Remove Pull Replace Install Change
My basic thoughts for the next “Black Death” triggered injector seal DIY replacement.
Parts:
* 2 ea. more injector seals and stretch bolts than I anticipate needing. The injector seal repair may not be successful. The parts to do it again may be needed.
* 1 each new/rebuilt Bosch injector on hand. The removed injector should be able to be reused/re-installed. If it needs to be disassembled to apply a puller, it should be replaced.
* Ceramic grease for coating the injector body.
* As the T1N engines are now old, it is probably good to have injector return fittings on hand. The possibility of those brittle fittings cracking increases with service time.
Tools:
All as listed for my first injector replacements, plus.
* 1 each modified hold down bolt as a thread cleaner.
* 1 each dowel rod with abrasive disk for seat cleaning. Added: Lightly clean and inspect. The seat may be fine.
Read this first:
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?p=634447#post634447
* 12 gauge barrel cleaning kit for injector well cleaning.
Abreviated Procedure (Refer to original thread for details)
Plan to do one injector at a time. Plan that it may take some time for the injector loosen.
Some days before the actual injector change remove the black plastic cover. Spray Kroil or PB Blaster around on the subject injector(s). With a fully heated engine. Use a vertically aligned pin punch to strike the injector hold down fastener a few times. That may help break the bolt loose. Loosen the hold down bolt by 3 turns. Leave the black plastic cover off. Drive the Sprinter until the injector pops. It may take a week(s) to happen. Once it pops, re-tighten the 3 turns to allow temporary engine operation.
Once the injector is popped loose the rest of the repair is basically as outlined in my original thread and tips from subsequent posters.
The injector hold down threads must be CLEAN!!!
I would again use the 62 inch pounds + 90 degrees for my repair because that was successful for all 5 injectors on my 2004. I might be tempted to add a 45 degree second turn, but given the reported aluminum head thread failures I would not do 62 inch pounds +90 +90 as some recommend. I have little data, but a healthy fear.
Once you have cleaned all the coke from the injector hold downs , run it up and get it hot.
Unscrew each injector hold down bolt in turn a half turn to a full turn (180 to 360) while running hot.
Allow the engine to huff ‘n chuff loosening off the injectors in the head.
Again spray the carb cleaner around the injector body (engine stopped )allowing it to penetrate then repeat the loosening off technique until each injector is bouncing up ‘n down like sugar plum fairy.
Take into account that the expulsion of gases is eye watering so some goggles helps.
Then while still hot rip out the injectors keeping them in order of removal.
This is not strictly the steps of injector removal/re-install as I ramble about my personal situation. This job is not for the faint of heart. My experience is likely as bad as it gets. At the time I DIY’d my injectors I found little information other than recommendation to take the Sprinter to a professional. Time and postings have shown it can be done DIY. (Remove one injector at a time with a hot engine.)
Edit: Don’t let my experience worry you too much. As time passes there are many posts indicating that they had little trouble. Doing one injector at a time with the loosen hold down claw and drive to pop the injector method, and a very hot engine is my advice at this time.
Read/skim this entire thread. There are better techniques for injector removal than I used. Rlent outlines removal of injectors and head here. Thanks goes to Randall.
That said, unless you are fairly well equipped to do it DIY, I would recommend going to one of the skilled technicians on our forum.
Note that Europarts SD no longer rents the injector tools.
Warning: The injector hold down threaded holes MUST BE CLEANED OUT 100% or you risk breaking or stripping the bolts. “Good enough” may not be good enough.
I would like to thank WAYNERODD up front for supplying me the rebuilt injectors, the special tools to make it happen, his advice, support and answering too many phone calls from me when things went south. Wayne is yet another person which I’ve gotten to know through this forum who I’d like to meet personally some day. Doktor A was there there for me too. Europarts SD shipped the injector removal tools right away when I ordered them. That helped a bunch, so thanks goes to Steve Schock also. I would not have even considered doing the injector change without knowing the support I needed was available from our overall Sprinter community.
I delayed changing what I knew were leaking injectors for a year. In retrospect that was a mistake. Not only did I risk the injectors becoming more seized in the bore, it also chanced further erosion of the seat face in the head.
Parts definitely needed:
Fuel Injectors.
(If the slide hammer puller doesn’t work and you need to disassemble an injector it is too risky, to put it back together and re-use it. I lost each and every tiny little check ball. Therefore a full set of injectors, or at least those you plan to change seals on are a good idea to have in your possession.) Please see revision on page 2.
20120610 edit: Apparently disassembled injectors can be reused. That does nothing as far as renewing worn parts, but it may appeal to some DIY people. Thanks goes to Bramage for most of the info. https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21026
New hold down bolts w/ spares
New copper seals w/ spares.
