Menu
What's new
By:
Advanced search...

Injector issues

Since my seats were a real mess I bought the cutting tool. The advice I got was not to recut unless it was really necessary because the clearence between the injector and piston is critical. The tool also proved to be ideal for just cleaning.
 
[SIZE=11pt]The tool has a tip that blocks the port into the cylinder and most debris collected in a recess at the circumference of the seat (The outermost part of the seat seems to have been machined slightly deeper than the rest). On the injector that was reasonably clean no cutting was required and no debris fell down the cylinder. On the heavily fouled injector there was so much carbon a lot did fall in, I removed it with a vacuum and had use of a video probe to check I’d done a good job.[/SIZE]
 
Shadow said:
[SIZE=11pt]The tool has a tip that blocks the port into the cylinder and most debris collected in a recess at the circumference of the seat (The outermost part of the seat seems to have been machined slightly deeper than the rest). On the injector that was reasonably clean no cutting was required and no debris fell down the cylinder. On the heavily fouled injector there was so much carbon a lot did fall in, I removed it with a vacuum and had use of a video probe to check I’d done a good job.[/SIZE]
Click to expand...
Totally agree with this. If recutting the seats you only take off enough to produce a clean seat, no more. It's easy to do except when an injector has been leaking and you have a lot of carbon to get rid of. If the injectors have not been leaking a good clean will probably suffice without the need for re-cutting.

To get rid of the crud I plug the injector hole with some tightly compressed kitchen paper and then use an airline to blast the crud out of the recess. If you haven't got access to an airline get hold of one of those cans of compressed ait from Poundland or wherever. Don't get too worried about a little bit of muck falling down the hole into the cylinder, it won't cause any harm.

Alan
 
I adapted a small (1/4" drive) socket set to clean up the injector seats... I stuffed a small wad of kitchen roll into a 10mm socket on the end of a 120mm extension shaft and fitted a hand drive (so like a screwdriver), dipped the wad into some petrol, then twisted it down into the recess to clean up the mess and allow me to shine a torch down and inspect the seat area. Didn't look too bad, but there was some persistent grime, so swapped the kitchen roll wad for some medium grade steel wool taped to another socket and smeared with grease. Twisted this down onto the seat and worked it back and forth for a while, then put the petrol-soaked socket back on and cleaned up the grease and fresh debris. This technique worked well and left the seats looking in a good clean and shiny condition. Fitted new copper gaskets (from Holdcroft Honda) and put the injectors back in, having cleaned up the gasket seating surfaces. Took me about 45 mins per injector, including cleaning and refitting all the high-pressure pipework. The only problem I had was tightening #1 injector clamp bolt, as oil had filled the threaded hole and the hydraulic pressure resulted in me wrongly thinking I'd correctly tightened the clamp when I hadn't (the injector was still very slightly loose even after torquing up and turning the clamp bolt a further 90 degrees). I had to remove the injector and clamp to clear the hole with cotton buds... should have checked this first!!!

I only idled the engine for around 20 mins plus a short test drive after refitting the injectors, but there are no obvious leaks from the injector seals.
 
^^ top work man!

Did you remember to put them back in order or have you access to a hds to recode?
 
Hi Fahad, I numbered the injectors and pipework using a permanent marker before removal and made sure I put them back in the same order. I strongly recommend doing this!
 
Well done, Jon. Glad you checked the tightness of the injectors before firing up the engine. Many people, myself included, have been caught out by that nasty little issue of a bolt hole full of oil.

Alan
 
Once this is all done, manifold repaired.. Maybe time for egr off ;)
 
I was tempted to remove the manifold and get it welded while replacing the timing chains, but was reluctant to make a big job even bigger! I wish I'd done it now, as the now much quieter engine (also fitted a shorter aux belt) does make the manifold noise under full load more noticeable.
 
It would be a shame not to sort it after all this effort. My mechanic does these in 4 hours now including the welding as long as the bolts aren't seized on. I'm sure you could still get it off..

Otherwise maybe take a trip up north to Bradford.. Done two of these just this week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top