Just discovered something interesting on my way home from work...

If you absoloutely hammer the car from a standing start, it winds all the way around to redline, but then wont change up.

At first I thought this might be a gearbox failure... but then it kinda hit me. The car only does this when it's tank is less than a quarter full, and while it's doing it, the engine speed oscilates like it's losing power.

What I *think* is happening is that the fuel line is cavitating because the upper pump is pulling so hard - and causing engine power to machine gun drop out. The result is that the gearbox hasnt a clue what to do and just stays in gear...

I'd like some of the other diesel guys thoughts on this, I'm gonna scoot off to the gas station now and fill it to the top - see if it stops doing it.

The one thing that is /highly/ amusing is the amount of diesel smoke it spews when this happens, you cant see the car behind you any more