Club 80-90 Forums

Hello all i was wondering if anyone could throw any light on this -

The story so far, to cut a longish story short i thought i had a knackered head gasket, oil in the coolant and overheating(but temp gauge never registered the overheat). I just replaced my oilcooler which seems to have sorted the oil in the water and what i thought was the engine overheat was actually coming from the first injector. There is diesil around the base of the injector and also smoke/steam, in the diesil that is sat at the base of the injector there are tiny air bubbles. Could it still be the HG or a faulty injector?

The diesil at the base of the injector was there when i bought the van, the van has hardly been driven by me since i've owned it(6 months) as i'm currently getting it ready etc, the problem came to light when i drained the coolant and refilled following baxters cracking thread on the matter, as it stands at the mo i have just refilled the cooling system after fitting the new oil cooler but cant bleed it properly as when i 'give it a right good rev' the first injector(nearest to timing belt)smokes!

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated,
thanks,
Rob-1988 1.6TD JX 302,000 kilometres.

Forgot to ask, could it just be a loose injector?

Thanks.

have you checked to make sure the fuel supply pipe union is tight and that the injector is tight into the head. Sounds like it might just be loose and leaking combustion gases and diesel could be there for a number of reason's. bleeding to get started after work, standing, etc.

Thanks for your response big red bus, the union is tight but i dont have the required socket head to check the injectors tightness to the head, i can get hold of one tomorow so will try that and fingers crossed it works, could you help with another matter? Theres air bubbles in the main fuel line, what is the best way to bleed the fuel system? The air bubbles are big in the pipe that goes from the filter to the pump and it looks like theres tiny air bubbles in the pipe that leaves the pump.

To be fair its runny quite lousy on idle maybe its something as simple as air in the system that could be the cause.

I also read on here somewhere that if you disconnect the union and fire the engine up you can check to see how it runs with that particular injector disconnected, i tried this earlier and noticed that it ran exactly the same(terribly!) I also noticed the deisil that came from the disconnected pipe came out not as a steady stream but a steady ryhthm of diesil-very little diesil-diesil-very little diesil- etc....is this normal or should there be a steady stream that feeds the injector? Could it be air in system that causes this?

Thanks again,

Rob.

if it was me id replace the washers on the injector, retorque it and try that, as for the air bublles in the fuel hose as its between the filter and pump it could be drawing a little air from the filter housing, may be a good idea to replace the filter and see how it is after, also try replacing the copper washers on the banjo bolts at the same time mate

First - replace all the return piping (the black cotton covered rubber stuff).
This perishes and weep diesel which often pools around the base of injectors.

Clean all the residue diesel away and then see if there are any leaks.

You can get the piping from your local motor factors.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the bubbles in the fuel pipe (unless they are very big bubbles).

Hi Titus, thanks for the advise mate i'm gonna try and tighten the injector tomorow and see whats happening i need to buy torque wrench and appropriate socket, do you happen to know the correct torque for the JX injectors? I think has worked loose as there was definatly tiny air bubbles at its base.

Thanks again,

Rob.

I would also recommend changing the return pipes before you do anything else.

Thanks Kit i'll definatly look into sorting those out too, the list is endless!

Hi Rob ,
How did you get on?
I had a similar issue with air in fuel line from filter housing. I took the housing off and the unions gave them a good clean. There was quite a lot of crud in feed union do removed that and refitted unions with a little ptfe tape on threads. Although it appeared to flow with less air there was still quite a bit getting in. A bought some fuel line from local factors and replaced all the connecting hoses being the ones at the fuel tank and those in eng compartment.
I also have a leaky injector, #3, and a cooling system which runs past warm.
I m thinking of getting replacement injectors nd glow plugs as the van smokes at start up but then runs clear but still a bit rich. Been told this is more than likely a worn injector.
Would be good to know how you got on. Hope ll is good


Cheers
Scott