Ford Focus TDDI knock
Morse
be at half engine speed. It is considerably worse when cold and *almost*
imperceptible when fully warmed up, but I can just about hear it.. It is
worse when pulling away and inaudible or at least masked when driving. My
local mechanic has had the car for a couple of hours and has reassured me
that it is not bottom end failure as the engine otherwise sounds very sweet,
especially for a TDDI, and sounds normal when revved. It's not rumbly or
particularly clattery. The exhaust is smelly though, but I realise these are
fairly dirty and unrefined engines to start with.
The car has a full service history and has been serviced at the recommended
intervals. It has 81K on the clock. My mechanic says that it's likely one
injector is worn/leaky and causing excessive knocking, which sounds
plausible enough. Can anyone back this up as a possibility please? He has
bunged in some injector cleaner and told me to see what happens over the
next few days.
However, I'm concerned that if it persists that excessive strain is being
put on the conrod bearings, like a pinking petrol. Need I worry?
Looking at the injectors it looks a fairly trivial job to replace them- undo
the pipe retaining bracket, undo the pipe from the injector with a spanner
(taking precautions for pressurised fuel), pull off the rubber pressure
relief pipe or whatever it's called, undo the single bolt on the retaining
plate which holds the injector down, lift the injector out. Reverse
procedure to fit new injector. Is it really that simple or am I missing
something?
Is there any point in replacing the single faulty injector or should I
replace the set? Would I be better off getting aftermarket injectors or
genuine Ford parts?
All opinions welcome, thanks in advance.
Morse
ford_technical_
programmed/calibrated to the PCM but i think this is only for the TDCI's
look for an eletrical connection on the side of the injector. if its not
there then it should be an easy job as you said, dont forget to change the
copper washer at the bottom
good luck
Morse
"ford_technical_" <da...@nospam.uk> wrote in message
news:2c9012f2571e3ab9...@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...
Thanks for your reply, Dave. They're the purely mechanical ones, no
electrical connections- just the metal diesel feed pipe and the
fabric-covered rubber pipe.
Morse
M Cuthill
"Morse" <mo...@rpa.com> wrote in message
news:sYSdnSeroew...@pipex.net...
In terms of cost, it'll be cheaper to get the injectors removed and
overhauled, but finding somewhere with the proper equipment to overhaul them
may be hard. I'm sure at that age, it'll be dual stage injectors (is it a
fly-by-wire injection pump?), which can't be tested with conventional
injector testers.
Have look in Yellow Pages under Diesel Fuel Injection, and then phone some
companies for prices.
If you remove the injectors yourself, you'll need to completely remove (or
at least slacken the injector pipes) from the injection pump to get the
injectors out. You should never bend diesel injector pipes.
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Morse
"M Cuthill" <moray_do...@v21.me.uk> wrote in message
news:44f4a202$0$8847$8826...@free.teranews.com...
>
>
> In terms of cost, it'll be cheaper to get the injectors removed and
> overhauled,
Ah, I take it these are expensive parts?
>but finding somewhere with the proper equipment to overhaul them may be
>hard. I'm sure at that age, it'll be dual stage injectors (is it a
>fly-by-wire injection pump?), which can't be tested with conventional
>injector testers.
I'm not very experienced with diesel engines so I'm not sure what dual stage
injectors are- does that mean solenoid operated? AFAICS it's a mechanical
pump with simple injectors operated by the pressure of the fuel pump.
There's no ECU or electrical control of the injectors themselves, does that
help?
> Have look in Yellow Pages under Diesel Fuel Injection, and then phone some
> companies for prices.
>
Thanks, will do.
> If you remove the injectors yourself, you'll need to completely remove (or
> at least slacken the injector pipes) from the injection pump to get the
> injectors out. You should never bend diesel injector pipes.
I thought that might be the case. The pipes look a bit awkward to get to on
the pump but not that hard. Once they are loosened or removed can they just
be reattached without changing any seals etc?
Cheers.
Morse
M Cuthill
>
> "M Cuthill" <moray_do...@v21.me.uk> wrote in message
> news:44f4a202$0$8847$8826...@free.teranews.com...
