Fuel injectors - Renault Master

Mags52

Mags52

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At our MOT we got an advisory of an oil leak. We took the van (43k on the clock) in to have it checked and it came back with the following:
1) All four fuel injectors leaking
2) Rocker box gasket leaking
3) Other work my be needed when repairs underway

The only sign of this apparently disastrous failure has been a very small oil drip on the drive and an occasional spike on the rev counter when driving hard uphill.

The garage said they couldn't do it and we should go to a specialist. Looking on the internet it looks like the cost of a repair could be £2 -3k. We are somewhat appalled.
I am almost completely ignorant of these things but it looks like a complete engine reconditioning is cheaper than this repair. Would that include the fuel injectors? Can anyone advise what we should do next?
The van is now in the dog house. We have had enough of its problems.
Mags
 
Replacing the gasket should be a simple & cheap job for any garage, the injectors on the other hand may need to be seen to to by a diesel specialist, £ 2 - 3k seems a very expensive quotation.

The '' other work '' issues are an unknown quantity.

I'd shop around for quotes.
 
2-3k deffo seems OTT , i'd shop about for sure , but at the same time use someone with good reviews / good word of mouth reviews , as you could take it to the cheapest , to find out they start bumping up the price with extra work.
 
Where are the injectors leaking from, seems strange they would all leek, does some seal want looking at or a nut tightening up.
The oil on the drive will be from the rocker cover, at the outside I'd say £50 but where is the diesel going.
Havnt you got a tame mechanic you could get to look at it.
 
I would suggest that diagnosis is mainly conjecture and guess work
start with the cheapest first ie the rocker gasket then if still showing signs of leaking change the injector seals
i would be surprised if new injectors were required price of seals are penny,s 2to4 hrs labour max where they get 2 to 3 k from is a mystery
its quite feasible for one oil leak to be mistaken for two or more different leaks, one at a time is the way to go
smelling the leaking fluid, will give a clue, oil or diesel???

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It may only be the injector leak off pipes leaking due to age.
Yes new or reconditioned injectors will have a lot less leak off but for the diesel to drip the pipes may need attention.
I would get the leak off pipes replaced first and see what it's like.
After that the injector seat seals (copper washers) may need doing but again a cheap fix.
The pipes and a rocker cover gasket should cost less than £50 parts and a couple of hours labour.
 
I've had the Vauxhall Movano vans for the last few years, the injectors are very expensive to replace, and difficult to get out etc, so yes it is an expensive job.
A cheaper alternative is to buy a big bag of cat litter:p
 
We'll take it to another garage and ask them for their opinion. Thanks folks.
 
Mags52 said:
£2 -3k.
Click to expand...

Oh wow . okay so let take a look at this , the kind of work your talking of , i would expect more like £2-300 . But as i'd do the work myself , i would half even that , so i have to ask , are you looking for the right work on line , or do you have your gasket's mixed up . Is it a rocker , or cylinder gasket , that's leaking here . Why do i ask this , well a rocker box is just a cover on the top of the engine , it cover's the valve , and camshaft , the gasket just seals the rocker box to the cylinder head . It's possible , with a little coaching , you could even do the job yourself , however , a cylinder head gasket is actually very much more complicated . It involve's far more work , as most of the top of the engine would have to be taken apart , this could be the extra work that your mot guy spoke about and i'm afraid , would cost considerably more . Basically it's what's called a top end overhaul .
Now your injector's , most garage's would not cover them with a top end overhaul , unless specifically asked for . You really need a diesel fuel specialist for those , which is probably where a garage would send them anyway . It sound's as though they could do with a clean , service , and reset , not many people realise they should be serviced regularly , indeed i only found out by accident . I have owned my car 10 year's now , and they have been done 3 time's , that's a bit over the top , but then i never have any problem's with them . I remove the injector's and take them to the shop , but i know the shop will actually do the complete job , not much help to you as your about 300 mile's away , but there must be someone up there that will do the job too . The most likely area for a leak is the tank return pipe's , often a small rubber black tube , similar in size to windscreen washer tube , it could deteriorate with age . Being an overflow returning unused fuel to the tank , it could account for only a small leak , anywhere else and there would be large puddle , as the system is under greater pressure . Unfortunately you don't mention the age of your van , only the mileage , so i have little idea of what motor we are dealing with , in respect of that i have based what i've said on my car . My own van has 3000 mile's more than you's , but is 17 year's old , i have a lot of work planned under the bonnet , this being one of them . Just to avoid any confusion , my car has 180000 mile's and is 23 year's old .



