L322 Persistent injector driver circuit performance bank b fault

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R53convert

Member
Posts
11
Location
Stoke-on-Trent
I hope someone can help me! I'm going to work backwards with this issue, so your point may be already referred to further down. Anyway, here starts!


2007 - Vogue TDV8 3.6


The Issue

Persistent fault code, "injector driver circuit performance bank B".

Engine cranks, but does not start.

If cleared, fault comes back up on turning ignition on without trying to crank the engine.

20 liters of fresh fuel.


What I have yet to try

As of writing this I have not done a [sola]noid light test on the ECU outputs / wiring / plug ends.

I have no access to an oscilloscope.

I have not done tests on the cam sensor or any other related sensors, however the fault reoccurs without needing to crank the engine as I've said above.

For "reasons" I am going to replace the low pressure injector leak back/off lines.

Have not done leak back/off tests.


What I HAVE done / tried

Replaced a 3rd party fuel filter with OEM.

Replaced 4 injectors.

Checked and passed: the wiring loom for continuity, resistance, shorting, etc. using multimeter and a megaohm / megga tester, including the sockets at either end.

Replaced the alternator.

Replaced the ECU and had it coded to the car, copied from the old ECU.

Checked common rail for flow.

Cleaned and checked all ground connections to body, then resistance of all ground lines in the ECU box to grounds.


Injector information

Moved injector #1 to cylinder #8.

Installed reconditioned injector in to cylinder #1. (No errors on Bank A.)

Replaced injectors #5 & #6 with 2nd hand injectors.


Injector tests - all 8 injectors

Ohms at 195-200 Kohms as per spec. across pins.

Capacitance at 3 microfarads or greater as per spec.

No short circuits to ground on any remaining/installed.

All read 0.2 megaohms across pins on megga test.


The full back story

April/May - Replaced water pump and thermostat housing, cooling module, power steering lines and fluid. EGR thermostats. Coolant.

Then had to replace thermostat housing again as i'd ripped the gasket on install. Ooops.


Once that sorted, took it for a drive. Drove 200 miles to Hartlepool from Stoke on Trent. No issues.

Drove back next afternoon, 200 miles and no issues.


Few days later, going up a hill - engine limp mode. Switched off. Waited. Restarted fine. No further issues.


Few days later, after a 30 min drive would crank but not start in car park. This time had my iCarsoft with me. Codes were:

- generator field

- injector driver circuit performance

Weird. But I reset the codes, and it started. Lumpy at first, under 500 rpm, then after a bit of revs it cleared and idled as normal. Drove 30 min, no issues.


Few days later, it started but was lumpy as a few days before. But cleared, drove well. But another carpark, would crank but not start. The same error codes, but this time added in injector #8 issue.

After repeated clearing and cranking, it restarted. Again lumpy but clearing. Drove a good 45 min with no issues. But few minutes from home, going up an incline it started limping and then fully in to limp mode.


I got it restarted, but this time it would not move. The lumpy idle would not clear this time. It was trailered home. Then it wouldn't start at all.


A few weeks went by as I tried figuring out what I should do. I had battery on charge in flat. One evening decided to have a look, somehow locked key in car as I connected battery. RAC came while I was in flat, and i got to it and somehow RAC had managed to start the car and it was running well! I was baffled. He said, it had taken some persuading.


So, I took it to the other end of the car park and back but as I pulled in to my space, it started to limp and fail just as I parked.


No more starts since.


Any help and ideas? Many thanks!
 
Last edited:
Have you checked the fuel pressure as it sounds to me that one of the fuel pumps is not working and getting fuel to the high pressure pump is not happening, i believe there is an intank one that transfers from one side of the tank to the other if that goes it looks like you have 1/4 tank but not, and one to pump the fuel to the high pressure pump on the engine.
can you read rail pressure on your diag it should be around 300bar.
 
I hope someone can help me! I'm going to work backwards with this issue, so your point may be already referred to further down. Anyway, here starts!


2007 - Vogue TDV8 3.6


The Issue

Persistent fault code, "injector driver circuit performance bank B".

Engine cranks, but does not start.

If cleared, fault comes back up on turning ignition on without trying to crank the engine.

20 liters of fresh fuel.


What I have yet to try

As of writing this I have not done a [sola]noid light test on the ECU outputs / wiring / plug ends.

I have no access to an oscilloscope.

I have not done tests on the cam sensor or any other related sensors, however the fault reoccurs without needing to crank the engine as I've said above.

For "reasons" I am going to replace the low pressure injector leak back/off lines.

Have not done leak back/off tests.


What I HAVE done / tried

Replaced a 3rd party fuel filter with OEM.

Replaced 4 injectors.

Checked and passed: the wiring loom for continuity, resistance, shorting, etc. using multimeter and a megaohm / megga tester, including the sockets at either end.

Replaced the alternator.

Replaced the ECU and had it coded to the car, copied from the old ECU.

Checked common rail for flow.

Cleaned and checked all ground connections to body, then resistance of all ground lines in the ECU box to grounds.


Injector information

Moved injector #1 to cylinder #8.

Installed reconditioned injector in to cylinder #1. (No errors on Bank A.)

Replaced injectors #5 & #6 with 2nd hand injectors.