>>
>>
>> In terms of cost, it'll be cheaper to get the injectors removed and
>> overhauled,
>
>
> Ah, I take it these are expensive parts?
Yes. Overhauling (where possible) is always the far cheaper option.
>>but finding somewhere with the proper equipment to overhaul them may be
>>hard. I'm sure at that age, it'll be dual stage injectors (is it a
>>fly-by-wire injection pump?), which can't be tested with conventional
>>injector testers.
>
> I'm not very experienced with diesel engines so I'm not sure what dual
> stage injectors are- does that mean solenoid operated? AFAICS it's a
> mechanical pump with simple injectors operated by the pressure of the fuel
> pump. There's no ECU or electrical control of the injectors themselves,
> does that help?
I'm sure at that age, it'll be an electronically controlled pump. There are
no electronics in the injectors, but the pump is all fly-by-wire, and I'm
sure it'll also have two stage injection. Any decent injection specialist
will soon tell you if they can test/overhaul the injectors or not.
>> If you remove the injectors yourself, you'll need to completely remove
>> (or at least slacken the injector pipes) from the injection pump to get
>> the injectors out. You should never bend diesel injector pipes.
>
> I thought that might be the case. The pipes look a bit awkward to get to
> on the pump but not that hard. Once they are loosened or removed can they
> just be reattached without changing any seals etc?
Ford did recommend that once disturbed, that you should replace the pipes,
up until it was costing them too much in replacing injector pipes under
warranty whenever they had to be disturbed to do a warranty repair. So they
relaxed the guidelines saying they could be reused once, but provided they
don't leak once you've got them back on, I wouldn't bother replacing them.
On a Focus, they're pretty accessible, so taking them back of to replace
them isn't a major job, unlike a Mondeo/Transit where you've got to
dismantle quite a bit to uncover the pipes.
Morse
>
> "Morse" <mo...@rpa.com> wrote in message
> news:CcidnXBgoOKgL2nZ...@pipex.net...
>>
>> "M Cuthill" <moray_do...@v21.me.uk> wrote in message
>> news:44f4a202$0$8847$8826...@free.teranews.com...
>>>
>>>
>>> In terms of cost, it'll be cheaper to get the injectors removed and
>>> overhauled,
>>
>>
>> Ah, I take it these are expensive parts?
>
> Yes. Overhauling (where possible) is always the far cheaper option.
>
My mechanic added a dose of injector cleaner to the diesel and it seems to
be getting better all the time.. Hopefully I'll get away without spending
any money for a while!
> I'm sure at that age, it'll be an electronically controlled pump. There
> are no electronics in the injectors, but the pump is all fly-by-wire, and
> I'm sure it'll also have two stage injection. Any decent injection
> specialist will soon tell you if they can test/overhaul the injectors or
> not.
>
Thanks, I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens. Hopefully I won't need
to take it any further for a while.
>>> If you remove the injectors yourself, you'll need to completely remove
>>> (or at least slacken the injector pipes) from the injection pump to get
>>> the injectors out. You should never bend diesel injector pipes.
>>
>> I thought that might be the case. The pipes look a bit awkward to get to
>> on the pump but not that hard. Once they are loosened or removed can they
>> just be reattached without changing any seals etc?
>
> Ford did recommend that once disturbed, that you should replace the pipes,
> up until it was costing them too much in replacing injector pipes under
> warranty whenever they had to be disturbed to do a warranty repair. So
> they relaxed the guidelines saying they could be reused once, but provided
> they don't leak once you've got them back on, I wouldn't bother replacing
> them. On a Focus, they're pretty accessible, so taking them back of to
> replace them isn't a major job, unlike a Mondeo/Transit where you've got
> to dismantle quite a bit to uncover the pipes.
I found a tip on a couple of websites that to find the knocking cylinder,
one has merely to pack round the injectors with rags and slacken the pipes
slightly one by one to reduce the diesel pressure enough to prevent the
injector opening, and when the knocking stops the bad injector has been
found.
Didn't really seem to help isolate the bad one, but made a bit of a mess in
the process! However, the pipes seem to have re-sealed perfectly- I won't
bother pushing my luck and trying it again!
Morse