chances of me needing new injector seals (td5)

Hi, not being comfortable taking the top of my engine off myself and pulling the injectors out, I'm probably going to get somewhere local to do it and replace the seals on my injectors, as long as there's a very good chance that's whats actually needing done.

Its a 2004, TD5 defender, 67000 miles.

Had a new LR fuel pump 2 years/12000 miles ago. New starter 6 months ago.
New fuel filter recently. Just about due a minor service for the other filters which I'll do myself.
New glow plugs 6 months ago, when the engine was a bit grumpy on starting. Got better for a bit, but now my symptoms are:

Taking a good 20 seconds to start. When first cylinder starts to fire you are getting small puffs of black smoke, then you can hear 2 then 3 then 4 come in all with increasing levels of black/grey smoke. Once they all fire up big cloud of black smoke, then it ticks over/runs 100% fine. Run it for a minute or 2, turn off engine, starts no problems. Leave it an hour however, and we are back to scratch again.

Does this sound like the seals failing causing the smoke/starting issues?

thanks.

I doubt it is injector seals as you would have issues when warm and signs of diesel in the sump oil or blow by into the cam carrier via the O rings.

Have you checked the glow plugs are all actually working?
Were they cheapo ebay jobbies instead of OEM plugs?
Just because they are new dont mean they actually glow.

Number five pot is always lazy on cold days unless your engine is in tip top order in terms of compression.

i would change injector seals ,,but they ( td5 ) can also draw air from the filter head ,as they corrode due to there location ,,smother filter head with copious amounts of grease and then see if it improves if it does new filter head ,if not i would plug for injector seals regards GATSO

it's not really cold enough atm to need glows

is it cranking fast and steady or struggling?

Shifty1962 said:

I doubt it is injector seals as you would have issues when warm and signs of diesel in the sump oil or blow by into the cam carrier via the O rings.

Have you checked the glow plugs are all actually working?
Were they cheapo ebay jobbies instead of OEM plugs?
Just because they are new dont mean they actually glow.

Number five pot is always lazy on cold days unless your engine is in tip top order in terms of compression.

Click to expand...

they were OEM parts at £60.

GATSO said:

i would change injector seals ,,but they ( td5 ) can also draw air from the filter head ,as they corrode due to there location ,,smother filter head with copious amounts of grease and then see if it improves if it does new filter head ,if not i would plug for injector seals regards GATSO

Click to expand...

ta

trax said:

it's not really cold enough atm to need glows

is it cranking fast and steady or struggling?

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it's struggling to crank. at first its just the starter spinning, then you can hear a muffled putt putt putt, then as each cylinder fires, louder and louder in rhythm until its starts - then the big cloud of grey/black smoke. around 20-30 seconds in total.

Hi i had the same symptoms last year loads white/grey smoke after 20 turns to start it,
i got cheap set copper washers and seals off ebay £5 put them in with a neighbours help whos mad about defenders now starts first turn key and no smoke.
if you put it in a garage make sure they dont knack your injectors,test drive it before you pay the bill make sure you have loads power on acceleration and it will go above 60 mph
i would read up on how to do it yourself its not hard then you no its done right best of luck.

An easy job, I use a heel pry bar to lever em out, keep in order and work cleanly
Carefull does it not to damage the new o rings
Once in I recommend setting the injectors bump stop travel
Fully depressed on rocker wind fully in then back off 1 full turn then tighten the nut ( it's like setting tappets)
Check the old washers you'll see variation in shading that shows any leak by
Good luck

Hi.

I have an update.

2 days ago, my engine went from sounding exactly like this (except mine finally did start after 20 seconds):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzgpH0P0Xug

now it starts first time on the button. No smoke, no issues. All I have done in that time (besides waiting to take it into garage) is use a bottle of wynns injector cleaner and perhaps give it a good pump on the accelerator just when i hear the first couple of cylinders fire in.

Now, this happened to me about 6 months ago too, and it 'cured' itself in a week or so, whereas this time its been a struggle to start for 2-3 weeks.

Could this be down to damp weather/water in the fuel system that has now corrected itself somehow? When firing up during the time it was struggling, every turn was met with a puff of dark grey/black smoke from the exhaust, which has also gone now.

It is booked into independent specialist on Tuesday, should I still take it in for an expert eye to look at do you think.

many thanks again.

temp fix ,,,it will let u down again, have it checked and fault codes read with autologic ,

defendermikey said:

it's struggling to crank. at first its just the starter spinning, then you can hear a muffled putt putt putt, then as each cylinder fires, louder and louder in rhythm until its starts - then the big cloud of grey/black smoke. around 20-30 seconds in total.

Click to expand...

as in from the start it cranks very slowly? or it's fast and then the engine starts to putt putt

if slowly, then starting with the simplest.. have you checked your battery is fully charged? colder weather puts a strain on knackered batteries.

stick a multimeter on it and also when the engines on to check the alt.

if you don't have anything then most garages will check your battery using a proper tool for free.

other ways to test to see if it starts up from cold no issues jumping from another vehicle. (neg pole from donor to your engine block.)

you can also check for bad earths by sticking a jump lead from your neg bat pole to the engine/starter casing. if it starts right up, then it's just a bad earth.