Engine running rough with blue smoke on start up the sealing washer that goes around the nozzle starts leaking oil into the cylinder overnight. Worse however is when the combustion gases, particularly carbon, leak past, ending up in the oil, blocking the oil pick-up in the sump and starving the engine. CATASTROPHE.”
A simple check for this is to leave the nose of the car pointed down overnight. If the symptoms are worse, the sealing washers are faulty.
Wear and tear – These common rail injection systems operate with 30-100% more pressure than previous systems. This has a definite impact on injector longevity. Next, these injectors fire four to five times per combustion stroke, instead of just one. That is a lot of additional work. Lastly, they have a much smaller operational tolerance than previous injectors. It is a miracle they last as long as they do!
Fuel factors – We all know that foreign matter in the fuel is no friend. The physical tolerances within these injectors is as little as 1 micron. Therefore, for obvious reasons, we recommend fitting the smallest micron filter available.
Fuel in Australia contains chemicals that will corrode the injector body, leading to problems. The best way to avoid this is to not let the fuel “sit” – Drive your beast regularly!
Other than taking these precautions, the only real fix, once the problems have set in, is to replace the injectors.