[Major60]

Hi all,

I'm new to the club but I've come across it many a time when researching the Hyundai.

Reliant robin is unfortunately having a big issue, and one that has us a bit stumped and pretty worried. We have a Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDI Comfort and it's 6 years old, 43,000 miles. Well looked after, serviced, etc etc...

Unfortunately last night while driving at 40-50mph, the power went from the accelerator. I felt it almost half in power and the car started slowing down, forcing me to change down gears. It would still accelerate but would not speed up and would not hold speed either, acceleration just slowed down the inevitable stop. It managed about 3 minutes where I pulled into a slip road off a roundabout. When stopped the engine was still running, it didn't cut out, and the car would rev but did not want to go anywhere. I turned the car off, waited a bit, turned it back on and cautiously started driving - completely fine. The car had no warning lights on at any point.

I then drove the car again this morning and it wasn't right. On an incline I changed gear between third and fourth, allowing the car to rev a little in third (as you do) and the car visibly lost power/acceleration. It almost felt like a stall yet the car was still running. It chugged, for lack of a better word, and I had a heart in mouth moment where I thought the car was going to stop on a very busy hill. It didn't; I changed down to second and it gained power and accelerated.

From then on the car didn't feel right under my foot. Always found the i30 to only need a light foot, but my foot was all the way to the floor. The engine was revving more and most worryingly, the car refused to go above 80 (I don't make a habit of going over 80, just tried to push it on the open motorway as had a feeling there would be an issue). It felt resistant to acceleration. Close to home the car chugged again.

It hasn't been driven since and it being the weekend no garages are open. Father, a mechanic about 30 years ago(!), was concerned it might be the engine management system.

About a month ago the car did run out of diesel - big mess up, heartbroken partner, angry couple fighting! This very forum gave us the answer to getting the car to start! However there hadn't been any visible issues from this and had a garage look over it / check for any issues but this could be an issue. I personally don't feel it's to do with fuel as when the diesel ran out I was driving and it just stopped, no warning whatsoever, whereas this feels like a loss of acceleration power - It could only be fuel or electrical and I suspect electrical 

Any advice, suggestions, ideas very welcome.

Thank you!

- Jenni, UK

[Major60]

I should also point out it seemed to be connected to changing gear.

Similar threads I found automatics seem to have a similar issue but mines a manual.

[eye30]

Wonder as fuel empty and then refilled you have picked up muck and clogged the fuel filter or created a slight air lock somewhere.

Just a suggestion.
Prime the fuel filter by pressing the button on the top of the filter housing and see whether that makes any difference to it,

[Major60]

Thanks eye30, certainly worth a shot. We have primed it, both at time of happening after refueling and then again from garages suggestion. But definitely worth a go to see if it improves things.

[Shambles]

My initial thoughts contradict your own - I think you'll need the fuel filter expunging.

But just in case, disconnect the battery -ve lead for 30 minutes, to get a refreshed ECU cache.

[sundiz]

Better check if there are any fault codes in the memory. If not, try to get to a garage when the engine is in limp mode and read the codes while the engine is still running. Had similar issues when I had a bad fuel filter. If you change fuel filter get oem filter. Some of us have had issues with aftermarket filters.

If the fuel filter is full of crap, the fuel does not flow well enough to the engine. When the ECU sees the fuel pressure is too low the engine goes into limp mode. But better read the codes. It might not be fuel related...

There is a risk thet the fuel pump got hurt when you drove it out of fuel. But lets hope the issue is somewhere else. Fuel pumps tend to be expensive...

[Dazzler]

Definitely sounds like limp home mode where the car is limited to 3000 revs. Has it had a recent service,  maybe they used the wrong oil filter as there was a change in size early on and if the wrong one is used it can cause issues. Otherwise as others have said dirty fuel or or a dirty fuel filter...

[Major60]

Thanks all for your advice! And apologies for the delay in response.

It turns out it looks like it was dirty fuel. We had changed fuel filter after the diesel ran out and that wasn't long ago. Had a look at it and it was filthy, full of grunge and crap it just didn't make sense. Changed it, car still had issues with reaching high RPMs, went and refuelled after running low and sure enough the issues all but went away quickly. Phoned Tesco garage and turns out they had had several complaints about diesel from filling up on that day we had and a couple days before and after, and they had found water in it. Will be receiving our compo soon. Almost wish we had taken it to a garage now!

Thanks again everyone. So pleased it's not a huge issue!

[Dazzler]

Thanks for the update.  Good to hear and great that Tesco owned up!

[Phil №❶]

Er, actually it IS a big issue. Water in Diesel fuel is much different to water in petrol. Total enging destruction can result and if it was my car, I'd be having the tank completely drained, the fuel system flushed and then always adding a diesel additive that treats diesel bug for the rest of the life of the car.

Due to the much higher compression, diesel injectors can be blown apart by vaporisation of water to steam. The resultant parts then travel through the motor causing destruction.

Don't like giving bad news, but I wouldn't drive that car till all was checked, sorry.

Stay away from that station.

[eye30]

Get on to tescos and tell them you want a complete drain, ckean and refill before you use car