To Do or Not To Do - Injectors

[HGW088]

Hi All,

My second post on here. The first being a few years ago before I ended up buying the worst car I have ever owned, a Disco 2.

Anyway, the good news, I have now got myself a 2004 120 Landcruiser with 185,000 miles.

It has a full service history with it and the underside isn’t completely shot like a lot of these.

I have trawled through the forum/s and read a lot around injector service intervals. I don’t believe they have ever been done on my truck.

The truck has got the distinctive rattle when they are cold and on idle once warm it’s abit shakey. Other than that, it seems to run fantastic and returned 33mpg over 500 miles or so the other week.

So, before I throw ~£1k (half of what I paid for the trucks!) at getting some new injectors put in I’ve got a couple of questions:

1) Have I missed the boat at 185,000 miles, will there already be damage there and am I just throwing good money after bad? If I was not to change them, how many more miles would I expect to get before it went pop?!

2) Without pulling the injectors out, is there a conclusive way to test them with a good quality OBD reader (I see a lot of people using techstream, is this the only thing that reads the 120?). Has anyone got a list of parameters to check against. *I have spoken to 2 local Toyota dealers about doing this for me but neither of them are very interested*

Any info is appreciated. I know this has been discussed at length elsewhere but I can’t seem to find a conclusive answer to my questions.

Cheers, H

 

[karl2000]

Congrats on the 120!

Techstream can read everything you need on the 120 - some other tools will work but they are variable depending on the year and the original location spec of the truck. As a guide any professional tool would work (snapon topdon autel etc) but if you research on here you can find others. I used a cheap autel to check mine when i bought it.

If you can get the live data from the above you can get an idea about the injectors.

However, when was the last service? The best thing you can do is drop the oil and when its drained, look up inside the sunp with a torch or camera and check the pickup pipe isnt blocked. Get into the habit of doing this every time you service it and youll get an early warning of pending problems. Another reason to do the servicing yourself!

 

[karl2000]

PS theres info on what parameters to check in other threads on here, in the service manual and on youtube in fourby4diesels videos. Theres more to it than the 4 injector feedback values you usually see quoted...

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

If you can get the live data from the above you can get an idea about the injectors.

All good advice on here H.

Recon ones might do if it's not a long term keeper but there's no getting round the fact you've some dosh to spend.

 

[HGW088]

Full service next week and will be sure to check the sump.

Will also get it plugged in and get some live data. I need to try and find out all the values to look for as well as the injector feedback values. (If anyone has all these to hand it would be appreciated, otherwise I’ll be doing watching some youtube videos and doing a lot of scrolling through threads).

Been quoted £575 for recon ones, I will likely have a go at them myself to keep the cost down.

My main concern here is, at 185k has it gone past a point that it’s worth doing them. Will there already be significant wear on the pistons meaning failure is more likely or are the engines more robust than that?

 

[Shayne]

Surely your own injectors can be serviced ?

 

[karl2000]

Check the sump for the answer to your 185k question!

 

[HGW088]

Check the sump for the answer to your 185k question!

Thanks Karl, I’ll put a few pics up once I’ve got it off.

Surely your own injectors can be serviced ?

The price quoted is for them to have my old injectors in return for refurbed ones.

 

[karl2000]

You don't have to take the sump off btw - once the oil has drained you can just look up inside through the sump plug hole - you can see the pickup from there.

 

[toolsplus]

With the mpg you're getting I bet your injectors are in spec. Get them checked anyway. My 120's on 155,000 miles and all good. 120's are always shakey on start-up as long as it settles when it's warmed up. I like the agricultural feel of the engine.great torque and the noise and vibes keep me awake.
When I'm driving my 80 offroad people don't hear me coming,whereas they immediately move over for the 120.

 

[GeekOKent]

To answer your question, if it's driving ok - 90% chance you have no long term problem. With the injectors you need to think pipes and bits too. Lots of info about that on here.

Two years ago I had the same (or similar ?) issue. Scv change, maf and mas filter clear out, injector change (refurbs ) clean out of the manifold exhaust area, and the truck drives like I want it to. On the dot.

You want to also make sure there isn't a fuel issue - check/change filters and it maybe worth running some snakeoil through the system.eg redX diesel cleaner or something.

The rattling like a bucket of nails... Is likely to be the injectors though.

 

[HGW088]

Pleased that the strainer is fairly clear.

Will get it plugged in asap and get some readings.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

 

[Shayne]

Has me wondering about the emissions test which could and probably should show bad injectors because of a less efficient burn .

 

[toolsplus]

Shayne,
Can the MOT test tell if the cat/con has been removed and the EGR blocked? Cheers

 

[Shayne]

That raises questions about the validity of the emissions test as well TP , a blocked EGR has never caused a fail that I know of ?

Cat converters I know little about but I believe if the book says it should have one then it must . Visual inspection can't look inside to see all the internals are gone and its just a pipe

 

[toolsplus]

No MOT's in Jersey mate,I was just wondering.

 

[Shayne]

Nor in Isle of Man , but if police don't like you they can order your car to the Gov test centre where it will fail for not being new .

 

[Rob Cowell]

MOT is a visual check for a cat. Passing or failing emissions test doesn't prove it is there or not. Cat is supposed to be doing its job on a much wider range of conditions than an MOT emisssions test, so has to be there regardless of the test results. EGR will be the same, except you can't see if there is a blanking plate in there so I can't see how it can be checked.

 

[HGW088]

Managed to get plugged in today. The readings above are with then engine warmed up. Running at 176F which I think is abit colder than it should be?

Looks like I’m gona have to stick my hand in my pocket!

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Looks like I’m gona have to stick my hand in my pocket!

And you didn't have to in the last contraption you had?

C'mon H, tell us what you bought instead of a Cruiser last time.