Another thread about injectors

[NoIdeaWhatImDoing]

Hi everyone,

in my facelift freelander 1 td4 HSE, one of the injectors went last year, while I was in the middle of nowhere. I had to sleep in the car overnight, then get a tow to the garage reasonably close to home and got the injector replaced. because of the cost and the ballache, I didn't do the others.

Fast forward to last month and another went. At home this time, but still had to have it towed and another injector replaced.

Yesterday a third went. I don't want to spend on the tow or replacements, so I'm going to clean the remaining 2 myself.

I read through the posts on here, and the awesome, detailed instruction by @Arctic2 and feel pretty confident, despite my general lack of experience and cackhandedness. I do have a couple of questions though before I start.

1. what are the steps I need to do before starting? Specifically things like depressurising the fuel system? As I understand it, that just involves removing the fuel pump fuse and turning the engine over a few times?

2. is cleaning them an ok solution? in other words, barring something like a crack, the probable issue is the nozzles got blocked, and so if I clean them, they'll probably be almost as good as new? I was considering getting some refurbed replacements from Diesel fix Neuss, but from what I can see, the refurb is more or less the cleaning up that I'm going to do, so it's probably not worth it, but maybe I'm wrong and there's some hidden danger that will cause my cleaned up ones to fail anyway (side note, I guess the injectors are supposed to last around 90k miles, and this old girl had 150k on the clock when the first one went!)

Following advice elsewhere on this site, I opened the cover up today and sprayed WD40 on the injectors and will do it a few more times today and tomorrow before removing them (or attempting to) on Tuesday.

Thanks everyone in advance for any help. I'm a bit nervous, but cautiously optimistic!

 

[lynall]

I reckon small high speed diesel common rail injectors are 100k ish life span.
I personally would get 4 new/refurbed units.
Cleaning them is okay, but the nozzles will be worn so whilst they will look better, they won't perform any better.

 

[NoIdeaWhatImDoing]

I reckon small high speed diesel common rail injectors are 100k ish life span.
I personally would get 4 new/refurbed units.
Cleaning them is okay, but the nozzles will be worn so whilst they will look better, they won't perform any better.

Thanks for the reply. I had 2 replaced, one last year, one last month.

I can order the other 2. DO you think, in the meantime, cleaning will let me drive it a bit, as I need to do something time sensitive before the replacements will get her

 

[lynall]

Thanks for the reply. I had 2 replaced, one last year, one last month.

I can order the other 2. DO you think, in the meantime, cleaning will let me drive it a bit, as I need to do something time sensitive before the replacements will get her

I would run it as it is, tbh one inj failure is not unheard of, but two in such a short period must be rare to say the least.

 

[NoIdeaWhatImDoing]

I would run it as it is, tbh one inj failure is not unheard of, but two in such a short period must be rare to say the least.

At the moment it won't start, because one cylinder basically isn't firing (got some easy strt on the way) and when it was running, it's full bucking bronco style that's hard to drive. this was the same with the other two

 

[lynall]

At the moment it won't start, because one cylinder basically isn't firing (got some easy strt on the way) and when it was running, it's full bucking bronco style that's hard to drive. this was the same with the other two

So that is now a third injector failure, literally one in a million event I would say, something else must be causing it.
I assume you have taken a fuel sample and stuck it in a clear glass jar to see if there is any crap/water in it?
Has it been misfueled at any time?
Have you smelt in the filler neck to check for petrol fumes?
Bought fuel from a different filling station?

 

[NoIdeaWhatImDoing]

I didn't think of that reall. I assumed since they've got 150k on them, once one went, it's not unexpected that the others woudln't be far behind.

You mean to check if there's some way that rain or water from a car wash etc is getting into the tank?

 

[lynall]

I didn't think of that reall. I assumed since they've got 150k on them, once one went, it's not unexpected that the others woudln't be far behind.

You mean to check if there's some way that rain or water from a car wash etc is getting into the tank?

Could be anything in the fuel, water/crap/petrol/sugar, pssied anyone off lately?

Does fuel filler run down inside of rear wheel arch and is it metal?

 

[NoIdeaWhatImDoing]

Could be anything in the fuel, water/crap/petrol/sugar, pssied anyone off lately?

Does fuel filler run down inside of rear wheel arch and is it metal?

Yes, the filler is metal and runs down the arch.

I just went to try and start it and it actually started, and other than a bit of roughness for a few seconds, was running fine.

However, I didn't rescrew the cover and it sprayed oil everywhere through the hole on the driverside (where one of the bolts would normally go)

does this give any other ideas?

 

[lynall]

Yes, the filler is metal and runs down the arch.

I just went to try and start it and it actually started, and other than a bit of roughness for a few seconds, was running fine.

However, I didn't rescrew the cover and it sprayed oil everywhere through the hole on the driverside (where one of the bolts would normally go)

does this give any other ideas?

I have seen a steel fuel filler rot out and let in water spray, was on a nissan though.
No more ideas, taken fuel sample yet?

 

[NoIdeaWhatImDoing]

Ok, so it seems like I got to the bottom of it. Seems like the wire providing the power to one of the injectors is a bit dodgy. It's connected, but if you press on the wire a little, it can fix it, and can also reproduce the issue.

Is it a big job to replace that wire?

Thanks for all your help