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Car Forum / Mercedes-Benz Cars / March 2008

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High Mileage Diesel Injectors and Thoughts...

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Tiger - 07 Mar 2008 23:07 GMT
Hey Guys and Gals,
   Today, I changed my diesel injectors... it has 205,000 miles on it. The
job is fairly easy... just like changing your spark plugs.

   However, I now found my culprit in cold start idling problem and poor
fuel mileage ( I was getting like 27 MPG, only). Yeah yea yea, 27 is still
good eh? No, it is not. At a couple of times, I was running 24 or 25 MPG.

   My car is rated 27 city and 35 highway. Yet, my car only gives me on low
end all the time. When I first got it, it ran real good and got 34.5 MPG on
highway. Not anymore.

   Yes, additives helps and boost the fuel mileage, but I want my car to
run good all by itself. So I decided to change my fuel injectors. I started
with #6 cylinder and work my way toward #1. There was carbon deposits on
every injectors, but at #2, I got a chunk of carbon cake... no wonder.

   Then to #1 cylinder... WHOA! Monster carbon cake. I can't believe it. No
wonder my cold idling is erratic and fuel mileage is not good... I don't
think it is possible to clear out that carbon cake with Lubro Moly Diesel
Purge... not that big... no freaking way.

   So with that in mind, it takes a bit of time to pull out the injectors,
but it was easy enough... especially with older MB diesel engines where it
is right there in front of you. Mine was recessed and required special
socket tool.

   I am thinking... I know alot of you got high mileage on your engine. If
you have some problem or you simply got time, you should pull out your
injectors and clean out those carbon cakes if any. While you do that, you
should change out the injectors... older diesel engines are like only $35 a
piece rebuilt. That's cheap when you need only 5 or 6.

   Mine is $55 a piece so that's $330 for set of 6. In any case, I want to
run WVO in spring so I want good injectors first... plus with my problems, I
did the right thing and can't wait for spring to run WVO full time.

P.S. Always replace the injector heat shield washer and make sure it is
right side up! These are cheap online.
Tiger - 07 Mar 2008 23:23 GMT
I forgot to add a couple more things...

With the price of the injectors in mind, the amount of money you spend to
'purge' out those high mileage injectors... it just doesn't pay. I think I
spent nearly $160 trying to get my injectors cleaned... so that's alot of
wasted money, diagnostic effort and time for high mileage injectors.

Rebuilding your own injectors can save some money... but the time you spent
may not be worth it... so a factory Bosch rebuilt injectors are real deal.
They are tested and guaranteed. Some of you just got alot of time and wants
to learn... please do so. I would do that if I could save money too... in my
case because of my type of injector that is only used for 2 or 3 years, my
saving is none. I also don't have much time either.

I remember some of you goes to PAP (Pick A Part) yards... and said most of
those cars has rebuilt injectors put in and dirt cheap too... It's a gamble,
but if you feel lucky... do it. Have fun!

In any case, just a thought I should share with all of you diesel heads.
Juergen . - 07 Mar 2008 23:56 GMT
> run WVO in spring so I want good injectors first...

Maybe you should have added that WVO is
waste vegetable oil.
A wikipedia page for starters is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_vegetable_oil
Tiger - 08 Mar 2008 04:15 GMT
Hey Juergen! It has been a long time since I saw you here... or your mbspy
website. How are you doing? What is your latest MB ride?

If I recalled correctly, you had a 240D?
Kurt Steinhauser - 08 Mar 2008 15:49 GMT
> Hey Guys and Gals,
>     Today, I changed my diesel injectors... it has 205,000 miles on it.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> still good eh? No, it is not. At a couple of times, I was running 24 or
> 25 MPG.
[...]

Hi Tiger,
Your post has me thinking that I ought to seriously consider replacing my
injectors. I can't say that I have much in the way of cold starting
problems on the '87 SDL300 (305,000miles), but with that extra 100K mile
over yours, I should check it out. Most of my driving is two lane high
way with stops about every 3-4 miles for cross roads. Average fuel
economy is around 25mpg. We have had some coldish nights over last two
months that the old beast didn't really care for, but started with a
single glowing of the engine. Some complaints, but settles down to even
idle in 15-20 seconds.

