Exhaust Leak From Near Injector

[Guest Dan Slatford]

My 2.2HDi C5 has recently began to suffer an exhaust leak, which I've found to be near the injector nearest the cambelt. There's carbon everywhere, and it sounds like a steam train at idle, with big puffs escaping from somewhere:

 

http://foxhosts.co.uk/misc/exhaust_leak.jpg

 

Before I can get it into a garage next week, does anyone have an idea what could be broken? I have this sinking feeling there may be a crack in the head someplace. The car's not down on performance and otherwise idles / runs fine. Obviously I need the air vents on recycle at idle speeds to avoid choking myself.

 

Could this be a simple gasket somewhere - or does a serious fault sound more likely? I'm not sure that there's meant to be exhaust anywhere near this part of the engine...

[techbod]

cant really see much there but possibly the injector seal? it would be better to clean that area so you get a better picture

[Guest Dan Slatford]

cant really see much there but possibly the injector seal? it would be better to clean that area so you get a better picture

 

Hmm, that makes sense. I neglected to consider the injector leads directly into the cylinder top, duh. Although I'd have thought there'd be diesel leaking around it someplace - it appears dry. Not sure how to clean up all the crap that's baked on! You can barely get a finger near there.

[techbod]

don't think fuel would come out as too much compression there and the fuel would burn up quick, you need very thin cleaning tools for that like a dremel and some engine cleaner

[coastline taxis]

don't think fuel would come out as too much compression there and the fuel would burn up quick, you need very thin cleaning tools for that like a dremel and some engine cleaner

pour some washing up liquid round the injectors and if there leaking youl get bubles frothing

[myglaren]

I have just had this fixed on mine (for the second time)

washers burned away from the injector seat.

 

Get it fixed ASAP as the exhaust can burn a 'track' and you will never fix it then.

 

Yours sounds far worse than mine was though - noise barely perceptible with the bonnet open. Only a slight smell of exhaust when idling stopped in traffic for more than a couple of minutes.

[techbod]

hopefully you have resolved this looking at your post on the other site :o

[Guest Dan Slatford]

:D

 

Indeed - garage just found an injector to be a bit loose. Seemed firm to me, but maybe I didn't really pay that possibility much attention.

 

Must admit, never read about injectors becoming loose before.

 

Of course there's always something - and now it's beginning to sound like the engine's rattling itself apart randomly. Sigh.

[techbod]

actualLy im hearing a lot of this lately but as for the rattle the injector could cause the engine to be unstable so hopefully its sorts its self out :D

[Guest Dan Slatford]

actualLy im hearing a lot of this lately but as for the rattle the injector could cause the engine to be unstable so hopefully its sorts its self out :D

 

I hope! Injectors seem firm now, no sign of leakage past them. I suspect a failing crank pulley might be causing the other random noises.

 

Hopefully tomorrow will be dry so I have a bit of daylight to investigate.

[techbod]

yes this was a noted issue because it alters the timing like the vtec engine so the cam sensor gets incorrect information as to TDC so throws the engine out of sync ( my alfa did that )

[Guest Dan Slatford]

yes this was a noted issue because it alters the timing like the vtec engine so the cam sensor gets incorrect information as to TDC so throws the engine out of sync ( my alfa did that )

 

Is that an issue on the C5's 2.2? I thought the pulley was purely concerned with the aux belt, nothing to do with the actual running of the engine.

 

Driving home tonight the rattling / clattering noise was much worse than this morning. It "feels" like something rotating that's off-balance, if that makes any sense. There's totally no loss of power though, other than a rather shaky engine at idle it runs perfectly. Or at least, if I am actually loosing significant power from something, then I'm gonna wet myself if I ever get it back :D