Edit , yes that is correct , 1 , 8 , 0 , thousand miles , lol .
 
Last edited:
David Philp in East Calder(?) is probably your closest Renault Commercial repair centre.
Might be worthwhile going along to see them if they do foc quotations (might not though) saying you got an advisory on your MOT about an oil leak and see what they say?

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Thanks folks. It's a 10 year old Renault Master 3 litre engine. It's definitely the rocker box gasket. The leak is small. I thought we had to have the injectors replaced which explains the big quote. On Monday I'll get in touch with David Philip in West Calder. Thanks for that connection Gellyneck.
 
Had a couple of Traffic and Vivaro vans in my fleet when I was working and they have a major problem with the injectors seizing in the head, one of the vans I had was under warranty and they ended up putting a new engine in.
It seems this was a well known issue but Renault did not do a recall on it just waited until someone screamed!

Same as gearboxes, 90-100k and they go pop, had 2 traffic minibuses and sold them when they were out of warranty to a firm and they both ended up with new gearboxes?
 
Mags52 said:
Oh dear ... worried now.
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Well stop , at your present rate that's another 10 year's . Get in touch with Philip David and see what he has to say . I'm gonna stick my neck out here , and say , i seriously doubt your gonna need new injector's , just service the old one's . If one has seized it could be a pain , but at 10 year old , i would just use a very long bar and snap them out gently , having first soaked them in plus-gas first . At worst , the garage will be able to deal with them on site , i would have to remove the head and take it to the machine shop . Now unfortunately the age has not helped as i'm not familiar with that motor , but the rocker gasket should not be an issue at all . Again on my car , that involve's , removing 8 bolt's , pull off a breather , lift the cover off , pull off and discard the gasket , fit the new gasket , and re assemble , it really is that easy . 20 minute's work , top's . A bit longer if it's had a liquid gasket , basically come's in a tube , you need to make sure the mating surface's are spotlessly clean , but it should be still inside the hour .
 
If it was me i would replace the Rocker gasket myself ( pretty easy job ) then get the engine steam cleaned and play it by ear from there and see if you still have a leak , and at least with it steam cleaned you have a far better chance of seeing where it it leaking from before the engine gets stinking again

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Coastal Cruiser. said:
Had a couple of Traffic and Vivaro vans in my fleet when I was working and they have a major problem with the injectors seizing in the head, one of the vans I had was under warranty and they ended up putting a new engine in.
It seems this was a well known issue but Renault did not do a recall on it just waited until someone screamed!

Same as gearboxes, 90-100k and they go pop, had 2 traffic minibuses and sold them when they were out of warranty to a firm and they both ended up with new gearboxes?
Click to expand...
Exactly the same where I worked, 70000 and just going into work one morning , started up fine, half a mile down the road, just stopped, towed in and had to have a new engine 20000 later new gearbox, the bosses reckoned it was how I drove it but had to change their tune when the other drivers one went near on identical.
 
chaser said:
Exactly the same where I worked, 70000 and just going into work one morning , started up fine, half a mile down the road, just stopped, towed in and had to have a new engine 20000 later new gearbox, the bosses reckoned it was how I drove it but had to change their tune when the other drivers one went near on identical.
Click to expand...

Funny when you speak to a good mechanic at an independent garage and quote them a certain motor they will reel of all the issues that go with that model.
Seems that all vehicles including new ones have well known faults, most of the time the manufacturer plays dumb unless it is a major one even then they won't admit to much..
 
Just had worries about an oil leak myself. Just had front struts replaced and an MOT done. It passed the MOT but got an advisory about an oil leak.
Had me worried for a bit but then remembered the young lad who had done my shocks coming from inside the garage (my van was outside) covered in oil.
He said the shock had exploded on him when removing it. At the time I presumed this was when he was removing it from the spring inside the garage.
Turns out it was when he was taking it off the van itself.

My entire engine was soaked in oil and was dripping.

It kept doing this for a couple of weeks but only sometimes when I drove it... It was weird as I couldn't see where it was leaking from. There was a moist look everywhere from on top the diesel tank, all around the gear box, under the sump and a little bit up the other side of the engine (which was the strangest bit).

