cooch wrote:HI guys. I bought a Pajero 3.2 diesel and it has a Frontrunner auxiliary fuel tank installed. The tank sits underneath the main tank and you transfer fuel via a small pump. My first problem is that the pump does not seem to work properly. I know there is fuel in the aux tank but when pumping fuel to the main tank, the fuel gauge does not move so I'm thinking the pump is faulty. The car is going to Frontrunner next week for them to check this out.
I also have FR aux fuel tank. The capacity is about 48 litres. You should see the fuel gauge move by about half span if you transfer from a full aux tank to an emptyish main tank. I would guess the transfer pump is not doing its job.
You should be able to hear the pump working when you switch it on - it is quite noisy - only goes quiet when it is not "working" ie not moving fuel.
The bigger problem is that the fuel gauge seems to drop abnormally quick. For instance, the reserve light came on and I put in 50 litres of diesel. According the onboard computer, my average fuel consumption is 10,2 litres per 100km. But I only drove 280km and the fuel light came on again! This means that consumption is closer to 20 litres per 100km!
. I've tried Engen, Sasol and Shell and the results are the same.
Do you think it could be something with the aux tank or perhaps the fuel gauge is faulty? I've had the car at Mitsubishi and they plugged it into their computer. The fuel pressure is fine, the injectors look good and they cannot find anything wrong. What could it be?
If you have emptied the aux tank (seems unlikely of the transfer pump is not working) and then you top up 50litres. Only some of that 50 litres will go into the main tank, and the remainder into the aux tank because it is fed via a branched pipe from the single filler nozzle.
If you don't then transfer from the aux tank your fuel light will come on when you have consumed some lesser amount than you filled up with!
You can only gauge this properly if you fill up to the brim each time - then you know that you are starting with 90 litres or whatever in your main tank.
Best practice is:
Always fill right up.
When the main gets to about 1/4 then transfer from the aux till the aux is empty (listen as the pump goes from noisy to quiet).
Why do I say this?
It keeps the aux tank contents fresh.
You are not building up residue in the aux tank.
Your are not having the contents of the aux tank absorbing excess moisture (remember that the diesel in diesel recirc systems gets warm and that warms the air in the ullage space of the diesel tanks. As that cools it can deposit moisture which goes into the diesel)
