Diesel injector overhaul - illustrated
 

Go to my web site - Cars - Technical - Motor.

This simple job has a huge payback in terms of smoothness and reduced noise. It accomplishes what Diesel Purge cannot - a thorough cleaning of the injectors' components.

Thanks to Dave Meimann ('gsxr') for pointing out that scored bypass barbs can cause leaks. I cover this topic in the pictorial.

Enjoy!

You can clean diesel injectors by disassembling and keeping the parts together for each injector. Soak them in carburetor cleaner, not the spray or B12, but the caustic solution that is used to "boil out" carburetors.

Soak them in this solution overnight, then reassemble ensuring that parts are not interchanged from injector to injector.

Good luck,

Awesome site!!! I'll be bookmarking that one when I get home.

website fails
 

Every time I try to go to it via your link thomas it fails. I get the typical error for ... no such web site found.

Coach, try this..

http://www.pindelski.com/

It seems the website is really intermittent. I don't know if it's the hosting ISP, or the network in general in that part of the country. I sent the link to someone in PA, who could not access it, while I was surfing the site in ID simultaneously. Very weird. Keep trying, eventually you should get through. And yes, excellent information there!

:D :D

Are 603 injectors (dis)assembled similarly? Anything major that I should be aware of? Thanks!

Yep, 61x and 60x injectors are very similar. If they're not visibly dirty, it may be hard to tell if there's any improvement without a bench "pop" tester, which is really handy to test the spray pattern and also the break pressures, as well as leaking. Unfortunately they cost ~$200-$300. :( Make sure you have a VERY clean work area before messing with injector internals! The slightest bit of dirt can hang the pintle movement, and if that happens, it will sound like an angry little troll is wailing away at the inside of your engine block with a sledgehammer, at any speed above idle. VERY scary stuff. (Don't ask how I know this.) :eek: :eek:

Dave, How do you know that ?

You just HAD to ask, didn't ya. ;) Happened on my sister's OM603 when I removed the rear 3 lines to R&R the ALDA. Started the car back up and BANG BANG BANG! Scared me to death, and it wasn't going away. Cracked each injector line and found that with #4 loose, the noise vanished. Pulled that injector and tore it apart, found the pintle was locked solid. I mean I had to use a vise, pliers, and massive force to get it apart... normally slides in & out under it's own weight! Got it cleaned up & sliding better (not perfect) and it worked fine after that (amazingly enough). I never found the particle, but given the clearances involved it would be very, very small.

Awesome
 

Excellent Job - I am going to wear gloves as that stuff turned your hands blue!

Diesel injector overhaul - illustrated
Go to my web site - Cars - Technical - Motor.


thanks for the site and your efforts to put the info up for all to see. i have referred to it often.

TX76513
 

Yes, the lacquer thinner is nasty stuff. Watch your eyes too when using compressed air to dry the parts.

Gsxr is dead right on the fit - even with the hole in the end, it feels like a near perfect suction fit if you assemble dry, and a very precise sliding fit with WD40 in place. The whole thing leaves me thinking that a diesel injector at some $55 is a relative bargain to a gas one at $35. Leica fit and finish.

Gsxr - my hosting service is readyhosting.com and they have a very high 'up' time. I wonder whether the access difficulty some experience is caused by using non-Java script compatible browsers - my menu uses Java, or so I'm told. Also, some users with webTV have reported difficulty getting in. It seems OK to many in my family with either IE or Netscape, Apple or Msft.

83300DT - thanks for the support. Nice car, BTW.

When I hit the home page, I get a white screen to tiny boxes with red "X"'s in them and the menu in the middle. Works good enough for me, as that's where the goodies are anyway. :D

Great website!! Unfortunately for me, about a week too late. It cost me $105.00 at the good guy price to have my mechanic do the same thing as described on this site.

Inexpensive crowsfoot wrench
 

I haven't tried this J C Whitney tool, but it may well serve as an inexpensive alternative to the Hazet crowsfoot wrench I use in the illustrated piece on my web site.

Go here.

These would also be useful for brake line work and replacing nitrogen accumulators on the 500/560 SE/L cars which use easily damaged brass hydraulic fittings.

Man, is this site great, or what?

you are saving my butt.

While I won't dispute the value of cleaning the injectors and the DYI series is simply great I do feel that this process doesn't completely address injector issues. Having the injectors tested for correct spray pattern, chattering and pop pressure is important to make sure that all your work isn't for nothing. The nozzles/pintles wear producing poor spray patterns and the springs fatigue leading to differences in pop pressures. You can certainly save some money and do the cleaning but since the injectors are out of the engine it would be the best time to have a shop test them to be sure. I have changed injectors many times and it is quite amazing how much better a diesel runs with fresh, calibrated injectors. RT

Yeah, Thomas Pindelski makes everything on a Mercedes look easy. He has inspired me to start working on the car more...

me too, i would never have had the confidence to do half the stuff i have done on my 617 withiut access to that site.

plays havoc with my pc

i run in from thegarage ot re-re-check something with oily hands and forget to take off my gloves though

:D

Where are the moderators.... JimSmith and Eng-at-Work??

Just a suggestion - one of you guys should draft one line thread saying "Diesel Repair Illustrated" that links Thom's famous webpage, with Pindelski family permission...... then staple it as read-only for permanent viewing at top of the list.

Do what I'm doing. I have a PC set up specifically for the shop. Nothing more than a CD rom drive for the CD rom based manuals, and a network connection to get online. :D

Thomaspin, excellant pictures and commentary. The only problem I had found when I tried to do this about 1 1/2 ago, I could not get the printle holes clean. (I have access to high powered microscope to even see the thing:eek:). I finally resorted to a sonic cleaner. Does the caustic reallywork? Second problem, after making a test fixture and holder and pop testing them, I reistalled them but it really did not decrease the smoking. I finally resorted to rebuilding them again myself except with new needles and seats (about $32.00 from fastlane). I could not believe the difference. In retrospect, when I did the pop test the first time they were all in spec both individually and as a group (within so many lbs of each other, but after the nice spray some of them were dripping. How do you know when the nozzle and printle is at the end of its life?


PeterG

240DD - good idea
 

Thomas - is it OK? If it is I will put the link at the top of Diesel Discussion, stick and lock it. Very good idea 240:):).

Cleaned my injectors following the procedure. My injectors were nailing quite heavily before. Took me under 2 hours to do the job. Car is now smoother, and nailing is almost history. I could still eventually use an injector calibration, but for now, what a difference. Also found out that I had a VW bosch 130 BAR injector among the five, so I replaced it with a spare that I had from a junk engine.

Jim and PeterG
 

Jim - Please feel free to do so - though I shamefacedly admit some of my web content addresses spark ignition motors.

PeterG - well, 'seat of pants' feedback was that the engine ran far smoother, and nothing else was changed. I did give the injectors a really good blast of compressed air while still moist with lacquer thinner - they all whistled at a similar pitch!