Thread: Diesel injector cleaner additive ?

Originally Posted by Dicko

Had the same thing happen in my prado some time back. Leaking Injector seals, diesel in the cylinders at ignition making smoke. Only happen when car parked overnight nose facing downhill.


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Hah... reminds me of the complaint about the Cadillac that liked chocolate Ice-cream but did not like vanilla ice-cream. This guy would buy ice-cream for his family for desert occasionally, after dinner the family would occasionally drive to the supermarket for a tub of ice-cream ... this was a genuine complaint to Cadillac. The engineers....the engineering group, being vanilla ice-cream fans just had to investigate.
Turns out that the chocolate ice-cream was near the checkout but the vanilla was at the opposite end of the supermarket.... the extra time taken to purchase the vanilla gave the warm engine just the right amount of time to develop a vapor block / cavity in the fuel/carb system making it hard to start.

I actually use 'fuel master' in my diesel vehicles. It is a fuel additive / lubricant.

I think it works well. I did the injector seals in a d4d engine hilux. The injectors in these things can carbon up badly. They were as clean as a whistle ( like you had just taken them out of the box) and the only thing I could put it down to was the fuel master ( and the seals being done on time too)

Originally Posted by tac a1

I actually use 'fuel master' in my diesel vehicles. It is a fuel additive / lubricant.

I think it works well. I did the injector seals in a d4d engine hilux. The injectors in these things can carbon up badly. They were as clean as a whistle ( like you had just taken them out of the box) and the only thing I could put it down to was the fuel master ( and the seals being done on time too)

The aussies have been putting 2-stroke premix oil in their tanks to achieve the same thing

Glow plugs.

I used to have two of these utes, used to replace a glow plug every few months.

You don't need to remove them to check them, just remove the busbar acoss the tops of them then use a multi meter to continuity check them or a 12v test light attached to the positive terminal. Good ones will light up the test light, bad ones won't. they're basically just a large lightbulb.

You don't need to replace the full set either, just one at a time, takes less than 10 min to test and replace.

Did they replace ALL the glow plugs recently? Cheap ass mechanics will only test with meter and replace faulty one only, only to have the rest follow soon after. Do the whole set at same time, they are not expensive. White smoke on start only is unburnt fuel due to crapped out glow plug. If it had stayed white when engine has warmed, then you can say it has other major problems that need addressing. Process of elimination, While talking to an engine reconditioner (which I do often when visiting 55six next door) as he is a good sort, we discuss all sorts and one being reading the telltale colour signs of exhaust smoke relating to engine wear/faults and injectors.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

Ryan, "land slug" cause of what it likes to do offroad - steep bits and 4x4 it seems to like crawling up things around 1700 - 2000 rpm.

Slug - had the local mechanic do the glow plugs, I was nervous about breaking them off They've invoiced me for 4, will do the multimeter tests later today and see if one is faulty.

Diesel additives have a place depending on what you think you need to achieve... I use Wynns EDT as a bug preventer and helps to keep the injectors from building up varnish as I mostly use Gull diesel - this doesn't have the brand specific additive that the other mainstream fuels have so the EDT takes the place of the additive dose that is present in the other brand fuel. I had one diesel vehicle start running like a complete bag of snot, rough running, hard starting, consumption on the inbuilt display went up by 2.5L/100km and I was thinking it was about to fully shit itself. Realised I hadn't dosed the thing for a few months as it was the wife's car so took it down, filled it up and gave it a double dose. 15Km later it was back to running normally and 7L/100km instead of 9.5...

So additives can do a lot for you in the right conditions but they aren't god bottles. They won't ressurect an engine that's obviously beyond it!

Originally Posted by ebf

Thanks for all the advice so far.

Ryan, "land slug" cause of what it likes to do offroad - steep bits and 4x4 it seems to like crawling up things around 1700 - 2000 rpm.

Slug - had the local mechanic do the glow plugs, I was nervous about breaking them off They've invoiced me for 4, will do the multimeter tests later today and see if one is faulty.

Did you get it sorted?

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Did you get it sorted?

Yeah VC, one of the new plugs was a dud. All good now