Injector Leak

[smiddyboy1]

Hi All,
Had my car for a while now and when it was getting some work done I asked them to check out why the car was juddering when It was in drive and slowly taking away - Turns out its 1 possibly 2 leaking injectors!

Now this is where it gets confusing: I've been to 2 separate indy's (neither of which posts on here)
Both are unwilling to comit to giving a price to carry out the work giving the excuse that they have no idea of the time it could take - I've even tryed to press them with a worst case price - but still no joy!
The 1st indy has mentioned that as there is a heavy build up of carbon around the injector its a nightmare to remove the injector and if you dont remove all the carbon there is potential for pressure to build up and blow a hole in the engine !!!! of which it has happened twice with him - not installing confidence with me there!!
2nd indy says that a load of rubbish and has never heard anything of the sort, although he gave me a price for an injector of being in the £250 region and that a bosch not MB (could be the same injector tho) but after checking with my local dealer the price they have given me is around the £120 with a surcharge on the old injector.

Now, what do I do now and who do I get to sort it- Its not something I would like to DIY, but after the 2nd Indy took the engine cover off this afternoon to let me see, I could see it is in need of repair ASAP!!!

There is black carbon all around the injector (possibly 2) and it was chuffing like a steam train (like a compressor blowing) as you put your hand near it, not to mention the smell im starting to get in the cabin..

Car: 52 C220 CDI

Thanks

 

[Dieselman]

It needs fixing before the blowby damages the head through erosion. As far as the coke blowing the engine up, I'd be amazed. The build up is outside the combustion chamber and if anything compression will be lower than normal due to the leak.

The reason they don't want to quote is in case the injector is stuck in the head, the retaining thread strips or the head is damaged.

This is difficult because the worst case scenario just could happen, but it's unlikely.

What can you do tho help..??
Run a strong dose of injector cleaner through the fuel to loosen off as much coke as possible and try pouring coka-cola or a small amount of diesel around the built up coke to soften it and then scrape it away.

The £120 price sounds like a refurbished injector price so it might be worth talking to a diesel specialist to see if they can replace the seals for you, assuming the injector is actually duff and the fault isn't just the lost compression.

 

[panason1c]

Hi,
Just done an injector seal on mine, the injector came out very easily (hot engine) and the worst part of the job was cleaning up the tar like residue around the site.........i cleaned up the injector seat in the head by cutting a piece of 400 grade wet and dry into the shape of the copper seal and using a tiny drop of superglue to hold it in place on the injector, i then inserted the injector into position in the head and used a 'twisting' motion to clean up the seat (a bit like grinding in a valve) which cleaned up perfectly.....

It is recommended to use a new bolt and also renew the retaining 'fork' as well as a new copper washer. The 3 items cost me 6 euros in total and the whole job took about 30 minutes.

 

[smiddyboy1]

Thanks for the reply Dieselman
The guy mentioned that when screwing in the injector if the threads are not clear then any gas in the chamber cannot escape and when you fire it up, its then blows a hole in the piston..... Since then I've did a bit of reading on here and found out that the injector is a push in and not a screw!!! so i dont know what to make of it!!!!
I kinda lost faith in him when he asked ME why i had the level switch on the rear of the car if I didnt have self leveling suspension!!!! I couldn't readly believe what I was hearing seeing as i had him check the "self leveling" bi-xenon only a few weeks earlier, He has had a lot of money from me and im starting to think that he's either learning on mycar of pulling a fast one!

I did try injector cleaner in it - but thats when i started to get the smell in the cabin and it hasn't went away since.

The £120 was what was quotad from the MB dealership after giving him my chassis number??? I'll try looking up the EPC and confirming a price.

Any idead on a Diesel specialist in the Glasgow area... I'm willing to travel to get this fixed properly.....

 

[smiddyboy1]

Hi,
Just done an injector seal on mine, the injector came out very easily (hot engine) and the worst part of the job was cleaning up the tar like residue around the site.........i cleaned up the injector seat in the head by cutting a piece of 400 grade wet and dry into the shape of the copper seal and using a tiny drop of superglue to hold it in place on the injector, i then inserted the injector into position in the head and used a 'twisting' motion to clean up the seat (a bit like grinding in a valve) which cleaned up perfectly.....

It is recommended to use a new bolt and also renew the retaining 'fork' as well as a new copper washer. The 3 items cost me 6 euros in total and the whole job took about 30 minutes.

Well done , I wish I was that brave to have a go but i dont think id trust myself sorting this one out

 

[Dieselman]

Thanks for the reply Dieselman
The guy mentioned that when screwing in the injector if the threads are not clear then any gas in the chamber cannot escape and when you fire it up, its then blows a hole in the piston.....

Err, yeah...right.......

Two reasons this couldn't happen.
The injector only seals as it's tightened down onto the heat sheild so any 'trapped' gas will escape beforehand, and, the piston rings just ain't gonna make that tight a seal, especially at cranking speed and that's assuming that cylinder just happened to be on the compresion stroke as opposed to having to fill first.

As you rightly say, the injector is a push fit, not screw in.

If you've got a torque wrench and angle gauge then there's no reason you couldn't do this job but I can understand you wanting to have a garage do it.

Just look in the yellow pages for a diesel specialist. Go there and if it looks like a workshop and they appear to know soemthing then you should be Ok.

 

[smiddyboy1]

Err, yeah...right.......

Two reasons this couldn't happen.
The injector only seals as it's tightened down onto the heat sheild so any 'trapped' gas will escape beforehand, and, the piston rings just ain't gonna make that tight a seal, especially at cranking speed and that's assuming that cylinder just happened to be on the compresion stroke as opposed to having to fill first.

As you rightly say, the injector is a push fit, not screw in.

If you've got a torque wrench and angle gauge then there's no reason you couldn't do this job but I can understand you wanting to have a garage do it.

Just look in the yellow pages for a diesel specialist. Go there and if it looks like a workshop and they appear to know soemthing then you should be Ok.

Just what I wanted to hear!!!! I've reccomended this guy on here and thats where i got his details from- so the car's going nowhere near him again (and the misus 203 coupe & father in laws 210).
You've given me plenty of info to go ahead and do it but I think its just above me and I'll have a look at the specialists on here - or if they read it Pm me.
Thanks again.