Anyway I bought some gunk degreaser and some blue workshop tissue rolls. I wiped as much of the engine as I could reach with the tissue, then cleaned stripes on the engine both horizontal and vertically then kept an eye on there areas to see what got re-oiled up. Nothing did over the next 500 miles, so I am now convinced it was the strut oil that just managed to get absolutely everywhere.

Anyway, the point of my story is. An oil leak from one location can get everywhere in an engine bay and can be misleading. I would be tempted to clean the engine a bit then drive for a little while and see where the oil leak is actually coming from. Unless you are losing masses of oil or you are seeing emulsions in your filler cap then I don't believe it is something you need to have looked at immediately and urgently. As Geo is someone who actually does this for a living very successfully I would take his advice and in the meantime not panic.
 
Makes you realise the difference in today's engines to the old uns , an oil leak was just standard that's why every house proud driver had a piece of cardboard for putting on the garage floor underneath the engine , now an oil leak is treated as a major issue.
 
Geo said:
where they get 2 to 3 k from is a mystery
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It's there way of saying 'sling yer hook, we don't want the job' while still being available for other work in the future.
Far cheaper to have the injectors overhauled and the spray pattern reset plus new seals and leak-off pipes.
Any mechanic could do the cam cover gasket in his sleep.

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Ok
Try to ignore the scaremongering
Rocker cover gasket is no big deal
Leaks from injectors are likely to be the leak off pipes
At ten years old they will have gone a bit hard and brittle
I have seen this on cars that are just five years old
I have been away from the motor trade for a long time know and didn't work much on Renault's when I did so cant be more specific sorry.
You have a years MOT so don't worry too much about it. ( I know that's easier said than done once you are made aware of something)
Get someone you trust to have a look at it.
Probably if you did nothing you will get the same mot advisory next year

How did you get on with your driveshaft gaiter?
 
Garfields said:
Ok
Try to ignore the scaremongering

How did you get on with your driveshaft gaiter?
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The driveshaft gaiter was fixed no problem but the same garage wouldn't touch the oil leak when they said it was coming from the injectors. They only charged £20 to check out the leak so we're thinking they can't have been sure about the problem. Tomorrow I'll call a couple of places nearby who might be able to give us more information.
 
I am lead to believe your engine which is same as mine is actually a Nissan unit maybe you have a Nissan Navara Specialist near you or just a diesel specialist.
 
Finding somewhere that works on plenty of Renaults is part of the battle
Where I used to work we had one guy who had served his time at a Renault garage and was happy to tackle them.
We use A M Philips at Broxburn for our Fiat van and have been happy with them but they are not Renault dealers

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A friend of mine in Carlisle specializes in removing seized injectors and refurbing them, Merc vans are the big culprits for seizing up apparently.
As others have said though, the oil leaks you have sound as though they are purely external and easily fixable by the sound of it.
If your van is a poor starter and kicks out loads of black smoke under hard acceleration, then maybe it would be worth investigating the injectors further, other than that, I wouldn't be too concerned.
 
jockaneezer said:
A friend of mine in Carlisle specializes in removing seized injectors and refurbing them, Merc vans are the big culprits for seizing up apparently.
As others have said though, the oil leaks you have sound as though they are purely external and easily fixable by the sound of it.
If your van is a poor starter and kicks out loads of black smoke under hard acceleration, then maybe it would be worth investigating the injectors further, other than that, I wouldn't be too concerned.
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This is the confusing thing. It starts first time, runs well and clean, does 29 mpg on a long run. The only strange symptom is an occasional spike on the rev counter when driving hard uphill.
 
Hi first thing to check is how much fuel is in the engine oil so you know if the injectors are leaking in, are the imisions ok on test if both ok check leak off pipes if all ok just renew rocker cover gasket
 
as previously said i would get a price to just do the rocker cover gasket first
 
Hi Folks, Here is the news - we took the van into a local fuel injector specialist and he's taken a look at it. He just phoned to say that it is indeed the rocker cover gasket and that on this model you can't buy a gasket, just a complete new cover. The whole engine was doused in oil so he is replacing the cover, cleaning up the engine and the injector seals pipes etc. Will be fixed by tomorrow. Thanks everyone. Mightily relieved here ... Mags

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