Engine light flashing and RPM gauge dropping out

[Hunting_rig]

Hi I have a 03 ZD30 and the engine light will come on and flash and the rpm guage drops out to zero and loses power, not all power just some, and then some time soon after it will kick back in and power up again. Any tips would help cheers.

 

[Rumpig]

Alternator might be dying or bad wiring connectionson it.

 

[Rumpig]

Flashing check engine light is usually water in the fuel filter. Is the engine losing power or the tacho?

 

[tony d22]

The filter should have it's own light if there is water present.
Sounds like the car is going in and out of limp mode.
Can you pull a code out of the ECU?

 

[Hunting_rig]

I have taken the fuel filter off and replaced it and cleaned the sensor, after doing that it took 400kms for the light to flash again instead of 15 to 20km. So I cleaned it again and the same thing happened about 400km later.

 

[Hunting_rig]

Flashing check engine light is usually water in the fuel filter. Is the engine losing power or the tacho?

When the light comes on the whole car loses power and the tacho drops out.

 

[Rumpig]

The fuel filter should have a drain on the bottom of it. Drain some fuel out in to a clear glass and leave it sit for a while then look to see if water seperates out. It states in the manual that if the check engine light blinks it will be water in the fuel filter.

Might pay to check the electrical plug that connects to the filter as well.

Qoute from the manual.

If MIL illuminates or blinks irregularly when engine is
running, water may have accumulated in fuel filter. Drain
water from fuel filter. If this does not correct the problem,
perform specified trouble diagnostic procedures.

 

[Hunting_rig]

Yr we checked the fuel in the filter and it seemed fine. I got told it might be a faulty sensor so I have grabbed one off my mates car and I ll put it in tomorrow and see how it goes.

 

[jap55s]

Check engine code

 

[mike1303]

Check the water catchment in the fuel line, what color is the light flashing in?
I believe if its red it's water orange it's something else

 

[choc36]

Hi mate are you using a after market fuel filter,dad had the same problem on his d22 for the last 12 months had it in to different mechanics no one could find the problem the code reader said air in the fuel.they checked everything still couldn't find the problem. 3 weeks ago he was talking to someone and they said put a genuine fuel filter back on and you won't have problem again,he went straight down and got one and put it on and guess what the light hasn't come back on and no power issues in 3 weeks.

 

[wes570]

mate i had a similer problem a few years ago. i changed the fuel filter and like you said i drove 400-500km and then the light come and revs dropped. the only thing was i was in the middle of no where i was about 100km from the closest town. any way i managed to get back to melbourn 22 hours later and it took me weeks on end to find the problem. i even took it to nissan and they couldent find the problem. it was giving me all sorts of codes. i took it back home and i wasent preperd to though away money to "try" and fix it if no one can tell me what was wrong. cut a long story short all i ended up doing was tightening the diesel filter up a little more because it was sucking a little bit of air into the fuel and the light was coming on. never had a problem since.

 

[johnskip]

Something to check aswel is the vacuum lines at where you'd do the swirl/butterfly mod.
When I bought my d22 zd30 with egr blocked the engine light would come on after i dropped revs or started driving, was making me pissed big time. Changed all the filters, got a friend to look at the egr valve and cleaned all the sensors, could not find it!!
I then found that the vacuum lines were pretty bad and that and i was getting a shut down shudder which should not happen when the swirl/butterfly mod is done the right way.
On the net, bought some new samco hose and replaced all the old hose and all was good.
No more engine light!

Just something to try.