Water in Diesel fuel - Injector pump damage ?

[Vicks]

Hey guys,

My trusty Paj of 75,000kms died a few days ago when i filled up diesel contaminated with water. We were 500kms into a 3,000km trip and i filled up diesel at this station. Approx 100-150kms later, the ECL came on and the ASC + T/C lights also came on and the Paj went into limp mode. I coasted to the side of the highway and hooked up my OBD diagnostic tool (good that i got it with me in the paj all the time) and saw error code "P0089" which meant "loss of fuel pressure".

While at the side of the road, we removed the diesel fuel filter and pumped it with the drain valve loosened. Quite a bit of water came out and then we bled the line, cleared the error code and drove for another 20kms where we found a Mitsu dealer and Gas station. There i picked up 2 spare fuel filters approx 50AUD each, drained the diesel tank (and found out that there is an M12 bolt which is the drain plug for the tank), changed out the diesel fuel filter and started the paj, while keeping fingers crossed.

Unfortunately, the problem persisted and this time the error codes wouldn't even reset using the diagnostic tool. So finally i had to put the Paj on a truck and continued our trip with our friends' LR3 and 105 series Landcruiser.

Upon coming back home i took the paj to my Mitsu dealer on a recovery vehicle. The mech has had a look at it and mentioned to me that :

1. It definitely is water in the diesel which has caused the problem
2. They have seen this happen on the Diesel engined pick-ups
3. The water might have gotten to the fuel injection pump and caused some damages

I'm hoping that the pump is not damaged in any way or else it might prove a costly affair.

My friend who drives the Diesel 105 series LC told me that it would be a good idea to loosen the drain valve on the fuel filter and drain off any water collected there probably every 5,000kms or so. I think it is a very good preventive measure so that any water collected in the fuel filter does not get forced into the pump and to the injectors etc after too much of it gets collected there.

Just giving you guys a heads-up on this matter.

cheers
Vicks

[jawk]

Ouch.
Hope you end up with good news...
Keep us posted.

[Patagonia]

Sorry to hear that Vicks, hope repair is not too expensive.

I have a decanter or "pre-filter" fitted before the OE Filter, its a good idea and cheap, take a look at the photos here:

http://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=18651

regards

[reciprovac]

Obd instrument

Sorry to hear of your water problems,I would have thought the water sensing warning light would have come on as the fuel filter level increased.
What sort of diagnostic instrument do you have,and what model is your vehicle please.
Regards

[jawk]

What sort of diagnostic instrument do you have,and what model is your vehicle please.
Regards

From his sig looks like a '08, NS Did LWB

[Vicks]

I don't know if the level sensor in the fuel filter is supposed to trigger when only the level of water increases OR if the fuel level goes down due to running the tanks dry ? Need to do more reading. Anyways, there were no lights related to the fuel filter that showed up.

I use the
Autel MaxiTrip auto computer which I bought from Amazon for 60$. Link. Works really well and I’ve been happy with it.

[Vicks]

Sorry to hear that Vicks, hope repair is not too expensive.

I have a decanter or "pre-filter" fitted before the OE Filter, its a good idea and cheap, take a look at the photos here:

http://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=18651

regards

لإاشىنس بخق فاث مهىن ؛شفز


Ooops, excuse the strange text. Somehow Arabic text is enabled when I type into IE, but normal (English) text on all other applications. Will have to it sorted out. I?m now having to type in MS-word and copy-paste it into IE.

Thanks for the link Pat. However I think that the stock fuel filter on the DI-D has a water separator built into it and it is adequate for the purpose. We users just need to drain them of any water every now n then. I think it is entirely my fault that I didn?t do it.

[dolphin]

gee i don,t know. all the oil in your country and they have to add water. hope you have drained abit from fuel tank bottom.

[Vicks]

gee i don,t know. all the oil in your country and they have to add water. hope you have drained abit from fuel tank bottom.

I don?t get it too !! why would anybody add water to diesel here where you can buy 8ltrs of diesel for the price of a litre of drinking water ? (not "my" country though, I?m just an expat). I did drain all the diesel from the tank and filled it with fresh fuel.

[dolphin]

i would say a bad underground tank and this does happen.

[Vicks]

Just an update.

The guys opened up the fuel injection pump and the injectors.

- One of the injectors was stuck open, this led to diesel being injected continuously, leading to washing of the bore and dilution of engine oil.
- Injection pump had some damages (don't know the full details)
- they have calibrated the injectors/nozzles and the pump
- will complete the assembly by tomorrow and do a test run. keeping fingers crossed that it will work satisfactorily. If yes, the bill should be around 1,000AUD.

If the test run fails, then they will have to replace injectors and injection pump, which will then work out to a hefty 6,000AUD job !!!
I've told them to get my permission before they go around replacing anything. My plan, in the worst case that the test run fails, is to look for 2nd hand injector+pump set and replace with them. Diesel Pajeros are very rare here so i will have a tough time finding them in the scrap yards. you. Do the injectors+pump from L200 pickup fit the pajeros ? if yes which year (L200) onwards have the electronic pumps ?

I was told that the mineral content in the water was what did the damage.

I've started looking for used injectors and injection pumps on the internet to be prepared for the worst case.

Take care guys and pls ensure you drain the fuel filter every couple thousand kms to avoid such damages.

[Vicks]

The test drive gave mixed results. It seems that the Injection pump is OK (phew !!) but one of the Injectors is stuck closed/partially closed, so there is some vibration and missing in the engine.

Mitsubishi guys told me they will have to replace the injector (part no. MI 1465A054), but unfortunately they don't sell 1 injector (700AUD each) and i will have to purchase a set of 4 injectors (almost 3,000AUD) !!! what a load of dung !!!

So, i'm taking the car to a diesel injection specialist here locally and get a 2nd opinion from him. I have been going through a lot of videos on you-tube where specialists are servicing and re-building DENSO common rail injectors and i couldn't see anything that is not repairable/serviceable in these injectors. The local diesel injection specialist i spoke to was also doubtfull of mitsubishi's recommendation to replace the injector and i am not going to lose anything by getting a 2nd opinion, so thats what i'm going to do now.

cheers

[dolphin]

bugger that price mate. get your injectors serviced by a good deisel mechanic and i am sure all will be fine.

[Vicks]

I took it to a diesel injection specialist here locally and they changed a couple parts (pump solenoid, injector nozzles and solenoids) and the car is running fine now. They have also given a 3month warranty on the repair work Way better than Mitsubishi's deal of robbing me of 300AUD and handing back the car asking me to simply change all the injectors.

[joe2006]

Well done. Lucky you did your homework.