BLown Injector

[Cowboy_120]

Alright, here it is. I am driving along, and all of a sudden, the truck starts feeling sluggish, and my oil pressure starts dropping, and the engine temp starts climbing.
I shut down the truck (loaded with my 40' horse trailer), and climb out. What do I see? Oil spewing from the main engine seal (or at least b/w the engine and the tranny).

Luckily I had 4 L of oil int he truck, and I add it and limp to the dealer where I drop the trailer, and they have a look.

They say the seal is fine, but that the injector is blown, and that the fuel has been leaking into the oil, causing it to become more fluid so it has started leaking out the main seal.

Question: Have I hurt her permanantly?

They say its going to take a week to fix, but its all under warrenty because the injectors are covered up to 160,000 km.

Would this happen all of a sudden, or has it been going on for a while? Normally the truck uses about 1 qt of oil b/w oil changes (every 5000km), but I figured that was due to cold starts.

Thanks

[dmaxalliTech]

cowboy, the sticking injector is nothing new, but I have yet to see one as bad as yours, Usually the biggest give away to a fuel in oil is from oil level overfull. you can check for this using the paper towl test. Drop a few drop of engine oil on paper towl and watch to see it wick, fuel and oil will wick at different rates and it will be apparent. as far as permanant damage goes, its unlikely as long as all is repaired correctly at this time. including replacement of all blown seals, and have them carefully check for other injector problems while they are in there. It is a very lenghty test but I would make sure they do it, I didnt catch what year it is, but if its 01 or early 02 I would politly demand them to very carefully test all remaining injectors. At my dealer, I like to replace all injectors on suspected bank instead of just one, it usually takes some arm pulling from the General but it better safe then sorry. Its alot easier to replace them when its apart then when its back togather.

[Kennedy]

Fuel in oil is not a good thing, BUT on the plus side, I haven't seen where it has done any permanent harm to our Dmax's based on samples with diluted oil.

[george morrison]

To echo John Kennedy's thoughts, as long as it is caught early, minimal problems. One of the major advantages of diesel fuel over gasoline is its inherent lubricity. Yes, it does dilute our oil but it is still slippery stuff, thus creates little problems, IF caught early which yours was.
The main problem occurs in the cylinder where the failure occurred in the form of cylinder 'wash down', which creates much higher wear rates for that cylinder. I have seen pistons literally rattling in the liner as a result of a bad injector but this was over several thousand hours of operation (many thousand miles).
Again, if caught early as yours was, no long term damage or problems.
George Morrison

[Cowboy_120]

thanks for the input fellas. I was sure nervous when I went to pull the oil cap and it was so hot I had to wear a glove.
I will be sure to tell the dealer to check all the injectors. Now that I think back, I do think I have had some decrease in performance, but it was slight, and I thought it was just me becoming accustomed to the power. Maybe it had started leaking earlier, but obviously the main problem occurred today anway.

thanks again for the info.

[oyazi]

My neighbor had a like experience w/his '01. Towed it to the dealer and they ordered injectors. While chkg things out after the injector arrived ~ found that a rocker shft bolt had broke w/resultant damage to the heads and several valves I believe. This was @ 45K Miles.

[Devin Tornow]

If the injector failed thus hosing the cylinder down, this is bad by any means. Overfueling is NEVER GOOD and since a diesel will use all the fuel you can give it (up to a point of course), this is where your excess heat comes from!

With the Bosch common rail injector it always has fuel available and very high pressures (upto 23,000psi or so). If the injector tip does not close it keeps fueling the cylinder for the entire time including the exhaust cycle (thus out the exhaust). Serious damage can result.

You mentioned it was forcing oil out the rear seal. Were there any other leaks?? The reason I ask is if the injector came loose (hold down bolt) cylinder pressure goes into the crankcase thus forcing leaks any place it can find a spot.

If it was my engine I would make sure I knew exactly what happened to make sure the warranty takes care of everything.

[Cowboy_120]

First, my truck is an 01.

Second: I am not sure if there were any other leaks, the dealer had taken a quick look at it (I gave it to them at 5, and they closed at 6), so they will be doing a more thorough inspection today, but I will be sure to get them to look at all the injectors and for any other signs of premature wear.
I could see a lot of oil coming from the rear seal, but to say it was the only place is probably an understatement since the entire bottom of the truck is now coated in a nice layer of oil.
I am glad I am getting this taken care of now, b/c I was just about to install the Banks Stinger system which would have voided the rest of my extended warrenty (I was thinking I wasnt going to need it, haha) so it is good that it happened now.

Thanks for the input from everyone, this forum rocks!

[george morrison]

As follow up, I would suggest running oil analysis for the next several oil changes to ascertain if any damage had indeed occurred. As discussed, depending on the length and severity of the fuel dilution, damage may have occurred.. Oil analysis will enable you to confirm, follow trend.. If spectrographic indicates continuing high level wear rates, running a ferrography would provide additional information on potential damage sources.
George Morrison

[Cowboy_120]

hey george, thanks for the info. I will certainly do that, but who do i contact to have that done?
Is it through performance stores? Or dealers? I am not sure who to go through.
Thanks