Fixing advice from our garage proprietor Steve Rothwell
VOLKSWAGEN CADDY
Whilst carrying out an injector replacement on this 2016 VW Caddy 1.6 TDI, I was reminded that I have heard of some owners still trying to test for an ineffective injector by slackening off the pipe to release the pressure to a single injector. Whilst this was a common practice and a great way to test an injector on an older diesel engine – this is something which should not be carried out on a modern common-rail system.
The pressures used in the common-rail system are around 2000 Bar/29,000psi, that is enough to cut through metal when directed correctly, but would certainly cut through skin forcing diesel fuel into the blood system.
Whenever working on the diesel injection system on a common-rail engine, it is imperative that the engine is allowed to stand for ten-fifteen minutes before slackening off any pipes to allow the pressure to abate before beginning any work.
As all the injectors are fed by the common-rail system, releasing the pipe to one injector would release the pressure in the complete system and so would be an ineffective way to test a single injector.
ABARTH 500
The owner of this little Abarth 500 1.4 took great pride in his vehicle and was upset if anyone called it a Fiat. A mistake I always avoided when he came in.
His latest visit was to ask if I could see why the motor was running a little sluggish, Plugging in my scanner I hid it from his view when I selected Fiat from the list, and then showed him the code I had of P1003 indicating a misfire on cylinder 3.
The motor was regularly serviced, and I knew the spark plugs were not that old and so I suspected that the coil pack may be at fault, but to confirm I swapped over the coil packs on cylinders two and three, before starting up again. This time I got code P1002 which was enough evidence to confirm the coil pack was the source of the trouble.
After a discussion with the owner, he was quite happy for all four to be replaced, saving any future troubles, and so a new set was ordered up and fitted, smoothing out the little Fiat Abarth.
NISSAN KUBISTAR
The job time given to replace the starter motor on this 2008 Nissan Kubistar 1.5 dCi was 1.7 hours. At first glance that appeared rather generous. With the Nissan up on the ramp, and looking up from below, the starter securing bolts looked readily accessible and the job looked quite easy.
Discon
