1kzte smoke + part throttle rattle after injector rebuild

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O

OM617YOTA

Joined
Jun 17, 2024
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Location
Oregon
Is smoke at idle and an inconsistent part throttle rattle normal for a bit after injector rebuild? Expected to smooth out after a bit? Only a couple hundred kms since done. Didn't do this before the injectors were rebuilt.

Also had the head replaced at the same time, not a great experience. Might be related to that as well.
 
100+ views and nobody has any thoughts?

I'm not the only whose had injectors rebuilt, were everyone else's injectors good to go from the start or did they take some time to smooth out?
 
I've never heard of injectors needing time to settle in and no, smokey idle and clattering are not normal. The injectors are just a spring valve and nozzle. Hopefully you got new nozzles put on, in which case the injectors should be perfect.
 
Eurasiaoverland said:
I've never heard of injectors needing time to settle in and no, smokey idle and clattering are not normal. The injectors are just a spring valve and nozzle. Hopefully you got new nozzles put on, in which case the injectors should be perfect.
Click to expand...

Thank you. In theory it was new nozzles and springs, pop tested and shimmed as needed for the injectors to be correctly balanced, and done by an outside shop. Given the quality of the rest of the work the shop did, I'm not confident any of that happened.

(In a perfect world I would take it back and ask them make it right, and to their credit they offered to do exactly that. I'm not willing to let them touch my vehicle ever again.)
 
A question first.
Were the injectors rebuilt because they showing a sign of failure or a nice to do while the head was being done? If it was nice to do it is a variable that did change besides the head getting replaced. I think it makes sense to have done them at the same time, but it does broaden the troubleshooting options. I took a peak at my 1KZ manual and the symptoms you are listing are pointing to injectors.

You mentioned you're suspicious of the injectors even being serviced. I am wondering if the injectors were in operating range before it went in for service and they made them worse. If you can have the vehicle down for a minute it sounds like it might be a good idea for another shop to look at them to rule out injectors before starting to look at something else that might of changed during the head replacement.
1KZ Injectors.webp
 
To me, smoke and noise when running suggest a timing issue. I would double check that all the engine sensor connectors are firmly connected. If the injection pump was removed, I suppose even being an EFI, there is some alignment required with a scribed mark on the timing cover. Also check timing marks on the timing belt pulleys.

The single stage IDI injectors are really very simple things, it's hard to imagine them coming out of a service worse than they went in.
 
Thanks folks.

Injectors were fine before, sounded perfect, but they'd done 175k km and I was sure they were original and had never been done. They had to be removed to do the head anyway, seemed like a good time.

A dribbling injector can mimic over advanced timing. Sounds like it's only coming from one cylinder, although I've yet to try killing a cylinder at a time and seeing if the sound stops.

Been getting better over the last couple days, and all but gone when warm and after a bit of a drive. I still don't like it, this weekend I'll try killing one cylinder at a time and see if I can localize it to one cylinder. I have the seals and such to swap that injector with another cylinder and see if the sound follows the injector.

I asked the shop that did the head who they used, they sent the injectors to another shop that specializes in diesel injectors and has a very good reputation. Same shop I was planning on sending the injectors to myself if I pulled them myself and had them rebuilt, separate from the head being done. I might reach out to the shop that did the injectors and see if they have any input.
 
I've experienced this issue once on an IDI mercedes. The cause was that the incorrect nozzle was used when another shop sent them out to be rebuilt. pop off pressure does effectively adjust injection timing. I recently sent a set of other injectors out for rebuild and one was 500PSI off. Caused a shake and odd noise due to the timing difference.
 
Had to head some where mid-morning, warmish started after the drive to work. Started + idled OK, but any throttle and it was missing and puffing white smoke. Slightly more throttle and it smoothed right out. By the time I got back, it was running almost perfectly, slight strange noise but otherwise perfect.

The shop that did the head really did an awful job, after I got the vehicle back I had to fix quite a few things. Still have another part coming in to fix something else they broke. Reeks of coolant every time I drive it. Coolant level in the radiator is staying steady but the amount in the overflow bottle is dropping. They beat the hell out of the radiator and it looks like it might be leaking from the core. Might be from spilling while filling, need to wash off the coolant residue and see if it comes back. Hoping they did better on the head replacement itself(they have an outside machine shop rebuild the heads, they just remove and replace) and it's not low compression on a cylinder or two causing this issue. Given my experience with the things I could check directly, I don't have high hopes. Pretty angry with this entire experience.

They did offer to make it right if I brought it back, and even to put my old head back on and refund my money, but I'm not inclined to let them touch my vehicle ever again. No clue how they have such good reviews. Really wish I'd done the job myself.
 
@OM617YOTA any movement on this or decisions on how you want to proceed? Or are you waiting for that other part to show up before proceeding?
 
@Bad Mojo

Talked to the shop, hesitant but going to take it back to them as soon as I can get a break in schedule/time to get it over there.

Injector kept sounding worse, to the point that I stopped driving it last week. Next time I drive it will be to take it to the shop. Still using coolant.
 
Alrighty, wrapping this one up. Confirmed one of the new/rebuilt injectors was dribbling fuel. Replaced with known good one, seems to be doing fine now.

Shop did a much better job this time around. Not going to say it was a good experience overall, but satisfied with the value exchanged and going to leave it at that.
 
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