2,8CRD cutting out

Damn, damn and double damn!

Having trouble here in the UK with my recently acquired 2003 2.8CRD KJ.

Test drive before I purchased it went OK - although was brief.

On the day I picked it up I drove less than a mile home, then approx 10 miles to pickup a jack and some axle stands. Started driving back home and as I pulled away from some lights and engine started to spin up it cut out.
From this point I found that I could easily repeat this by trying to floor the throttle - each time it would start to pick up and then die within a matter of yards. I then crawled back to the dealer = pootling along and keeping revs and engine load light - only got the cutting out once during this time as the engine did start to spin up a little.

Dealer hooked the car up to their diagnostiics and thought it was some kind of sensor but decided it best the local Jeep dealer take a look. They did, and then came up with suggestion that it may be a fuel pump not providing enough fuel into the rail, but wanted to get it checked by a "Diesel Specialist" who confirmed their diagnosis. New fuel pump was ordered, then the correct new fuel pump was ordered and fitted and tested by the Jeep dealer.

My dealer picked up the car and then found the behaviour is still there and (once the car is warm) easy to replicate

He's offered my money back thankfully but I thought I'd check your collected wisdom - can anybody suggest what may be causing ths behaviour please?

What's the fuel head look like? plastic or metal?

The first thing you do is change the fuel filter - if it has a plastic head - that needs to change - they have a new style.
if you've got the metal version - then changing the filter may be enough
(I think the metal ones were only on the 2.5 - but we never had a 03 2.8)


and check for leaks - hard to do because the system is vacuum (one of the best fixes is a lift pump to pressurize everything)

Make sure your fuel filter is tight on the filter base, and pump the primer up real tight. Go for a quick testride making sure you run it hard from the start for a hundred yards or so, and then ease off the throttle, if the engine cuts out again, then you likely need to replace the plastic fuel filter base, as stated. Mine did that when it was brand new, and now with well over 120K miles I still have that same original plastic filter base and it works fine. I have however, had to retighten the filter maybe two additional times. Sometimes it works loose, or maybe I don't always tighten it enough when i swap out the filter.
The metal filter base is not cheap, my philosophy is if it ain't broke don't fix it. Try tightening it first and hope that works. It did for me.

Jeff