1VD-FTV - P1238 Cyl 7 and 8 - VDJ79

[AussieHJCruza]

Hey guys,

Looking for advice please:

I'm looking at a VDJ79 which is local and in good condition, however it has CEL on and code P1238 cyl 7 and 8, which is Injector Malfunction. The local diesel places have suggested it needs injectors replaced which seemed to make sense to me until I read the troubleshooting procedure and it starts talking about compression checks etc - I just want to double-check that the problem isn't likely to be more serious.

Vehicle starts fine, not excessive injector rattle from cold, minor shake at idle but under throttle seems reasonable, maybe a little sluggish but I've never driven a stock VDJ79 before this one, always with an exhaust etc so could be biased. Blows a bit of black on the throttle hard but nothing obnoxious.

Am I taking a risk by going into this ready to do a set of injectorsetc, and overlooking the possibility of low compression on 7 or 8 or something more serious?

The price is right and I've got the equipment and facilities to do injectors, I just want to make sure I don't need to prepare for an engine rebuild or something.

Thanks

 

[roscoFJ73]

You can only compression test it or take the injectors to be bench tested at an injection shop. If you had low compression, you would probably have some blow by/blue smoke/hard starting cold.
And how many klms has it done? If it has 350000 plus, maybe it is low compression.
Try clearing the codes and see if they come back.
Trouble shooting engines nearly always ends up at compression checking when everything else has been looked at

 

[AussieHJCruza]

She's done around 200,000 ks on the odo, but seems she's had an engine some time in the past - the PO had for 3 years and I doubt that she did the swap or had it done and I don't know how to find out when and why that might have happened.

I also would have thought if 2 cylinders were so low that it wasn't hitting it would be really shaky and blowing smoke.

I've bought it and cleared the code, filed up with BP ultimate diesel, thrown some injector cleaner in it for good measure and figure I'll drive it moderately lightly for a couple of weeks and see what happens - code is showing as pending but hasn't logged again yet in ~100 km.

 

[roscoFJ73]

I dont know what the service intervals for injectors are on them, but its probably never been done.

 

[AussieHJCruza]

I would say they're original, have heard the figure of 150,000 thrown out but not sure what Toyota says about it

 

[roscoFJ73]

Do they replace the whole injector or rebuild them?

 

[AussieHJCruza]

Do they replace the whole injector or rebuild them?

You can get rebuilt injectors but the price difference to new Denso's isn't all that much. Baileys Diesel sell rebuilts for $330 each, new ones can be got for $365ish

 

[Hulsty]

250,000km on stock injectors so far without issue, recent check and they are still within spec.

 

[AussieHJCruza]

250,000km on stock injectors so far without issue, recent check and they are still within spec.

Hmm, I reckon this might have had some sketchy fuel, it's got no secondary filter (which will be addressed shortly)