Freelander 1 [New Title] Bad Idle & high Fuel Consumption - Injector Leak Back Check

[pwood999]

Just been setting up to do a leak-off test on my son's 2004 TD4 FL1. Removed the leak off pipes from the injectors, and tried the ignition-on with engine off check.

No fuel coming from injectors tops, but lots coming out of the leak-off pipes ?? Surely there should not be flow from the return pipes ??

[UPDATE] Fix it by using two short loops of rubber hose !!

 

[pwood999]

Leak off test results after 1min. I'm assuming the containers are 100ml, so number 2 is 85ml after 1min. The other three about 30-40ml ??

 

[Alteredtech]

Hi,

The pipes should not be fully inserted in the bottle so you can see if it’s an intermittent or continuous flow.

Injector 2 has too much leakback compared to others, needs to be replaced.

 

[pwood999]

Yes I figure injector 2 needs replacing or refurb. Started to get bits off to remove it, but got a problem with the fuel pipes. The nuts are siezed on the injector ports, so when I try to loosen the pipes the injector port turns as well. No room to get a 13mm spanner in there on the port either. This is starting to twist the pipe, so I stopped. Will re-visit when we have more time.

I also tried undoing the clamp on injector two plus the fuel rail end of the pipe. Injector seems well stuck in the head, so it's gonna need serious freeing up - probably the top off & use my slide-hammer injector puller. I have the correct fitting, but it's going nowhere with the fuel pipe attached.

 

[Alteredtech]

Hi,

You can try to remove the injector with the metal pipe. Replace the injector including the metal pipe. Use an injector extractor tool, injectors are a pain to remove.

Regards.

 

[andyfreelandy]

Yes, unbolt pipe from fuel rail. Lift injector and pipe out and then you can get a spanner on the injector.

 

[pwood999]

That’s my plan but injector gonna need a puller. I have slide hammer injector puller but need to get the tops off first. Job for next weekend

 

[andyfreelandy]

Assume you have tried flat bar on cover to spread load and a pry bar under the injector fuel nut ?? Usually works. Short and sharp.

 

[pwood999]

Assume you have tried flat bar on cover to spread load and a pry bar under the injector fuel nut ?? Usually works. Short and sharp.

Yes tried that using a length of 4mm x 25mm bar, but injector not moving. I was gonna try loosening the clamp nuts a turn or so, and then fire it up to see if the engine ejected them. Told my son to squirt the injectors & pipe nuts with penetrating fluid each night this week after the engine cools down.

The engine eject process didn't work with the glow plug on same cylinder though. We left that one loose for 2-3 months & daily drives never spat it out. It starts ok on 3 new glow plugs though. I did a thread on here somewhere showing my home made glow puller. See here https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/glow-plug-replacement-freelander-2005-td4.300034/post-5544563

I have a set similar to this for the injectors.

 

[pwood999]

As a side note, we did some live data recordings on the TD4, although this was with the car stationary & not under load.

Inlet Air Temp seems to be reading high. Bonnet was open & the ambient was around 16-18degC.

Will do some more captures at the weekend before we attack the injectors.

 

[pwood999]

Got the injectors out today. 1,3 & 4 popped out fairly easily with a flat bar on the plastic cover to support my pry-bar.

Number-2 needed my slide hammer pictured above, but eventually came out. Took all the tips off, and cleaned them out so the spray pattern is now nice & even. Don't know yet if that's the cause of the excessive leak-off. Hopefully I got them all back together correctly.

Did not touch the top shims & ball valve, but did squire large amounts of brake cleaner in there, so hopefully the valve seals ok now.

I do have one spare eBay injector in the garage, so cleaned that as well just in case. Same part number (0445110049) as the other in the car.

Also cleaned out the plastic inlet manifold - caustic sode & warm water for 4 hours, and then jet wash. What an effing mess !!

 

[pwood999]

Update. Firstly stipped and cleaned the injectors, inlet manifold, inlet ports. Then cleaned out all the carbon build-up from injector-2 port in the head (other three were fairly clean but did them as well).

Cleaned out the vortex crank breather, but wondering if this would be better replaced with the original foam filter type ?

Removed most of the carbon build-up from the EGR. It does not seem to open with vacuum on the diaphragm, so might consider this an "EGR bypass" !

Re-installed the injectors, breather & connected leak-off test. Turned it over for 20-30 seconds & then it started up. Smoke everywhere, so put manifold back on & sealed the EGR !! Leak-off now fairly balanced (but not perfect) between all four injectors, so that's progress.

