Diesel injectors

300 Tdi according to your .sig (which some people won't have seen).

Yes, injectors do wear out. They're a high-pressure spray nozzle, and that will eventually wear, delivering more fuel in a coarser spray, and even dribbling. Your symptoms could be the injectors, but they're not severe.

They can be checked by a specialist.

Whether anything needs to be done on your engine, I couldn't say. You've done a lot of miles, but the expected injector live does vary with the engine. Some engines have expensive parts, too.

Twas 4 Mar 2004 10:09:58 GMT when Simon Barr put finger to keyboard producing:

Well my 110 had done 223k miles and I think it's a little down on power, it also stutters and smokes on startup and more than I'd like when revving. I intend replacing my injectors and expect them to cure this. Don't suppose that helps you much but there you go ;o)

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

mrniceATmrnice.me.uk 110 CSW 2.5(na)D___________________________________________________________

Hi,

Thing to look for with injectors is if they are that worn the vehicle will emit black smoke, so the black smoke you mention could be this. Also if they become faulty they can cause a knocking sound from the engine.

Rest of the engine sounds about right though, from what you have said here.

Tim '96 300 Tdi Disco

Your 110 being a 2.5 NA will always smoke and "stutter" on start up.

If left for a period the pressure inside the pump reduces allowing the timing to retard slightly, this is a starting aid, the "stuttering" should ease up once the pressure in the injection pump is up and the timing is back to norm ( matter of seconds).

If your engine has covered 200+K then it would definitely benefit from some injectors.

Same with my 85, 90D(112,k)it bugged me for ages, got my m8 to follow me and he said that he can hardly see anything even though there looked to be loads to me. I'm thinking of it as first diesel paranoia so I ignore it

My theory is that its going to have to put some smoke out coz it's burning an oil The reason it can be seen at night is headlights shine through and it makes the particles of smoke stand out, I noticed it most up slow hills when it's working hard.

It was the same even when I had the injectors reconed (cost me £60), the only difference was the slight stutter when I start it in the morning had gone. It only went for a weekish but its back now (the stutter).

-- Jon

I wasn't necessarily thinking specifically of 300Tdi's. Aren't the symptoms of worn injectors the same for all diesels, that's what I assumed.

If people can't see my sig then their reader is broken, tough :-).

Just need to find one locally though. I think the manual I have sugests they can only be diagnosed as faulty by substitution which is a tad expensive.

I am pretty sure my engine is OK as it doesn't burn oil, goes OK and seems to do the right MPG. Its probably all OK and I'm just looking for a fault that isnt.

Tell me more about the knocking sound. I have a noise that I am almost convinced is something in the engine bay rattling/vibrating but I haven't been able to pin it down yet. Its a bit like the noise tappets make and is worse when cold, which points to the engine. However sometimes it isn't there at all, which suggests it isn't the engine. Thats why I haven't been able to track it down yet, very annoying.

You may well be right and there is nothing wrong at all. When we have been out laning the people following me haven't said anything which I assume they would have if there was a lot of smoke.

This is going to sound daft but it's not meant to be sarcastic. Have you cleaned your rear window and mirrors? Several times I've thought I've been smoky, particularly at night, only to find it's actually fogging in the rear view mirrors which has given that hazy effect :)

Also, remember all diesels puff out the odd gobbet of smoke. Many a time I've been following a new Saab or Audi diesel and seen a cough of the old grey stuff here or there as they accelerate.

David

Its not daft at all, never be afraid to ask the obvious. I work in IT and I always get users to check the obvious first no matter how basic it is. Don't always remember to do it myself though... :-)

I'm looking in the near side door mirror to see the smoke, as the exhaust exits in the wheel arch that side. Its definitely smoke, cant see it during the day, except for the odd puff. At night it's more obvious in the lights of cars behind.

On the next laning day I go on I'm going to ask someone to keep a look out for me to see how much it smokes. No-one I know has a 300Tdi so I've nothing to compare it with which is why I was asking here.

The other thing to try is, chuck some injector cleaner in it (the various proprietary stuff you can get from Halfords) and give it a damn good mashing for a few miles. Because my wife's quite a "conservative" driver, I usually give her Rover (L series) a bit of welly when I drive it to clear out all the soot that accumulates at lower revs. It smokes for a short while and then it's fine for next time.

But, going back to what somebody else said, if the previous owner has tweaked the fuelling a bit, that would have the same effect. I have a friend with a 200Tdi which he's fiddled about with, and it smokes quite a bit under load, although it does have a bit more poke now.

D

On or around Fri, 5 Mar 2004 15:46:37 -0000, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

overdone it then :-)

mind, if you go too far it'll not pass the smoke test.

Boosting the pressure is a common 'tweak' you should only notice a little poof* of smoke now and then - not clouds - if the latter, then summat is wrong. Under load, too much smoke could indicate other probs.

*No poof jokes please - I used the term indicatively - imagine having a mouth full of smoke from a fine cigar, now say 'poof' - that's how the exhaust will look - not like a 'puff' - more associated whith a steam train. WTF am I bothering to try and explain this...?

On or around Fri, 05 Mar 2004 21:14:25 +0000, Mother enlightened us thusly:

fooked if I know.

Twas Fri, 05 Mar 2004 21:14:25 +0000 when Mother put finger to keyboard producing:

Because you are a poof? ;o)

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

mrniceATmrnice.me.uk 110 CSW 2.5(na)D___________________________________________________________

No, he's just trying desparatly to offend me.

Alex

I specifically took the time to clarify my explanation with you in mind. Trying to offend you wasn't an aim. Around these parts 'poof' is often the way locals say 'puff' - when refering to blow, weed or marijuana (took me a while to realise that when I moved here, bein' a tad naive an all)...

My point, notwithstanding, remains. The common boost tweak will produce a 'poof', clouds of smoke under load indicates more serious issues.

Ah, so that's what went wrong with me. Or is it a feature?

Alex

There's nothing wrong with you at all. you just haven't met the right sheep yet...

(May as well piss off the Welsh while I'm at it...)