Anti-seize to coat injector bodies.
Parts possibly needed:
Return line O-ring seals.
Return line clips.
Tools needed:
Edit: Some great DIY tool ideas are provided further down in this thread.
It is best to have a proper injector puller set on hand. You may get lucky, but if you don’t you’re dead in the water, or risk cracking the aluminum case if you try to pry against it. Do NOT lever against the aluminum case. It is just a thin casting in many areas and can be easily damaged. I know that for a fact. [S[Europarts rents the removal tools needed [/S](and possibly Wayne Rodd will rent them out also).
12” or 10” adjustable, or 30 mm wrench for injector puller nut.
Inch pound torque wrench. (62 inch pounds)
A long T40 driver for hold downs.
A 6″ long M6x1 bottom tap to clean out the hold down bolt threads. (1000% necessary)
R&N M 6×1 D-5 040860 (Metric M6x1 thread 6″ long extension tap. The extension shaft needs to be smaller than the thread flutes.)
http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/NNSRI…re=ItemDetail-_-ResultListing-_-SearchResults
Edit: OR you can modify one of the removed hold down bolts. Use a grinder to add flutes like found in a tap to the old threads (and maybe a relief on the bottom end). That will provide a place for the removed material to collect as the modified clean up bolt is turned down into the head. Be certain all burrs are removed after grinding in the flutes.
A seat face tool. (Given the choice I would go for the many cutting flutes design as opposed to a tool which only has 4 flutes. More cutter flutes usually can give a smooth surface with less talent.
Cylindrical brass brush Miller #9717. May work IF your injector seal faces in the head are in great condition.
A strong cylindrical magnet to remove hold down forks.
An air blower with a thin (3/16”?) 5” long or so tip.
13mm and 14mm open end wrenches for fuel lines.
5 mm Allen wrench for cover
Tin foil (cover any opened and exposed fuel parts)
Mirror and flashlight. Inspect seal surfaces.
I actually fabricated a seal remover because I was afraid of damaging the seat face. I never used a screwdriver or other pry tools. I think a 3/8″x24 intermediate or bottom tap with a long extension would work also.
A large old towel.
Remove Injectors
20131124 edit: It is best to have the engine hot before trying to remove an injector.
An opinion. I’d take the above to the extreme of removing one injector, re-assembling that one to get running for re-heat, then next, etc. The engine being hot really helps.
If (when?) I next need to remove an injector I will use the method of loosening the hold down claw and driving the Sprinter to pop the injector loose. More about that method is found or referenced further down in this thread.
You can try spraying penetrating oil around the injectors and hold down bolts a couple days prior to removal. Some people think it helps. I did that. Can’t say if it helped or not, but all my hold down fasteners did remove fairly easily.
Remove the injector plastic cover. 5 mm Allen socket screws.
Remove the 5 clips from the fuel return lines. Remove return line fittings. On the tough ones, I pulled up enough to get a screwdriver blade under to carefully pry up a bit to release. Be careful of the back hose, I’ve been told it can harden and become brittle. I wrapped the entire return line and fittings in tin foil to keep it clean.
Crack the High Pressure HP line nuts loose on each injector. Leave them basically in place though to help keep dirt out.
Use a punch fit into the star fastener head and a hammer to rap each injector bolt a few times to help loosen the threads. Remove the injector hold down bolts (long reach T-40 bit). I used my 1/4″ drive Tee bar to keep even stress on the fasteners. All first made a crick noise, but didn’t seem to break loose. I then applied a bit more pressure and each began to loosen. First I used short back and forth movement until it was safe to just turn them out. All came out without issue. No evidence of aluminum pick up was found in any of the bolt threads.
Remove the hold down claws (pawls) using the cylindrical magnet. My #1 and #2 claws came out fairly easily. #3, #4, and #5 were a bit tougher because the Black Death kept them stuck. I found that a flat screwdriver blade worked against each side helped. Then I used a pick to run around the claw to break loose the carbon. A Phillips screwdriver end inserted into the pawl bolt hole gave me something to carefully pry against to move them out. They will loosen and then come out with the magnet.
I used a piece of 3/8″ ss tubing with a standard flare on the end, connected to my shop vac to go in and suck out the black residue. It worked fairly well. The flared end worked as a scraper. Most of the junk was sucked up as it came loose. The tubing did plug up once in a while. I used a short piece of garage door cable to clear the tubing/hose. Don’t run your shop vac too long with a small hose restricting the flow. Many vacs depend upon the suction air flow to help cool the motor. Short periods are fine. (Using a shop vac for fiberglass resin vacuum bagging… not so fine.) Many of the chunks around the injector tops sucked out fairly easily.
