High cost of Heat shields

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

Mark-

Thanks for sharing your technique.  That looks far better than what I have been doing- giving them a whack with a hammer on a round-headed screw clamped in a vise.  I have 11 cars so I have better things to waste money on than injector seals ( like tires, batteries, insurance).

Rick

My pleasure.
I think they have become cheaper in recent times.
When I first asked for them from VW, they quoted me £10 for 4.
 I dare say those turning ridges on the back, do help in the sealing of the shield to the head, but I hope people can see my argument for matching the shield to its hole, especially if you anticipate  r & r ing the injectors  often in the name of scientific research .
PLlease norte , the ball bearing guides the bending torque onto the inner edge, which is the only part that needs to be distorted.
Otherwise, a new set left in for 100,000miles is, naturally, fine.

[Baxter]

 

We just updated the webshop, we keep finding things like that!
Was it you that e-mailled?
I'm just glad they are more expensive than cheaper!
When the webshop came back on after the update all the shipping was a mess and it wasn't adding tax to the shipping cost, and some people were getting free shipping!
Been a bit of a mare for us to be honest but I think most of the wrinkles have been ironed out now!

I saw it as a bit light hearted, this thread, funny how even though we all speak "English" something is lost in the Atlantic!
 

[zukgod1]

Honestly I still have no idea why anyone would want to reuse a $1.05 item that protects a $80.00 part.


There is no way you are pressing them down perfectly square so the contact patch on the tip is as required sorry but bot gonna happen with a pair of vise grips.

But what ever.

I now and always will not condone reusing heat shields, get new!!!

[theman53]

Yeah I have always used new, but I like the idea.

I don't believe they would have to be perfect since they deform to the injector. As long as it was close and had enough room to flatten and seal I think it would be fine. I don't do enough tinkering with the injectors to warrant trying it, but if I was doing grease or used motor oil I would check into it. Then I would want to know how the spray is a lot more than now.

That being said I bet if you made a jig on a mill or lathe you could run it on a drill press or vice and get the perfect results you were looking for repeatably everytime.

[zukgod1]

Ya know thats true.

If ya used a ball bearing tack welded to a shaft of sorts then in a press or drill press as you said then maybe it would work..

I just hate the idea of anyone toasting an injector over such a low cost replace only part.

[Vincent Waldon]

I find it funny how some of you didn't catch on that is was clearly a mistake, as that was the price each.
However, this thread was spoiled by those purveyors of doom, whose whole life seems dedicated to spending money unneccessarily. I know shields are only a few $ each, but from recommendations I see elsewhere, any opportunity to throw money away is taken with zeal.  

[mod hat off]

And I personally find a thread disingenuously started to throw a fellow member's pricing under the bus but with the actual purpose of continuing to proselytize a favorite technique for reusing a 99 cent part.... while laughing at people who misunderstood the actual intent... somewhat disrespectful of the other members.... in my opinion.     This thread is not "spoiled" when people weigh in with alternative suggestions and perspectives... it's enhanced.

[mod hat back on]

My suggestion, Mark:  document your technique for reusing heat shields in a single HOW-TO post in the FAQ section... I'll link it from the main faq header...and then we'll call this on-going topic of debate done?

[zukgod1]

I'm having too much fun Vince

[Vincent Waldon]

Yeah... I know... these are just diesels and we can always stand to lighten up... but in all seriousness I do think repeating themes optimally can get documented in the FAQs and then we move on to exploring new topics.  New topics on several-decade-old engine designs... cool!!   

[zukgod1]

I guess I should have added more smilies as I was playing 90% of the time.

Ya ready to go somewhere else now 

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

Don't you think that point contact on a ball bearing gives pretty close to a perpendicular push?
Have you looked at the crunching of mild steel into the head's seat?

I initially started this policy, because of my bad planning, and VW never being open when it suited me!
However, I feel I have justified [at least to myself] that they can be reused.

Are there any anecdotes to call upon where some of the injectors that have given grief, are on ancient but first use heat shields?
Is it more common for them to seize from dried raw diesel,[from within or from without] or carbon deposits from within only?

For my next shocking truth I may copy and paste my mini research into the non-neccessity of the Polo-Mint injector shims. Extra strong mint shapes work just as well. The hole was only for hooking them out... [This will probably upset the Experts on the Merc forum too 

Simon says:
"I saw it as a bit light hearted, this thread, funny how even though we all speak "English" something is lost in the Atlantic!"

Do you mean humour or the Titanic

Mark

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

I find it funny how some of you didn't catch on that is was clearly a mistake, as that was the price each.
However, this thread was spoiled by those purveyors of doom, whose whole life seems dedicated to spending money unneccessarily. I know shields are only a few $ each, but from recommendations I see elsewhere, any opportunity to throw money away is taken with zeal. 

And I personally find a thread disingenuously started to throw a fellow member's pricing under the bus but with the actual purpose of continuing to proselytize a favorite technique for reusing a 99 cent part.... while laughing at people who misunderstood the actual intent... somewhat disrespectful of the other members.... in my opinion.      This thread is not "spoiled" when people weigh in with alternative suggestions and perspectives... it's enhanced.

My suggestion, Mark:  document your technique for reusing heat shields in a single HOW-TO post in the FAQ section... I'll link it from the main faq header...and then we'll call this on-going topic of debate done?

Well, maybe someone can write it in West Atlantic style.
 Re the fun with Simon, he clearly saw it as a joke, otherwise he was selling a set of GTD nozzle for the same price as one shield... Now if someone purchased a set at that price, them I'm sure he will be throwing a party for the local V Dub clubs  "Sponsored by Heatshield"

Now my dig at a few others was not meant to kill anyone, but to point out these engines tolerate ingenuity and reuse of products, and often as not do not need oodles of money spent, like advocates of a new engine just because of a little white smoke
Being told through a one-liner that I will fry my injectors, or engine without emoticons could be serious or could be a joke, or could simply be wrong, sometimes, or indeed once, if we only include me.
I of course not only had a theory, but in this instance it has been put into practice as recently as yesterday and for as long as 4 years, and I also provided my actual history for my current car.

I don't think it needs to be in the FAQ yet, until more people think I may be on to something, including the possibility that heatshield renewal could if practiced on numerous occasions damage the seating, leading to leakage issues that wee are trying to avoid in the first place...

Mark

[Baxter]

Just as an aside, we recently had a van in for a Diesel leak.
Fuel was leaking from the 2 halves of the injector.
We removed the pipes, took the injector out and it was tight, so we presumed cracked but when we looked at the tip it was a mess and very sooty, we then inspected the injector bore and found the washers in upside down!
Stuck fast they were, horrible job to remove them, sounds gash but we had to hammer a screw driver into them to get them out.
Cracked over without injectors in to blow all the debris out.
I didn't check but I presume the heat has damaged or distorted the injector body to the point of leaking fuel.
To me the flame traps are a single use disposable item, plus they cost so little the cost of labour in messing with them far outways the cost of replacement.

[Baxter]

Mark, e-mail me your address, I'll bung you some freebies in the post for telling us about the fault with the webshop.
[email protected]
Simon.