned it off and on again and the light had gone out and all was fine for an hour or so then it happened again, and kept happening till the light remained on permanently and limp mode was now its default setting.

I took the van to my mate who is a mechanic and we proceeded to diagnose the issue and on attaching it to his ECU reader it threw up various fault codes which we digested. We ended up at the multi plug on the back of the EPIC pump and upon removal noticed it was full of water, so we drained it, dried it, WD40'd it plugged it back in cleared the fault codes and the van drove better than it has ever done before. super smooth and powerful.... for a MK5 anyway.

I was curious as to why a supposed waterproof plug would fill with water so to avoid this again when I wasn't using the van for extended time I would disconnect the battery and plug. left the van for a week or two then went back and reconnected everything started up and engine management light was on and limp mode was back. So I went straight to the multi plug and found that the corrosion from the water was worse than I thought and I had snapped off one of the connectors in the multi plug. I repaired that cable took it back to my garage to have the fault cleared with the ECU computer and for what ever reason now we can't clear the faults. He has two ECU computers and none of them allowed us to clear the faults, when before they did.

I'm a bit puzzled now as to why we cant clear the fault codes as everything seems to be connected. So I wonder if the corrosion in the multi plug is causing resistance issues and I should rewire the whole lot or if there could be some other issues where the water may have damaged the pump solenoids or ECU itself.

Any assistance or help on this would be greatly appreciated or if anyone lives in Kent (I'm near Sittingbourne) and would be kind enough to have a look or could recommend anyone who has experience on these types of transit issues I will also be grateful.

Thank you,

James

[MinorMatt]

Water in the plugs is fairly common...

I'm guessing you have either lost the sealing ring, or its letting water past. You could always do a little bit of a bodge and drill a small hole on the underside of the connector if its become a persistent issue?

If it is still in limp mode you haven't fixed the problem. There are no codes which require a manual reset before they go away, the system does a self check each start and if all is ok the management lamp will go out - regardless if faults are cleared or not.

What it does do is record the faults and put the engine management light on for the first 5 seconds to indicate that there are either some "minor" faults or there are historic codes that haven't been cleared.

[Jimbo198o]

No the green seal rubber ring is still there. water must have managed to egress past it somehow.

Its still in limp mode and all the faults that are coming up on the diagnostic computer are associated with the EPIC pump. I'm pretty sure its the multi-plug on the back of the pump having poor connections due to corrosion. unless the water that was sitting in the plug has caused shorts and damage to other components else where on that loom or the ECU.

I may replace it all with a Bosch pump as I hear that its the way forward with these engines.

Thank you for your help Minormatt appreciate it

[joinerman]

Pump conversion is the way to go, all your problems gone in one fowl swoop, I did mine and it goes like the clappers now

[MinorMatt]

If its an auto - forget the bosch pump

I would invest about £3 on a fibreglass pencil and about 10 mins and go over the terminals before getting too excited about a conversion

[Jimbo198o]

Luckily its a manual transmission so if I want to convert I should be able to do so. It is something I am considering as with the current climate and availability of parts I need this vehicle to be reliable for the foreseeable future. I have found a brand new Bosch pump, throttle cable and pedal so I may just purchase and at least I have it in reserve if the EPIC is unrecoverable or just too much of a pain.

So I plan to rewire the multi plug that connects to the fuel pump as I'm pretty sure that is where my problem lies, will be fiddly and time consuming but at least I can examine all the connectors in the sockets.

As for conversion to mechanical Bosch pump, it looks pretty straight forward although I'm curious as to what then happens to the ECU and all its associated sensors do they just become redundant? or function as normal even though the EPIC pump will no longer be detected. Also the Engine Management light will remain illuminated so I guess its a case of just removing the bulb or creating a connection from the ignition/brake bulb to come on and off in sync with the engine starting. How does this sit with further MOT's as the ECU light is now required to function correct for an successful MOT

[MinorMatt]

ECU and all sensors are redundant and can be removed completely - along with the engine management lamp

[Jimbo198o]

Hi all!

I hope everyone is having a nice summer. My van has been off the road for months due to the above issues however there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Having sourced a brand new Bosch pump and all accessories the EPIC has now been removed and the new pump is installed and working, well the van starts and runs ok. I need some advice from the professionals on here with regards to the timing of the pump. The engine is the TD variant and I read on here that the timing of the pump should be advanced to compensate for the turbo. Is there a standard rule of setting the timing with the pump or is it trial and error till you find the sweet spot. Ultimately what am I looking for, is there a trade off between performance and economy depending on the position of the timing. because currently the pump is set at TDC and the engine runs ok but no road test undertaken as of yet. Any info from others who have also completed this swap would be greatly appreciated.

[Illi1981]

Hello from Germany, I am also planning to convert to Bosch and would appreciate it if someone could provide instructions on how to adjust the pump. it's hard to find any information about it at all.

[Chug]

the pump needs advancing from the standard setting......

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