Diesel injectors

I see a lot of freds on ere (not just the Freelander section) relating to diesel injector problems. Like most things I guess they have a certain life time and may go wrong early if something effects them.

Do diesel injectors cause a lot of problems or is it just a case of noticing more problems with them as our diesels are getting older? Is it a case of running them until they fail or should they be changed as part of the maintenance schedule? Are newer higher compression engines putting more pressure on injectors causing them to fail sooner? Is increased fool efficiency requiring diesel injectors to be changed sooner than before due to needing them to operate within more precise engineered tolerances to keep efficiency up? What do you think?

When I came to replace the water pump on my TD4 over a year ago, I decided to get the injectors checked at the same time. ( Mileage was around 130000)
Sent them to a Bosch service centre and got a report back to say that the spray patterns & delivery rates were incorrect even after cleaning so I got them reconditioned.
Apart from a few teething problems which involved a rework (FOC) by them, the car ran better and the MPG improved by around 10%.
The body of the injector is drop forged steel and unlikely to wear...it's the interior parts that can clog up and wear (Pintle, seals etc.) or the triggering solenoid.
Personally, if the engine is running well and not kicking out loads of smoke, I would leave them alone. However, if I had to say, strip the top end down and the engine had covered a good few miles (Over 100K), then I would get them checked & cleaned by a specialist as they have the computerised kit.
From memory, it cost around £95 each for the injectors to be refurbished. They do stipulate that the fuel filter is replaced before refitting otherwise the warranty is void.

What do you think?

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common-rail injectors ( piezo and solenoid operated ) have finer internal tolerances than the older mechanical types ..
low sulphur fuels don't have the lubrication qualities the higher sulphur fuels had ..
( although some companies now add lubricant to their diesel fuel .. )
common-rail diesels operate with much higher pressures than older diesels ..

Why Diesel Fuel Injectors Fail - Diesel Power Magazine

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main reason i use a particular diesel additive is for the extra added lubrication properties ..

As above, fuel has less lubrication properties these days and the internal tolerances for injectors are astonishingly fine. Add into the mix many people running their cars on the cheapest fuel possible and using cheap, pattern filters which perhaps dont filter down to the same particle size as quality items, then dirt can get to the injectors and it only takes a tiny spec to drastically alter flow rate or spray pattern.

I have seen people poking bits of mig wire down injector nozzles, and dismantling them and "cleaning" with wire wool before....thats....well, thats not how you should do it.

I had all of mine reconditioned by Diesel Bob in the UK, as doing so here would have cost five times the price. I had them all done as I was forced to smash one when it wouldnt come out while repairing other problems (welded a slide hammer to it in the end) and bought a pair of second hand replacements of completely unknown history or mileage. I sent all five off to Bob, asking him to recon the worst four and clean the best one which I would keep as a spare.

btw: one web source mentioned that from 2008 injectors were redesigned
to cope better with todays diesel fuel ..
and failures of same are less frequent ..
( on usa web site .. )

£400 a set recon
£800 a set new
It's all big bucks from a scheduled maintainance point. But nothing lasts forever, especially these days.
Would love some new (well recon) injectors

clarkkent said:

£400 a set recon
£800 a set new
It's all big bucks from a scheduled maintainance point. But nothing lasts forever, especially these days.
Would love some new (well recon) injectors

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Is that the price for a FL1 Td4?

Does anyone know how much injectors are for the FL2?

clarkkent said:

But nothing lasts forever, especially these days.

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We've had our Freelander for 5 years now and the only thing to go wrong is the ABS unit (appart from things that have broke due to my fault!) It was 12 years old when I got it. My first car was a '69 Triumph Vitesse and it was also about 12 years old when I got it. It was no less reliable than my mates cars - but still bits broke all the time.

So I think you'll find that, although we still moan about them, cars are much more reliable these days and the components last much longer - but there are lot more components to go wrong!