Black death on my diesel work van

[Zymurgy]

One problem with working on and enjoying my 300, the work van gets neglected. The black death is carbon deposits that accumulate around leaky injectors. I knew it had started doing this, but I hadn't realized it got this bad. It is from a 2004 Sprinter van they are notorious for doing this, and not a cheap or easy fix.



After 2 hours of chipping away. Soaking in PB blaster, round 2 today.

 

[Fratzog]

WTF is that some kind of design flaw? Do all diesels do that? Never had issue with the diesel in my Rabbit.

 

[detmatt]

That does not look fun whatsoever!

 

[Zymurgy]

WTF is that some kind of design flaw? Do all diesels do that? Never had issue with the diesel in my Rabbit.

No but a definite problem with Sprinter. It is almost totally random, more to due with age than mileage, but there are guys with the same age van as mine with more than double the mileage and no black death. Mine has 138,000 miles, it started around 120,000 something.

 

[Zymurgy]

That does not look fun whatsoever!

It could be a relatively simple job but the fine threaded bolts that hold the injectors are notorious for breaking off in valve cover. That requires removing the whole valve cover and opening another can of worms.

 

[Big blubber]

Maby it's a breather problem causing ,A build up of oil ,Never seen it as bad as that tho .

 

[commando1]

You can recoat your driveway now...

 

[thrashingcows]

One of the issues I think of a common rail diesel injection system with electronic fired injectors, and having those components inside the friggin motor.! Clearly the sprinter diesel has a particularly bad design for when components start to fail.

 

[Zymurgy]

This is I hate working on my van. I have punctured a hole in something. Why didn't I just ignore this problem and drive Goldie this weekend.

 

[Fratzog]

Not sure what I'm looking at...

 

[thrashingcows]

Looks like either a broken injector, or perhaps an injector has before unseated, or a cracked injector bore? Definitely not good....Dooh!

 

[Zymurgy]

Not sure what I'm looking at...

That is my 2nd injector throwing diesel everywhere. I have not loosened a single bolt. That is what most people who deal with this damn engine is a complete failure of the copper injector washer.

 

[Zymurgy]

Looks like either a broken injector, or perhaps an injector has before unseated, or a cracked injector bore? Definitely not good....Dooh!

I am hoping for the unseated, as in a disintegrated copper seal washer.

 

[thrashingcows]

I am hoping for the unseated, as in a disintegrated copper seal washer.

What holds the injectors into the bore? Is it a retaining nut over the body, or a bolted down flange?

I did a google image search...this is what it should look like....

 

[Zymurgy]

What holds the injectors into the bore? Is it a retaining nut over the body, or a bolted down flange?

I did a google image search...this is what it should look like....

That is it exactly, it is the bolted down flange. The bolts are notorious to breaking off during removal. I know this picture, his guy actually broke that bolt off that is picture. It is actually very early stage of the "black death". You still need a puller for the injector.

 

[Zymurgy]

Well is it said that I am happy with a $1,900 repair bill? I got one quote of $3,500. The shop I took it to quoted $2,500 in April.

For once I did make it worse. I spent a few hours cleaning and then soaked everything with p b blaster for a week.

By the way I did crack the housing on one of the injectors causing the gusher.

 

[commando1]

Just one of those kind of things that keep life real.
Sorry, Mike.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

How much is a injector for that thing.

 

[thrashingcows]

Yeah sometimes you try your best...but just can't get a break. Or you end up breaking #2 injector....:sFun_doh2:

 

[Zymurgy]

How much is a injector for that thing.

A rebuilt one is 300 bucks of course the dealer is going to sell you a new one 600