Signature

Cheers, Kurt

Tiger - 08 Mar 2008 16:08 GMT
Hey Kurt,
   My friend got the same car... he didn't change his injectors yet... I
think he has 240,000 miles by now... He said he gets around 27 or 28 MPG.
Most of the time he drives highway.

   He racks up about 30,000 miles a year driving. And he does it over 2
cars...
heav - 08 Mar 2008 17:31 GMT
I got 350,000 miles out of my original injectors on my 1982 300TDT,
and I got a pretty consistent 27 mpg for hundreds of thousands of
miles.  I replaced my injectors and then the engine went to hell in
the next 40,000 miles, but it was probably just a coincidence.  I also
changed to synthetic oil about that time, but again, probably just a
coincidence.  When I had the engine remanufactured at 396,000 miles
Mike at Metric Motors discovered several cracks in the head he thought
were likely from overheating at some time.

But now I have had my engine remanufactured at Metric Motors in Canoga
Park, CA and the engine runs great and I got 31 mpg on a recent 2,000
mile trip to Denver and back from my home here in Eastern California.
You cross at least 20 mountain passes, each way, on that trip too.  I
was able to fill up with 100% biodiesel in Delta, UT at a Sinclair
station there, and my car ran great on it.

> Hey Kurt,
>     My friend got the same car... he didn't change his injectors yet... I
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>     He racks up about 30,000 miles a year driving. And he does it over 2
> cars...
trader4@optonline.net - 08 Mar 2008 23:06 GMT
> I got 350,000 miles out of my original injectors on my 1982 300TDT,
> and I got a pretty consistent 27 mpg for hundreds of thousands of
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

Anyone here have actual experience on how good Bosch rebuilt diesel
injectors are?   I've seen complaints on other boards indicating that
Bosch's are manufactured in a variety of countries now and that none
are being done in Germany.  It seems those made in India are
problematic with reports of people bench testing units right out of
the tox and finding either pop pressure or pattern problems.

I need to do something with mine and am trying to figure out what to
do.   Also, do most people just exchange the whole injector and then
trust that the pop pressure is set correctly and they are all within
spec, or do they do a bench test?  Do most shops bench test them or
just put them in?   Seems if you have access to a tester, the best
thing to do is just replace the nozzle instead of the whole unit and
then test and adjust them if needed.   Of course the problem with this
is the testers aren't cheap or readily available.   I'd also consider
sending them out to a shop anywhere in the US that would test and
rebuild my original ones so if anyone knows of such a shop, let me
know.
Tiger - 09 Mar 2008 00:29 GMT
I did buy a bench tester but it didn't work and I didn't want to wait any
further so I just installed my Bosch rebuilt injectors.

I know the report you heard and saw... but that was on diesel giant and only
one case... Bosch gives you warranty on their injector... so if their
injector blew your engine apart, they owe you a new engine.

I can live with that.
trader4@optonline.net - 09 Mar 2008 00:55 GMT
> I did buy a bench tester but it didn't work and I didn't want to wait any
> further so I just installed my Bosch rebuilt injectors.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> I can live with that.

I wasn't as concerned about low quality injectors out of the box
blowing the engine apart as I was with them potentially being no
better than the ones I'm replacing.  Although I have seen reports
where if the injector is real bad, it could burn a hole in the piston.

The reports I saw were on the forums on mercedesshop.com, where there
seemed to be considerable agreement that the rebuilt Bosch ones had
quality issues.   But I'm also not sure what other real alternatives
there are.

Where did you find the tester, why doesn't it work, and how much did
it cost?
Tiger - 09 Mar 2008 00:30 GMT
Plus 4 MPG is awesome!

I want to get mine to 35 MPG... as it was when I first got the car.
Kurt Steinhauser - 10 Mar 2008 12:04 GMT
> Hey Kurt,
>     My friend got the same car... he didn't change his injectors yet...
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>     He racks up about 30,000 miles a year driving. And he does it over 2
> cars...

I've been having some DNS problems getting through to the newsserver for
about a week, hence the slowness of my reply.

I'll certainly look into changing out the injectors. I used to get
~27-28mpg consistently. Only changes are fuel filters, filter/fluid in
tranny, minor cleaning and belt replacement, and some body work needed
when I got dinged one night by a blonde on a cell phone who didn't see me.

Signature

Cheers, Kurt

 
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