Hi all,

I've noticed a new noise on the beloved '96 E300D. The noise is a 2 syllable ticking coming from under the hood at idle. The noise seemed to be intermittent at first, but I'm hearing it more often now. It cannot be heard unless you stand in front of the car (not from the rear, sides, or inside.)

Before opening the hood, I though it must be attributed to one of the accessories run by the belt, but upon further inspection (after changing the oil this weekend) it seems that the noise is coming directly from under the intake manifold (in the vicinity of the injectors.)

I'm guessing this is an injector complaining, but didn't want to go through the fuss of removing the manifold until I had some input.

There seems to be no noticeable change in how the car runs. I did however notice when I changed the oil that there seemed to be some oil (or diesel) on the pan. There's very little oil on the pan... not enough to even drip on the belly plastic, so where ever it's coming from , it is a very minor leak.

The noise is somewhat similar to the noise you might hear with a loose spark plug... kind of a compression-loss ticking.

If this is an injector replacement fix, I have a couple of questions... first, are rebuilt injectors acceptable? Also, in replacing an injector, is it best just to change them all at the same time?

Thanks in advance for the input.

-l-

__________________
'84 300d turbodiesel (83K miles)
'96 300d (226K miles)
------------------------------------------------
other fine diesels...
'99 Polaris diesel (Fuji Heavy Industries single)
'01 Diesel Trail gator (Yanmar triple)
'95 John Deere 970 (Yanmar quad)
'11 BMW 335d
'12 VW Jetta TDI

****************************************
'00 BMW K1200LT
'02 BMW R1150RS

'15 BMW R1200GSA