Injector tests - all 8 injectors

Ohms at 195-200 Kohms as per spec. across pins.

Capacitance at 3 microfarads or greater as per spec.

No short circuits to ground on any remaining/installed.

All read 0.2 megaohms across pins on megga test.


The full back story

April/May - Replaced water pump and thermostat housing, cooling module, power steering lines and fluid. EGR thermostats. Coolant.

Then had to replace thermostat housing again as i'd ripped the gasket on install. Ooops.


Once that sorted, took it for a drive. Drove 200 miles to Hartlepool from Stoke on Trent. No issues.

Drove back next afternoon, 200 miles and no issues.


Few days later, going up a hill - engine limp mode. Switched off. Waited. Restarted fine. No further issues.


Few days later, after a 30 min drive would crank but not start in car park. This time had my iCarsoft with me. Codes were:

- generator field

- injector driver circuit performance

Weird. But I reset the codes, and it started. Lumpy at first, under 500 rpm, then after a bit of revs it cleared and idled as normal. Drove 30 min, no issues.


Few days later, it started but was lumpy as a few days before. But cleared, drove well. But another carpark, would crank but not start. The same error codes, but this time added in injector #8 issue.

After repeated clearing and cranking, it restarted. Again lumpy but clearing. Drove a good 45 min with no issues. But few minutes from home, going up an incline it started limping and then fully in to limp mode.


I got it restarted, but this time it would not move. The lumpy idle would not clear this time. It was trailered home. Then it wouldn't start at all.


A few weeks went by as I tried figuring out what I should do. I had battery on charge in flat. One evening decided to have a look, somehow locked key in car as I connected battery. RAC came while I was in flat, and i got to it and somehow RAC had managed to start the car and it was running well! I was baffled. He said, it had taken some persuading.


So, I took it to the other end of the car park and back but as I pulled in to my space, it started to limp and fail just as I parked.


No more starts since.


Any help and ideas? Many thanks!
Be very careful using a Megga on car wiring unless you know exactly where every splice and sub circuit goes, you can blow the electronics to bits in a nanosecond:eek:
 
Have you checked the fuel pressure as it sounds to me that one of the fuel pumps is not working and getting fuel to the high pressure pump is not happening, i believe there is an intank one that transfers from one side of the tank to the other if that goes it looks like you have 1/4 tank but not, and one to pump the fuel to the high pressure pump on the engine.
can you read rail pressure on your diag it should be around 300bar.
Wouldn’t that show as an error on both banks not just B? It says it’s a ‘driver’. Anyway, I have fuel pressure (although i don’t know how much —- about 4 feet high? Ask me how I know hahah). But again, why just bank B?
 
If you have a multimeter, then use the resistance mode to check continuity. Megger is for checking leakage on mains wiring. Remember just because the LR diagrams don't show splices, it doesn't mean they are not there, or whether someone added wiring in the past..
 
If you have a multimeter, then use the resistance mode to check continuity. Megger is for checking leakage on mains wiring. Remember just because the LR diagrams don't show splices, it doesn't mean they are not there, or whether someone added wiring in the past..
+1^^^. Also the high voltage of the Megga can induce voltages in other lines in a loom bundle again potentially causing damage.
 
Well, ok, regardless though, high voltages go through the wires from the ecm to injectors. But, anyway, this is the only code and error I’m getting ‘injector driver circuit bank b’ even after everything.
 
Well, ok, regardless though, high voltages go through the wires from the ecm to injectors. But, anyway, this is the only code and error I’m getting ‘injector driver circuit bank b’ even after everything.
Most injectors are just 12V pulses. No high voltages anywhere on most cars except spark plugs !!
 
+1^^^^^^^
You are both mistaken. These are piezo diesel injectors, not solenoids, and they operate at around 180-200 volts. The workshop manual warns against the high voltage. It makes me wonder about the advice that's given on these places when basic details are got wrong with such confidence.
 
You are both mistaken. These are piezo diesel injectors, not solenoids, and they operate at around 180-200 volts. The workshop manual warns against the high voltage. It makes me wonder about the advice that's given on these places when basic details are got wrong with such confidence.
Can't win them all, times they are a changing, I had never heard of piezo injectors but given the modern penchant for replacing the simple and reliable with the complicated, perhaps I should not be surprised. I standby what I said about the Megga, the 500 volt test voltage, unless you have one with a low voltage setting, will blow the electronics to bits, the test voltage is over twice the injector voltage which is a very short pulse, the Megga applies the test voltage for considerably longer.
 
SOLVED.
Today, I started out as if I knew nothing and tested wires and lines individually.
Discovery: bank B injectors don’t mean why I had been told and thought. It does not refer to the left or right if the engine. Because I thought it did, I had completely ignored cylinders 1-4.
The solution: it turns out injector 2 was faulty. Pins grounding to body and failing capacitance test.
So, I actually only needed to sort 6 and 2 out in the end. Where as I’ve changed 1, 5, 6, and 8. And now 2.
So bank B? I’m unsure exactly what it refers to. Cylinder 2 is on the middle ecm connector (brown). So it may mean that. I can’t find any details, but it certainly does not mean the left side of the engine!
 
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