Failed and stuck in injector problem

[Roger T]

My 3 litre V6 started to run badly when traveling at 60mph one day. A few days later I took it to a local garage with Jaguar experience and they diagnosed a failed injector on no4 cylinder, but when it came to pulling it out, it was corroded in and stuck. They were not prepared to pull harder with the danger of breaking it off and all the problems for them and expense for me. In the conversation the main dealer was mentioned, but would they succeed? After an internet search I purchased a proper tool for pulling V6 and V8 injectors which was a slide hammer. Taking the fuel rail off was straight forward but after multiple blows with the slide hammer I chickened out at the risk of snapping the injector.
Back onto the internet and I found a company AP Autodiagnostics in Catterick North Yorkshire who specialise in pulling stuck injectors. After a slow drive on 5 cylinders up the A1 I left it with them. Two days later job done old injector out and new JLR injector in, back on 6 cylinders. The only issue was the £700 bill, but cheaper than £11000 for a new cylinder head if it all went wrong.
The root of the problem is water dripping onto the engine, through the bonnet vents, causing corrosion between the aluminium cylinder head and a steel sleeve on the injector. I am looking to sealing the vents off with silicone sealant to keep the water from doing more damage. I cannot see the vents do anything for engine cooling.

[scm]

Do you have RWD? Their vents are in a different place from the AWD which has covers to catch water ingress.

[DaddyDarren]

Good information. Thanks for sharing

Did you consider replacing all 6 injectors?

[Roger T]

One was bad enough. I have been told not all injector positions suffer from water corrosion!

[DaddyDarren]

One was bad enough. I have been told not all injector positions suffer from water corrosion!

Sorry. Point was if one injector has failed, regardless of being seized, would it be good to replace all six?

Just check out AP Autodiagnostics. Look like they know what they’re doing & have the equipment & experience to get them out. Even say, not as difficult as diesel variants

Did they supply the new injector too?

TIA

[Lunar]

Jaguar used to supply injectors in packs of 3 or 4 (can't remember which) so you would at least replace one complete bank at a time.

It now costs at least as much to purchase just one - seems an absolute con to me.

It also doesn't help that under the approved warranty they (naturally) won't authorise replacing injectors that haven't yet failed.

To date mine has had 5 of the 6 injectors replaced, during 3 different visits.

3 were for injector failure and the other 2 were during head swap to the replacement engine - 1 was cracked and 1 was stuck.

[DaddyDarren]

If one went I’d be mindful to replace them all at same time. I’d be constantly worrying when the next one goes!

[Roger T]

With regards to replacing more injectors, with it being out of warranty I am working on the fact it was an electrical failure, so random and not connected to fuel quality or carbon etc. If I get another failure I will take it to the garage to diagnose the issue then change it myself as I bought a puller. If seized in back up the A1. The cause of the seizure is water dripping through the bonnet where the vents are. I bought some silicone sealant with the intention of blocking the vent holes, but after popping the vents out I decided that water going through the holes is not a problem as it drips onto the covers over the heads then onto the ground. The problem is the vent to bonnet seal or lack of it. Water leaking through gets between the bonnet inner and outer panels and drips various places on the engine. I always wondered why there was a pool of water on top of the gearbox. I have sealed the vents into the bonnet and after rain today there is no water on the gearbox. If taking the vents out there is good access to the clips from under the bonnet with no risk to the paintwork.

[DaddyDarren]

Appreciate the detailed posts. Not had one fail yet but always concerned hearing about them getting stuck. Have made note of the garage that can remove them

Thanks again for sharing info.

[Baggers]

Thanks for the detailed post and insights Roger. I have this exact issue with my 2014 F-type 3.0S, which will require trailering to my local Jag specialist to sort next week, having developed a misfire at the weekend.

A quick run off of the codes confirmed cyls 4 and 5 to be the victims, with water induced failure of the injectors on those cylinders almost certainly the cause. A good trawl of posts on this issue would suggest its both common on early cars and injectors 4 and 5 seem to be the ones that go most often. My car has 54K on the clock which again seems consistent with the experience of others but I've read of some giving up at 25K.

From the conversation I had with my indi the water ingress issue seems well known to specialists so the steer on sealing up the vents is helpful. The design of the securing fixing for the injectors is also crap and the reason getting them out is such a bugger, as it's plastic and just won't take any torque. Now bracing myself for a £1200 bill and a good wait to get the car back as they will also be using a specialist to get them out. I'm hoping stopping the water dripping in, exclusively using 98RON and a fair wind (if only to dry the engine bay out!) will avoid further damage to my wallet. A real shame because I love the car, I now just don't quite trust it!