My Nissan Pathfinder has had starting problems in the morning for a while which has now progressed to it going into limp mode every time I pull up at a junction or at the lights, i.e. from driving fine to sitting stationary for a few moments or more it refuses to then move off at more than 10mph.

Took it to the dealership and looks like 1 of 2 things:

1) suction control valve on the fuel pump £365 to replace

2) the fuel pump itself (which comes with a new suction control valve) £1465 fitted which is madness enough but I was told there has just been a massive price drop to bring it down to that price from £2700 just for the part so plus fitting

WTF is so expensive about a diesel fuel pump in a 4x4 that makes it over £3k to fit FFS Surely you could get a reconditioned engine for similar?!

If I go for the suction control valve but it doesn't fix the problem i've wasted £365 and then have to then pay out the £1465. If I go for the fuel pump I could be spending near on £1500 when it only needed the suction control valve.

The dealer told me it is 100% my choice but the mechanic came out and spoke to me and said as the car has just touched 100k miles in his opinion he would be spending the extra £1k+ and doing the fuel pump because the price could go back up tomorrow/next week/next month and so do it now whilst it's at its cheapest they have seen and it wont need doing again.

Now whilst i'm not one for taking dealerships sales pitches on doing what they recomend I originally just booked it in for the suction control valve but now i'm thinking do the fuel pump and be done with for piece of mind. If I spent the £365 and it fixes it great but the fact it's done 100k the fuel pump wont last forever and so I could end up having to fork out for a new fuel pump and knowing my luck it will be when the price has gone back up!

What would you do? And how the hell could Nissan possibly explain £2700 just for the fuel pump part? I bet the GTR that was sitting in the showroom doesn't have a fuel pump that costs that much!

Oh and if I go for the fuel pump it wont be done until middle of November as it looks like it has got to come directly from the factory in Japan

I have never had any vehicle have a part need replacing that costs that much, I might as well be driving a porsche/ferrari for that sort of part prices


Mods please could you correct the mistype in the title as I can't do it, thanks in advance.

find yourself a diesel expert, yellow pages should help, they will have recon`d units or be able to services yours, a dealers is a parts replacement company, they have no interest or ideal how most cars even work nowadays.

And i though a Walbro was slight on the high side

Diesels don't seem to be as good as it first seems ... most / all seem to cost a fortune to keep on the road. My Pug 307 constantly has the engine warning light on & no f*cker seems to have a permenant fix

TX.

The suction control valve is a common failure on a lot of modern diesels..

I think the pathfinder has the VP44 rotary HP pump fitted,which are prone to go wrong at high mileage.
As for the price,it is what it is....It as highly complex piece of mechanical and electrical engineering....Ask a n engineer to make one and see what it will cost.

Would i try just a suction valve...Hmmm,as a ratio of repair i would say it repairs around 60% of faults...
The only problem is that your car has done high miles,the pump is gonna be worn anyway..

Thanks for the replies. Having found some threads on the web with identical symptoms as mine they changed the suction control valve and it fixed it. I know it's not guaranteed but that's what i've plumped for to try first. If it doesn't fix it others have also changed the quantity control valve that can be bought from Nissan as a seperate part but the delaer will tell you the whole pump needs replacing unless you specify you want just that part done so that will be my next step.

As for the high miles would a fuel pump really be expected to go at 100k? I had a diesel passat on 120k and never missed a beat and certainly never had any fueling issues and plenty of Passats go on to 200k+ and the fuel pump was never anything I read as a common failure even on that sort of mileage.

Agreed, 100 odd k is not really high miles for a modern car. To accept something so expensive to go wrong is... well unacceptable really.

You do realise that the PD engine in early Passats don't have a single fuel pump. PD engines use mechanically driven single unit injectors, hence them needing correct oils.

Later common rail systems use pressures in excess of 1300bar, thus the fuel pumps need to be very precisely engineered, hence expensive. Which is also why misfueling is big no-no, as it can strip the pump of vital lubrication.

I hav seen high pressure pumps go at under 40k...

Poor quality diesel and water is the slayer of HP pumps...

I fix diesels day in,day out......100k WITHOUT a major problem is rare on any model of car..

French and GM are the worst..

Edit..

Just to say..... Passat PD injectors are around £1000 a set,they used to be £2000 a set when i first started to see them going faulty a few years ago..

With 100k on a car, I would take it out of the dealer network and find a good independent dealer. Is it a part which could be taken off a write off?

It's fixed! For the first time in the nearly 2 years of ownership this morning it started absolutely spot on and ran smooth as it should do. It also cost me less than I was told by the dealership as they priced it up wrong so with the hours diagnostic to start with it still only cost me £370 for the suction control valve.

Just wish i'd known of the suction control valve 2 years ago! Other independent garages were looking for the lift pump which the Pathfinder doesn't have

Another reason to hate diesel!