Freelander 1 Diesel mist spraying all over the Fuel Rail & Injectors

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I found when I did my injectors that if they don't go down properly then they aren't in correctly. It took me a couple of goes to get it slide down right. I think the copper washer didn't slip down correctly the first time and may have been sitting crooked and jamming the top of the injector from seating properly. Just a thought and from my own endeavors with injectors. Taking them apart was a real trial as I cleaned all the bits and was terrified that A I would loose a bit or B not remember how they went back together again. Persevere and it'll be worth it. Keep everything together and lay them out as the come off the injector, makes for easy stages for reassembly.
Hope this helps.

Hi Colm.
It is always best to add a little smear of oil or brake grease on the copper washer so it stays put on the injector but most of the time if you have the correct washer it will be a snug fit anyways.
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Wipe off any excess grease.
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You can use a blunt small chisel to tap on the injector where the yellow dots are to help the injector seat down, if you find them to be tight.
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I can certainly take a video on my phone, but have no idea how to upload it to the forum (I have only just managed WhatsApp), I will attempt the Injector swap and remove the petroleum jelly from the "O" ring on the injector I have already removed, How can I tell which way up the copper washer that goes over the tip should be, I could not see any difference on the one I removed, but it did have marks from debris on the side that faces the cylinder head and it required a lot of carb cleaner and brushing to enable its removal from the tip due to the amount of baked on debris and it required the careful use of a pair of pliers griping only the copper washer to dislodge it.
The replacement copper washer was a very tight fit on the tip and required a smear of WD40 to the tip to allow me to push it into place where the old one had been by hand.

The T connectors on the leak off kit have not yet been fitted as the plastic one came out without any damage so I decided to reuse it hoping that my cleaning up would cure the misting and once that was cured I could change the whole leak off kit in one go.
"lynall" suggested "Anneal the new washers" I assume he means the Copper washers, how would I go about this as my ignorance knows no bounds.

I have been thinking about the misting and have to ask Under normal circumstances with everything running leak free, would any diesel get past the copper washer and be able to get between the copper washer and the Rubber "O" ring while in its correct position with the cast retaining collar held in place with the two nuts.
as presumably if diesel can get past the copper washer and there is damage the rubber "O" ring then diesel under pressure could get past the "O" ring and mist under the cast Injector retaining collar.

Please bear in mind I really don't know what I am talking about just trying to think it through.

As above anneling a copper washer is to heat it up


personally i have never done that with new washers, some may have.

Fit the new T connectors it makes sense as the little O-rings on the old T connectors could be poor.
 
You might need some injector seat cutters, these are designed as the name suggests to recut the seat where the injector washers sit, but I only ever use them to scrape the seal area clean so thats just a couple of turns by hand, then its long screwdriver and some rag to clean the seat, literally the seat area is all that matters.
Some cars have real issues with sealing the injectors, have a google for mercedes injector black death.

Annealing will make an old washer soft and ready to use again, anneal a new washer makes it softer as well as, I was initially sceptical of this, but someone on this (I think ) forum mentioned it and I have tried it a few times since with no issues, of course I may have had no issues anyway but have had issues with inj washers sealing before, I reused three injector washers a couple of weeks ago and have just done 1500 miles on them with no leaks etc.
 
Fit the new T connectors it makes sense as the little O-rings on the old T connectors could be poor
Every time I've had to do anything with the t connectors I've had to replace the small rubber "O" rings as they flatten out on the sides and you end up with "wet" hoses.
Worth the small amount of money and peace of mind.
Great post on annealing, must try that next time I do an injector clean up.
 
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my issue all the information has been very useful, I still have three questions before I tear it all down again.
1st: how do I tell which is the right way up when fitting the copper sealing washers and 2nd: Can I use any make of Ceramic High temp grease or do I need a product from a specific manufacturer 3rd : What maximum temperature should the Ceramic High Temp Grease be capable of handling.