Finished re-assembly & ran the engine to warm up. Loads of black & grey smoke from the exhaust. Seems to only reach 65-70 DegC, so thermostat needs sorting. Cleared a couple of faults from running it with inlet sensors disconnected. No further fault codes.

Took the car for an Italian Tune-Up. After a few miles the smoke reduced & now only small puffs when accelerating hard. It does feel much quicker on acceleration, although I have only driven it once before the work.

Remaining issue - Even after warming to 70deg the idle is quite lumpy, but smooths out as the engine is revved above 1000rpm.

Attached are a PDF & Excel files with the sensor readings during the Italian tune-up. These were recorded using my iCarsoft CR-MAX. Feel free to have a look & see if there's anything obvious that might still be wrong.

 

[pwood999]

Can anyone verify if the live data above looks ok ?

 

[pwood999]

Did a 5 mile runs in Son & Wife's Freelanders. Both on local roads & couple of miles on a dual carriage way. The MPG was done using my Car Scanner Pro app on iPhone with a Tonwan bluetooth OBD dongle.

Wife's = 3-door, 2005 (1st picture)
Son's = 5-door, 2004 (2nd picture)

Still cannot figure why my son's car is using more fuel ? It's defintiely better than it was after all the cleaning inlet manifold & injector nozzle cleanup, but still smokes a lot on acceleration.

Diagnostic readings are similar on both, but it's hard to match up the live data traces. Planning to do the voltage checks on MAF, MAP & Rail Sensor tomorrow. Also double check on the turbo boost vacuum pipes & solenoid.

 

[pwood999]

Today's update. Cleaned out the intercooler & all the silicon hoses, so now the entire inlet system is cleaned out. Ran the engine with EGR blocked off & inlet manifold off to check for fumes from the turbo using a small cardborad box on the intercooler outlet hose. Totally clean !!

Still got light grey smoke from the exhaust, but with no EGR & Inlet off I'm running out of options. I have a few theories:

1) Over fueling, either due to MAP & Boost sensors disconnected ?
2) Over fueling due to faulty injectors ? (they are clean but I have no way to test the fuel flow rate)
3) Oil leak from the exhaust side of the turbo ? (Inlet side is clean based on the test above)
4) FIP leaking into the crankcase, hence diesel fumes getting ingested ? (Unlikely because turbo output is nioce & clean)
5) FIP pressure too high due to faulty regulator or incorrect fuel rail sensor reading ?

For point 5, does the ECU control the FIP regulator based on the rail sensor ? i.e. if the sensor reads low, would the ECU tell the regulator to increase the pressure to compensate ? Logic tells me this would result in higher than expected fuel pressure, hence more fuel than the ECU intends ?

EGR Bypass kit should arrive Monday, so will be re-installing manifold & sensors then for another road test.

 

[andyfreelandy]

For point 5, does the ECU control the FIP regulator based on the rail sensor ? i.e. if the sensor reads low, would the ECU tell the regulator to increase the pressure to compensate ?

That's how I understand it. Unplugging the fuel rail sensor provides some default values apparently. Voltage from centre wire (bluey colour) to ground should be around the 1.8 to 2 V level on idle.

 

[pwood999]

I have ordered fuel pump & regulator seal kits to do. Can't definitely see any fuel escaping, but the pump does look like it might be.

I did check the sensor volts at idle and it was about 1.7V, but that could be the ECU adjusting the regulator to get the right reading ?

 

[MGT]

God knows I don't want to tempt fate but I think (hope, pray) I have sorted the lumpy idle and smoke on my niece's freelander 1 td4.

What I did was replace crankcase breather assembly so i knew i was getting a new valve as well as vortex separator. The old valve was a little 'sticky'. Not much, but maybe even a little has an effect. Replaced air intake temperature sensor, cleaned intake manifold and unblocked the MAP sensor. I also replaced the glow plugs. Number 1 glow plug tip was crapped up with something, whereas the rest were clean as a whistle.

I also bunged a can of cataclean in with the fuel and drove it around.

Drove it this evening after a couple of days sitting there and for the first time it didn't smoke at idle and the idle is much smoother.

Next on my list if that hadn't worked was the injectors but hopefully i won't need to do it.
In case it helps before i did that the idle was not just lumpy it was surging.

 

[pwood999]

3 glowplugs wqere replaced last year. The one in cylinder-2 is still stuck fast in the engine. But these should only impact starting, and not running whne engine is warm.

EGR black arrived & waiting for FIP & Regulator seals - these will be done in next few days.

Also my wife is away for a few days, so I can borrow various sensors off her TD4 as a test. Only 1 year difference the two cars & her's is running perfectly, so that should prove the various sensors on my sons car.