Xantia diesel injectors - Refurbish or replace

timbo101 · Unread post by **timbo101** » 21 Dec 2008, 21:01

Hello all,
I am nearing the end of the process of doing up my 2.1 td sx xantia estate and have pretty much everything to it except the diesel injectors.
My car has now done 140,000 miles and after looking through the service history the injectors have never been serviced or changed.
The car is a little thirsty and a bit smokey and I am sure the injectors could do with a little tlc.
After looking at replacement injectors I can see why they have never been done because they are so expensive.
Does anyone know of somewhere a little less expensive of either getting my ones refurbished or where to buy a new set.
Many thanks in advance....Tim

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 21 Dec 2008, 21:11

Hi Timbo,

Basically, any good diesel specialist will do a refurbish on them. They'll dismantle them, clean them and replace any bits that are worn. They'll then test them for spary patten and calibrate them to be matched in opening pressures.

Honestly though, 140,000 is nothing for injectors and they often don't need touching for the life of the engine.

One thing that can go though is the needle lift sensor on No.4 injector. Symptoms will be slightly rough running, below-par fuel economy and very possibly smokiness. I had mine go the other day. The difference after replacing it is remarkable.

Break the connector and measure it's resistance. It should be 109 ohms or thereabouts. If it's open-circuit then it's duff. Only option is replacement of the injector which new is eyewateringly expensive. Sadly, the similar looking injector on the 1.9TD is not compatible.

For a full diagnosis, a Lexia session is advised. the Lucas EPIC pump gives diagnostics of truely epic proportions; it almost tells you what oil well the diesel was extracted from...

I'm trying to see if the needle lift sensor can be replaced on it's own and thus saving an otherwise perfectly good injector; so far, no luck

KP · Unread post by KP » 22 Dec 2008, 09:15

I've seen reccomendations saying that injectors should be checked every 60-100k.
If it were me and i had the time and chance i would just get them tested and at least you cna be sure they are good.

I mean after 60k miles the amount of fuel thats gone thru them is a fair amount and just look at the pictures of intake and fuel filters after that milage.
And then the fuel is only filtere to 5-10 micron so there is still a bit of dirt in there to clog up the very fine pintles...

Unread post by **Peter.N.** » 22 Dec 2008, 11:58

My last 2.1 XM had covered around 250,000 miles before I checked the injectors, the needles were burnt flush with the surface, I fitted a set of recon injectors but it didn't make any discernable difference.

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 22 Dec 2008, 12:05

Considering the look of my injectors at 116K miles I would say get them cleaned at least.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 22 Dec 2008, 13:00

MikeT wrote:Considering the look of my injectors at 116K miles I would say get them cleaned at least.

No real point. It is impossible to tell how good injectors are on looks alone. The main thing you see on cold injectors is soot. Take out a set of glowplugs after one use and you will see them covered in soot. It's how diesels are.

In use they glow red hot at the tip, as does most of the pre-chamber, so any soot will be quickly burned off once the engine is running and they will always look a bit care-worn due to the very harsh environment they operate in. Conditions in a diesel combustion chamber are so extreme that it's almost impossible to see what goes on. Attempts have been made to put transparant observation windows in test engines but they immediately soot up.

The only tests that reveal the true health of an injector is the spray pattern and the opening pressure. Diesel specialists have a relatively simple machine that does both tests at once so if you carry your injectors there, it should not be expensive to get a basic check done.

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 22 Dec 2008, 13:34

citrojim wrote:The main thing you see on cold injectors is soot.

I was thinking more of the hard carbon that covered the exposed pintle tip and surrounds which I assume would affect the spray pattern? I have only seen one method of professional cleaning rigs where the spray pattern is a guide to how long the cleaning solution is pumped through them.