Thanks again
 
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my issue all the information has been very useful, I still have three questions before I tear it all down again.
1st: how do I tell which is the right way up when fitting the copper sealing washers and 2nd: Can I use any make of Ceramic High temp grease or do I need a product from a specific manufacturer 3rd : What maximum temperature should the Ceramic High Temp Grease be capable of handling.

Thanks again
Hi Marc.
The copper washers can go on any way as they are the same both sides, as for the ceramic grease you do not have to use it, i just like to smear a little on the washer so it stays in place when lowering the injector into it's port, but this is fine below.
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Granville Ceramic Brake Grease High Performance VHT Lubricant ABS Breaking 70g 5020618008408 | eBay

A larger tin.
Granville Ceramic Brake Grease High Temperature - 500g - Free Tracked Delivery 5020618008415 | eBay
 
Thanks to "Arctic2" for the info, have ordered the Ceramic Grease today so I will make another attempt and swap the one in Position 2 that is misting to position 1 and clean up the 2nd removed Injector and put that in Position 2.
I intend this time to undo the tip end of both those injectors and clean out the tip and clean the internal components when all the ordered items arrive and will report back once completed.

Here's hoping that the Misting issue will be solved when all this is done

Thanks again
 
Hi all

Well this is not going as well as I might have hoped, I have now removed all the injectors as it seemed sensible while I was there, I have managed to disassemble on Injector but two I can not move and I don't know how much pressure its sensible to put on the 15mm hex, the whole bench started to move and I think I will need to put a 15mm long socket on it and slip a scaffold pole over the 1/2 ratchet handle to shift them. Is this OK ?

I have attached a photo of the parts of the one injector I managed to take apart, laid out in the order they came out am I missing anything ?
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The 4th injector is slightly different to the others and when I started to put it in the vice I noticed that part of it was loose and I will attach photo's, the ring closest to the top nut will move up and down and also the large outer sleeve will also move up and down I have taken photo's of the ring and the body in the various positions they can be moved to, Is the Injector FUBAR or is this normal and the other three are just tighter fitting. Help please

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Thanks in advance
 
the ring closest to the top nut will move up and down and also the large outer sleeve will also move up and down
just checked my 4 old ones .. one collar (1) moved .. those had 193k miles on them
am very sure on my brand-new ones .. bosch STC4555G .. all the collars (1) moved ..
and i seem to remember .. no.2 in pic .. could also be moved slightly
[ replaced aug. 2020 ]
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btw: when i did get those new ones ..
i knew the collars were supposed to move ..
but were unsure about no.2 ..
it maybe moved a mm or two .. and needed more effort than the collars ..
anyhow i looked about online .. and no.2 movement seemed to be the norm.
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Hi Marc.
In a couple of your photos the O-ring seems to be damaged, they need to be changed, also don't worry you will not break anything trying to undo the top cap over the tip, use a good ring spanner and a tube on it if you are struggling to crack the thread, you could also use adjustable spanner.

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Your injectors look to be fairly clean to some i have removed.
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Scrap any crud away with a wire brush.
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You can also use an hook tool sometimes.
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Once you have the top cap off, as you done so already lay the parts out and clean them with carb cleaner, make sure you clean the tip by sparing into it.
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You are looking for five equal jets of spray.
There is no need to remove the three items in the photo below.
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Reassemble and change any O-rings damaged add a smear or rubber grease.

You are doing fine keep going.
 
Thank you for the encouragement, my only concern now is your photo of the parts I did not need to remove are not all the same as your photo, the washer and spring are similar but the short tube on my injector is open both ends and each end has a hole that is a different diameter. I also have a very small round disc which appears to be the same diameter as the pin in the injector body that the washer and spring slip over.

In your photo the tube appears to either be solid one end or has some sort of cap on the end, I was very careful taking the injector apart but I suppose its possible that I have lost a part. I'm a bit confused unless there are two types of injector internals.

