Bad Injector Seat - Help!

[deumling]

I have my 1.6TD rebuild almost complete, and was trying to fire it up for the first time tonight.  There seemed to be fuel bubbling up from around the threads on some of the injectors.  Upon further inspection, injector 3 was leaking severely around the threads.  I pulled the injector, and there seems to be some scoring/grooves/damage around the injector seat.  If you look closely you can see it in the picture.

Help, what do I do?

thanks

-ben

[Vincent Waldon]

Sell my your pickup and save yourself the trouble!!  

All kidding aside, the heat shield does a pretty good job of sealing minor imperfections in the seat and I've seen worse. You could touch it up a bit with some fine sandpaper glued to a small disk or washer... or an old heat shield.

The other truth is that bubbling diesel around the base of an injector is almost always *not* a leak from the combustion chamber... diesel is injected in a very fine mist and burns instantly.

Rather, it's much more common for bubbling diesel at the base of an injector to be diesel that's leaking down the side of the injector and then heating up and bubbling.  Injectors can leak at the top union, the two barb fittings for the return hose, or from between the injector halves.  I've had good luck tracking down these pesky leaks by dousing the injector with brake drum cleaner and then blowing off the residue with compressed air... the injector is left bone dry and any wetness is very easy to find.. or disprove.

[aviologist]

Thanks for the above advice. I also have the leaking injector problem. One is really bad and after cleaning it really well with contact cleaner it appeared to be coming from the threads between the two halves. So pullled injector and cleaned threads retorqued (and a bit more) and....it leaks worse. I will have to swap out the body with one other injector and try that.

[745 turbogreasel]

the bodies crack if overtorqued sometimes.

[westcoaster]

 I've had good luck tracking down these pesky leaks by dousing the injector with brake drum cleaner and then blowing off the residue with compressed air...

There is some sort of story floating around about using brake cleaner on a hot surface supposedly producing some sort of gas that when inhaled can kill you rather quickly.

Truth or fiction I have no way of knowing. Might be something to think about before going after a hot engine....

[745 turbogreasel]

BC is the nasty at any temp, but I have burned it, and had in in cuts, eyes ,nose, mouth, ears...and I am still posting!

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

Would a little dab of exhaust repair/sealer fill it?

[trev]

I've had good luck tracking down these pesky leaks by dousing the injector with brake drum cleaner and then blowing off the residue with compressed air...

There is some sort of story floating around about using brake cleaner on a hot surface supposedly producing some sort of gas that when inhaled can kill you rather quickly.

Truth or fiction I have no way of knowing. Might be something to think about before going after a hot engine....

Truth, just not applicable to this scenario, unless there is a welder involved.

Brake cleaner, containing chlorine compounds, plus weld heat, causing the breakdown of chlorine compounds, equals bad things to breath.

Short answer, use the right stuff to clean for a weld.

Soapy water works great for leak checking anything that can blow air through it.

 Cheers
  Trev

[Vincent Waldon]

So pullled injector and cleaned threads retorqued (and a bit more) and....it leaks worse.

You can also try to lapping the three sealing surfaces lightly:

http://vincewaldon.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=28