WG 2.7 CRD Golw Plug/Injector seal leaking (PICS & VID) please help

[JarrardB]

Hi All,

So It was time to service the Jeep (Overdue) and I removed the engine cover to find this:











The Black Muck is Melted Foam from the sound deadening sheet that sits under the engine cover. I suspect the leak in the glow plug injector seal has caused excessive exhaust heat to melt it. I had noticed a slight ticking noise when the engine was running lately but it was very very quiet and I was never able to find it...until now.

I ran the engine after changing the oil and here is a vid of what is happening:http://youtu.be/PU2oAwFPWHE

With my hand there it is not ejecting moist air - it doesn't stink of diesel so I assume it is simply compressed air from cylinder 1 that is being ejected out of the top of the injector. It wasn't particularly hot but the engine was cold at the time.

Anyone seen this before or got any thoughts. I'm about to start rifling through the manuals to see if I can find a schematic to show my the seal setup on the glow plugs but I really have no idea what I'm doing.

Any help is much appreciated!

[JarrardB]

A bit more research reveals that this is indeed the injector and has nothing to do with the glow plug. I'll have to do some cleaning to see what is under all of that, looks like I may be up for a new injector..

[jzp]

Originally Posted by JarrardB

A bit more research reveals that this is indeed the injector and has nothing to do with the glow plug. I'll have to do some cleaning to see what is under all of that, looks like I may be up for a new injector..

I think there has been a post here where another diesel owner sourced injectors from OS (England?) because the Australian dealers were just a plain rip-off.

You might want to look for a 'generic' part? Maybe Repco, bursons might have something compatible?

[JarrardB]

Got the injector out, it looks nasty because of all the hardened muck stuck to it, but it's the copper injector seal the is still in the injector shaft that I think may have failed. Gotta look a little further.

[drover]

Go very carefully if you have something left in the block. Not much help otherwise as it's uncharted territory for me.

[jzp]

Originally Posted by JarrardB

Got the injector out, it looks nasty because of all the hardened muck stuck to it, but it's the copper injector seal the is still in the injector shaft that I think may have failed. Gotta look a little further.

Hopefully the seal is all it is... Easy to over-torque them and cause a leak.

Gotta wonder why it started leaking in the first place?

Copper injector seals (washers) are cheap - pirtek or some place that sells hydraulic hoses should be able to source an alternative.

[JarrardB]

Found this post here > http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w211...warning-2.html

Specifically Post #20: "Thank you for your detailed explanation and photographs. It was a great help for me replace the leaking copper seal around the base of the injector. Fortunately luck was on my side and the whole operation was very easy.
The leak I had seem to be worse than shown on your photos as the whole recessed injector area was filled with bitumen. The bitumen was removed first by chipping it away an then the use petrol soaked rags.
I had removed all the cladding previously and had just the open manifold. The only mistake I made, was I forgot to remove a rag to the inlet pipe to the turbo. Although the turbo was not connect it still produced enough suction to suck the rag in. This was removed using a hook on the end of a wire.
After that I warmed the engine, this took about 15 minutes, then, I removed the injector clamp. This was surprisingly easy. The retaining bolt was totally covered in bitumen. If I hadn't warmed the engine it would have broken.
The fuel injector pipe was then removed. and then tried Mercedes injector remover, didn't fit. I grabbed a pair of vice grips and to my surprise I was able to twist the injected and it came out without any problem. It too was totally covered in bitumen. Cleaned it up, put a new copper seal on the end covered the injector in anti cease compound, pushed back into the engine and started clamping the injector down. I found that the new clamping bolt was very difficult to screw into place as the bitumen in the thread was causing resistance, to the extent, that I would never be able to tension the bolt. I ended using a tap, die and bolt to clean all the bitumen of the of the thread. The tap was not long enough to get to the bottom of the thread. Finally the bolt went in easily and it got to the clamp the toque required to do any further went up dramatically and then rotated by a further 90 degrees. Started the engine, spayed soapy water around each injector, no bubbles, no leaks."

So I have the injector out, the copper seal appears to be stuck in the injector shaft with black gunk..the injector itself has black gunk all down the shaft which I will remove tomorrow. Due to the orientation of the shaft it seems some of the crystalised plastic may have fallen into the cylinder head. I will try to vacuum it out tomorrow (unfortunately my vacuum is broken too at the moment - go figure). Once I clean up the injector shaft I will stuff a rag down there and give the rocker cover a good clean. At the moment there is loose shit everywhere and I don't want anything else falling down there.

I'm gonna need to pick up some never-seize, a new injector clamp bolt (as per manual - 1 tension only), new copper seal and with any luck that will be all it takes....I seriously hope that there is no serious damage to the injector or head..fingers crossed. BTW , I've found a few pics online and it seems this is VERY common for the 2.7CRD. Anyone who is driving one , I strongly urge you to open your bonnet, remove the engine cover and look for black gunk on the injectors...anywhere - this is not a case of IF but WHEN and if caught early can be fixed very easily. I hope mine isn't too far gone!