Next loosen the other end of the HP lines. Remove the injector fuel lines, cover them with tinfoil, swing them clear and snug the header nuts to hold them in place out of the way.
After cleaning up the loose material as best I could around the injectors, I tried removing the #1 injector with a slide hammer puller. It didn’t budge. I needed to use the Hutson pull bolt style special puller which required disassembling the injector to attach to an internal threaded boss in the injector body. That puller worked to remove the injector. The copper seal came out with #1 injector.
After the injector was removed I used a caulking plastic tapered tip to insert into the bottom hole and help keep out dirt. I had cut it down and inserted an iron wire to hook on to for removal. The idea was to help keep the dirt out. I knew it wouldn’t be 100%.The ss flared vacuum tube worked well to scrape down and help clean the sides of the injector well. Round brass wire brushes also helped.
The tools I used for removal and installation. Note the vac hose attachment. It is a piece of thin wall ss tubing with a flared end. I connected it to my shop vac and used it to vac out the junk from the injector bores and hold down bolt holes. It didn’t get everything (I also used the air blow gun), but I think it helped keep the mess down a bunch.
#3 showing the results of black death
My tinfoil method for keeping lines and openings clean. Note the towel which is a necessary addition for insulation from the intake when working to pull the rear injectors from a hot OM647 engine.
All 5 of my injectors. Some things I noted. #2 is dry at the bottom even after thorough soakings with two kinds of penetrating oil over a 2 – 3 day period. The lower ends of #3, 4, 5 are very wet. I think that is as a result of the engine oil which crept in from the cracked head cover. Some of it could have been from only torquing the re-used injector bolts to 50 inch pounds?
A picture of the seal puller I made. I turned down a steel rod. I found that a 3/8″ x 24 thread just caught the inside of the old seal. I ground the thread end flat after threading to expose a good edge to pick up the seal. For each of my three stuck seals I inserted the tool, gave a couple 1/2 twists and came up with the seal stuck to the end each time.
Actually I think a 3/8″ x 24 intermediate or bottom tap, or one ground flat to the threads would work as well. All you’d need then is an extension to get the tap down to the seal. There is little risk of damage to the seal seat because the thread diameter is slightly less than the nozzle tip hole.
Some Related Threads and links:
OM647 and OM612 injector classification – is it optional?
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11361&highlight=injector+manual
Tech Alert- injector hold down issues-revisited
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3750&highlight=injector+show
Injector on the way out???
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?p=22475#post22475
Europarts is a good source
http://store.europarts-sd.com/injectorremovaltool-sprinter2003-present.aspx
http://store.europarts-sd.com/injectorremovaltool-sprinter2003-present-1-1-1.aspx
Tool links:
Brass Cylindrical Brush
Miller Special Tools (2.7L) Injector Bore Brush MLR-9717
http://www.etoolcart.com/miller-special-tools-injector-bore-brush-mlr-9717.aspx
http://millerspecialtools.spx.com/Detail.aspx?id=976&gid=3
http://millerspecialtools.spx.com/Detail.aspx?id=693&gid=3
http://millerspecialtools.spx.com/Detail.aspx?id=695&gid=3
Hutson Injector Tools
http://www.hutsonprecision.co.uk/au…es-removing-tool-vito-sprinter-cdi-p-489.html
http://www.hutsonprecision.co.uk/au…or-seat-and-aperture-cleaning-set-p-1187.html
Amazon has the rather fragile fuel return plastic fittings
Complete 5 cylinder set
http://www.amazon.com/Mercedes-Spri…pebp=1438087226825&perid=0NQKBKBY82MEDSNSVK1H
4 cylinder set for spares (inset pictures appear identical)
http://www.amazon.com/Common-Inject…pebp=1438087295652&perid=0NQKBKBY82MEDSNSVK1H
Four flute seat tool
http://www.hutsonprecision.co.uk/au…ing/mercedes-leaking-injector-tool-p-767.html
Multi Flute
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/p…tor-seat-cutter-set/path/diesel-service-tools
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Line-Tool…pebp=1438088135026&perid=0NQKBKBY82MEDSNSVK1H
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIfUK2KlDWA
Injector Blow-by
http://www.uniteddiesel.co.uk/tips_docs/Bosch common rail diesel injectors blow-by.pdf
http://www.uniteddiesel.co.uk/diesel_engine_products/6/
http://www.uniteddiesel.co.uk/tips-troubles.php
http://www.samstagsales.com/mercedes.htm
Stripped, broken injector hold down? Breached the Cooling Passage? Some help may be here.
Injector Classification
Some info to start is here.
Injector Classification Programming Coding Misc.
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?p=625840