Once again many thanks for all the help
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Thank you for the encouragement, my only concern now is your photo of the parts I did not need to remove are not all the same as your photo, the washer and spring are similar but the short tube on my injector is open both ends and each end has a hole that is a different diameter. I also have a very small round disc which appears to be the same diameter as the pin in the injector body that the washer and spring slip over.

In your photo the tube appears to either be solid one end or has some sort of cap on the end, I was very careful taking the injector apart but I suppose its possible that I have lost a part. I'm a bit confused unless there are two types of injector internals.

Once again many thanks for all the helpView attachment 261289 View attachment 261290 View attachment 261291

Hi Marc.
Yes the injectors are of a different type as most mine are from the Rover 75 M47 engine whereas yours are from the Freelander 1 TD4 M47 engine, so do not worry, just make sure to add the parts back as they came out of the injector.

As above these parts do not need to be removed to clean the tip.
 
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Thank you for the reply that is one issue I do not have to worry about, I took today off to try and complete this job but two of the injectors just will not come apart, I have damaged one as even with a ring spanner and a 3ft length of tube all that happened was that the 15mm ring spanner rounded the flats off and slipped round which has left raised edges on the surface where the Copper washer seats on the injector, I have tried levelling the seat off with a very fine file but its still not very good, I don't think I can rely on the copper washer deforming enough to make a seal and the issue of not being able to clean the injector still remains

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I am at a loss at the moment as I have no idea why anyone would have done these two up that tight and am scared stiff of doing the same to the 4th Injector
 
I have just tried a deep socket with a ratchet and a 3ft piece of tube and have just broken both of the corners off my record vice, you have to put the injector in the vice at a angle as to have it upright would mean you were clamping onto the top nut. as neither of my vices have enough clearance below the jaws to allow the injector to stand up straight.

I don't know where to go next, would heating the the top of the injector up with a blow lamp help or are both the cap and the injector body made of the same material which I suppose would mean they would both expand at the same rate solving nothing. I'm really running out of ideas

Anyone want to buy a non running Freelander ?
 
Hi Marc yes try heating the top cap up, and clamp the injector into the vice by the flats as in the photo below.
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I only have a small vice but can get them upright
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Do not worry to much about chewing up the top caps as i can send you a couple if you want, send me your address (FOC)

Remember to scrap out the carbon deposits on the top of the cap.
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Six sided ring spanner is best if you have one.
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I can not get a injector upright in my vice as the jaws do not stick out far enough from the vice body, when I put the injector in the vice the nut below the plastic cap hits the vice body before the jaws locate on the two flat surfaces on the injector, the only thing I can think of is to space the jaws off the vice body with a bit of 4 or 5mm plate to give the clearance for the large nut below the plastic cap.

I have also been looking for a six sided ring spanner as my 12 sided one has slipped on the flats of the cap, I would be very grateful of "Arctic2's" very kind offer of two replacement caps as I think mine will end up butchered getting these two off.

I will keep everyone posted of progress, all the help is much appreciated

Wish me luck
 
I can not get a injector upright in my vice as the jaws do not stick out far enough from the vice body, when I put the injector in the vice the nut below the plastic cap hits the vice body before the jaws locate on the two flat surfaces on the injector, the only thing I can think of is to space the jaws off the vice body with a bit of 4 or 5mm plate to give the clearance for the large nut below the plastic cap.

I have also been looking for a six sided ring spanner as my 12 sided one has slipped on the flats of the cap, I would be very grateful of "Arctic2's" very kind offer of two replacement caps as I think mine will end up butchered getting these two off.

I will keep everyone posted of progress, all the help is much appreciated

Wish me luck

Hi Marc.
Link below for 6 point /sided 15mm spanner.
COMBINATION SPANNER 15MM WITH HEXAGON (6 POINT) RING FROM BRITOOL HALLMARK CEHM1 | eBay

The two caps are packed and ready to post out for you Monday.
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Adjustable spanner can work sometimes.
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Aviation spanners are good too more leverage
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as already suggested try a little heat.
 
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