Ran out of fuel but had fuel problem

[ant1]

Car came to a holt yesterday due to fuel starvation. Tank was showing 1/4 full and when we put 5 litres of diesel in the car it started.

We drove a few miles down the road to the nearest petrol station and filled the tank.

Tank capacity is 80 litres max and we managed to get in is 61 litres, so combine with the 5liters I put in the tank earlier the car had 15 liters when we came to a holt.

Does this sound like a in tank fuel pump issue? I was thinking maybe the fuel was sitting on the other side of the tank and for some reason it wasn’t getting pumped back over to the opposite side.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated,

 

[Smiley]

If it is a C class then it has a saddle style tank and it could account for this.
It is halt not holt btw.

 

[ant1]

If it is a C class then it has a saddle style tank and it could account for this.
It is halt not holt btw.

Yes it’s a saddle tank with the fuel sender on the passenger side and the pump on drivers.

 

[Wellsy377]

Hi, did you ever get to the bottom of this issue?

The same has happened to me in my 2011 e350. At 1/4 of a tank I ran out of diesel. I plugged a carsoft reader into the OBD2 port which said I had 15 litres of fuel in the tank, I put a 5 litre Jerry can in and the car started straight away, I drove a few miles up the road and put another 60 litres in which brimmed the tank. Approx 80 litres in total in a 80 litre tank. I was puzzled.

I replaced both the suction pump and the fuel pump in the fuel tank with new units. I then observed what was happening, the fuel from the fuel pump side (drivers side) was being sent to the engine but the fuel that was being returned was only making it to the suction pump side (passenger side), until the drivers side of the tank was empty. I was then clutching at straws and thought maybe if I fill the tank with fuel it will sort itself out when there is equal fuel in each side of the tank.

It is still happening now, albeit I fill the tank up between 1/2 and 1/4 to avoid running out, I could keep on doing this but I want to find the actual problem!

 

[John N]

Hi, did you ever get to the bottom of this issue?

The same has happened to me in my 2011 e350. At 1/4 of a tank I ran out of diesel. I plugged a carsoft reader into the OBD2 port which said I had 15 litres of fuel in the tank, I put a 5 litre Jerry can in and the car started straight away, I drove a few miles up the road and put another 60 litres in which brimmed the tank. Approx 80 litres in total in a 80 litre tank. I was puzzled.

I replaced both the suction pump and the fuel pump in the fuel tank with new units. I then observed what was happening, the fuel from the fuel pump side (drivers side) was being sent to the engine but the fuel that was being returned was only making it to the suction pump side (passenger side), until the drivers side of the tank was empty. I was then clutching at straws and thought maybe if I fill the tank with fuel it will sort itself out when there is equal fuel in each side of the tank.

It is still happening now, albeit I fill the tank up between 1/2 and 1/4 to avoid running out, I could keep on doing this but I want to find the actual problem!

Is there a Breather/Vent Hole in the Fuel Filler Cap? If blocked it causes a Vacuum!

 

[optimusprime]

Pull filler cap off and try again to start the car up /

 

[Tonygw]

when was the fuel filter changed? they do block up if left.

 

[Wellsy377]

Thanks for your replies.

The fuel filter has been changed frequently most recently in August of this year.

I will have a look and try removing the filler cap and see what happens.

Many thanks.

 

[mersum1es]

Are you sure you got 100% right part? There could be 2-3 different fuel sensor types, and if spare part has different sensor, you have to code it. Never seen that happening but in SDS I have seen different sesor options available for coding. Can't remember how many choices there were in W212.....