Freelander 1 Td4 facelift injectors/white smoke

Hi All,
To investigate the white smoke and rough idle on start up I did an leak off test.
I tested in three ways:

connectors lose and ignition on: only 1 seem to have a little bit of a leak
connectors lose and crank, all 4 seem to leak.
engine running with leak off test bottles on - 2 injectors had a lot more fuel than the other 2

Can it be that all 4 are leaking?
I have little history of the car as we bought it not so long ago.

I have serviced it, new bmw breather, filters, oil etc.

A leak off test isn't conclusive as all injectors will leak back to a degree. The imbalance is more important than weather leak back occurs or not. It's preferable to measure that actual amount each indicator leaks over the same time period.

Nodge68 said:

A leak off test isn't conclusive as all injectors will leak back to a degree. The imbalance is more important than weather leak back occurs or not. It's preferable to measure that actual amount each indicator leaks over the same time period.

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Thanks for that, The fist two leak lots and the other two only a bit, it was a huge difference.

Would it be a good idea to put some injector cleaner through the fuel?

tulipandthistle said:

Thanks for that, The fist two leak lots and the other two only a bit, it was a huge difference.

Would it be a good idea to put some injector cleaner through the fuel?

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I put injector cleaner through mine once a month

I don't know the history of this car so I might put some in, what is the most aggressive one? LOL

The most aggressive way to clean your injectors is to put pure acetone in with the diesel.
100ml to 56L of diesel.
This is a highly contentious method and alot will not like it.
I have used it a couple of times. On a mates Citroën C4 which cured his sticky injector. And I've put some through mine with no negative effect.
Do not use nail polish remover! It must be pure acetone. I got mine from a boat store.
Up to you.
Mike

There are many "home brew" cleaners that will clean the injectors.
I tend to only use off the shelf products. I think the most common diesel injector cleaner is used by mistake, in the form of miss filled petrol. A couple of litres of petrol in the tank with the remainder filled with diesel, will cleanthe injectors. However petrol is a very poor lubricant, so could damage the fuel pumps, not to mention the damage it might do to the fuel lines.
I have used this "accidental" cleaner in an old Ford Maverick and it went like a rocket afterwards!! A good friend and colleague did the same thing to his PD engined VW Bora with the same result as I got.
So petrol will get the job done, but at the possibility of damage to other components. I and my friend on my, advice added 500mL of 2stroke oil to the tank to compensate for the lack of lubricant. This accidental petrol with oil mix can't have had to much of a detrimental affect on the VW as it's still running well, some 60K miles later. In fact that PD 150 engine is still pulling like a train, with minimal problems today with 160K miles on the clock. If only the Freelander's TD4 could be as reliable as the VW PD unit.

So you can a variety of cleaners, but for safety, use a decent off the shelf product
I use a monthly dose of Comma Diesel Magic which works for me. My TD4 actually runs very well. Definitely running better than the last few I've worked on recently.

I took my injectors out today and cleaned the nozzle which is most likely the cause, as if blocked even a little the spray pattern will differ from the others, also did some spare ones I have last earlier in the week, I will post an how to once I have time.

Arctic2 said:

I took my injectors out today and cleaned the nozzle which is most likely the cause, as if blocked even a little the spray pattern will differ from the others, also did some spare ones I have last earlier in the week, I will post an how to once I have time.

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That would be great! !!

My leak off results were similar to your picture.