Pre-chamber collar coming out with injector! Help! :(

[pawoSD]

I tried to loosen the #2 injector to replace my nozzle and the pre-chamber collar came loose with the injector....what do I do??

[pawoSD]

Nevermind, the properties of thermal dynamics saved me. I tightened both back down nice and good, then I Sprayed the injector with the "freezer penetrant" then brake cleaner to get it cold, waited a bit, and took it out, and it came loose. WSHEW.

This was only cylinder 2 of 5, so I hope they don't all have these anomalies....

[pawoSD]

Does anyone have a good idea why three of my five cylinders would have a puddle of oil in them when the injector was pulled? What causes that? I had a puddle of oil on the heat shield washer thing in Cylinders: 1, 2, and 4. 3 and 5 were pretty much dry. I use 5w40 Mobil 1 synthetic, and change it every 5-6k....this time I will be doing an oil analysis....but my "makeup oil" between changes is only 1.5-2qts.....and a lot of that is from it marking its territory....it drips quite a bit, and a lot ends up in the air cleaner from blowby....so burning must be little to nothing. Lately consumption even went down a bit....I only had to add less than half a quart in the past 2,800 miles...

Smoke was minimal before pulling the injectors, and it started and idled smooth, only issue was poor performance, I had to go to work so I didn't quite finish it yet....and it started raining. I have to put the little "injection line clamps" in place on the 1/2/3 lines yet. Then I'll crank it up and see how those bosio's do.

I injured myself more swapping the injectors out today than I did doing the whole driveline project!

Also, the old Bosch injector nozzles (they were german ones) were SHOT. The needle valves FELL OUT of the nozzle when I took them apart. Very loose fit, and they were rusted, and charred on the tip pretty bad. I am betting the bosio's will run MUCH nicer....we'll see....in about 4 hours when I get home.....

[Hatterasguy]

How did you test the pop pressures and balance?

How did the pre chambers look?

[pawoSD]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

How did you test the pop pressures and balance?

I didn't.... it was running smoothly before, just was a bit low on torque/power compared to my dad's SD, which does have the bosios...and gained all that power by switching to them, so the consensus from what I read in past threads here on the forum, and from what it says on dieselgiant's pictorial....its not necessary. Plus I saved $125. Overall I probably could have gotten away with not doing anything to it, but I like to over-maintain.

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

How did the pre chambers look?

They all looked fine, all of them had the ball intact....and everything was black in there....and I could see the tip of each glowplug.

We'll find out tonight when I get home how well it runs and if I did it right (I sure hope I did....)

[pawoSD]

So does anyone know why there'd be oil in the holes where the injectors are screwed in? The car doesn't burn oil, there's no headgasket issues...etc...so I have no clue where it'd come from.

Just because I am paranoid I will be doing an oil analysis this coming change....

[pawoSD]

I'm done! And successful! I finished everything up, cranked for what seemed like forever, and all the sudden it caught and ran smoothly, no sputtering to speak of. I let it idle 5 mins or so....inspected for leaks of any sort, and there are ZERO. Nada. Very very glad about that. At that point I hopped in, noticed how incredibly smooth the idle is, its so subtle at idle you can barely feel it at all! Put er' in gear, took off up the street at a gentle pace till the engine was fully warmed up....after driving along at 35-40ish for a few miles, I was stopped at a light, and I decided to gun it on green.......it was raining also, I completely broke the tires loose, I did not really move at all, just spun for about 5 seconds till I let off the power and tried again! Incredible! With MICHELIN tires! I could NEVER do that before I changed the nozzles...and believe me I tried....

It has MEGA torque from a standstill, it plows forward like it should. I was amazed. I then went on the freeway, and wound it all the way to 70 in third gear before I shifted. Not only is it smooth and powerful all the way there, it seems to be quieter too! At speed (about 75-77....) it is absolutely smooth and pleasant. Noticeable difference from before.

Overall it wasn't that bad of a job, and it made a tremendous difference in engine performance. The old nozzles were so worn out and messed up that the needle valves FELL OUT of them when I took them out. And a couple had to be pounded out of the injector because they had rusted into it.

[Hatterasguy]

The old injectors probably did that, I bet its not oil but diesel fuel. I suspect that somehow when they are pissing it may cause the wetness under them. I know I had a couple that were wet, but I also had five injectors that were pissing. After getting them sorted out, and driving 10k miles on working injectors, when I pulled them last they were all bone dry.

The only way engine oil can really get in the pre chamber is if the head is cracked.

[pawoSD]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

The old injectors probably did that, I bet its not oil but diesel fuel. I suspect that somehow when they are pissing it may cause the wetness under them. I know I had a couple that were wet, but I also had five injectors that were pissing. After getting them sorted out, and driving 10k miles on working injectors, when I pulled them last they were all bone dry.

The only way engine oil can really get in the pre chamber is if the head is cracked.

Now that I think about it, it does make sense, it was just diesel with carbon mixed into it....= black oily liquid. The old injectors were in amazingly bad shape, I am surprised it ran as well as it did.