Customer's concern: The customer Hyundai I30 was stopping, running rough and difficult for the customer to drive.  The customer is in a wheelchair and his vehicle running well for his requirements is additionally important to allow his mobility.  The client was able to leave the vehicle with us for some time to diagnose the issues.

Burnside Motors Diagnostic 

Brad the mechanic working on the I30 pre-test drove the vehicle.  The hesitation and concerns with the vehicle were evident and easily recognisable.  Sometimes with diagnostics, it can be difficult to replicate issues a customer is finding.  Have you ever taken your vehicle to the mechanic and said: "It does it every day all the time, but it's not today."  You are not alone, it genuinely happens all fo the time. After a process of elimination Brad was sure there was a complication with the fuel.  Being that there are different areas of the fuel system that could potentially be at fault, we follow a process of elimination.  Brad wanted to make sure the fuel was getting from the fuel tank to the fuel filter easily.  To eliminate the process between the tank and the filter Brad ran a clear hose to bypass this system.  By following this process Brad discovered that the fuel system was full of air bubbles.  This indicates that there is a blockage from the fuel tank to the fuel filter.

Having had recently changed the fuel filter in the engine bay freeing the system up had actually made the issue worse.  The fuel filter was cleaner meaning the demand for fuel to the fuel pump from a nice clean filter was more fluent.  

Brad next step was to find out what was blocking or causing the lack of fuel or fuel starvation from the fuel tank to the fuel filter.  To access the fuel tank the back seats are removed.  Removing the in-tank filter sock we discovered the issue.  From the years of build-up in the tank itself, the filter sock was covered in debris.  The engine was trying to suck fuel from the tank.  If you think about getting an amazing this shake and someone squeezing the straw closed.  While you're trying to suck up the milkshake you get little bits however after sucking for what seems forever you have to take a breath for air.  After a while, you have to ask yourself just how much you really want the milkshake after all.

Simple resolution

The resolution to the fuel starvation was to clean the filter sock.  The time to do this was around 30seconds.  For a client, this can be frustrating as they find such a simple resolution hard to comprehend the time it takes to drive the car, remove the seat, eliminate the problem from a different possible situation, test drive.  all of this takes time in diagnosis and this can be difficult for a customer to value the process.  Burnside Motors do their best to keep clients up to date, and as informed as possible.