A Tale of Two Injector Sets

[kryten]

As I have mentioned in the past I'm the oddball here with Volvo power. As for inherent built in design flaws in an engine Cummins seems to have the fuel pump, and Volvo has it's injectors. Back in the summer of 2015 the truck would start to vibrate badly if I called for more than 20 lbs of boost. Called a trusted shop foreman and he said injectors so I limped it a couple more days and he got me in. Did the tests and it was indeed injectors so Volvo bought me a 6 pack and life was good. He asked me how many times they had already been changed and he just about fell over when I told him they were the original set at 678000 km. He said he'd never heard of a set going that long and whatever I was doing to keep doing it.

For most of that 675000 km I had been adding about 1/2 bottle of Howes fuel treatment per fill year round. Shortly after replacing the injectors I installed a FASS fuel system and stopped with the Howes. I was hoping that with the FASS removing the air from the fuel the injectors would last longer just from that.

I have just got out of the shop after getting the injectors replaced again. The symptoms were not near as bad as the first time but I was in the city that has a shop I can actually trust. (They won Volvo/Macks best technician contest 2 years in a row for North America). This time the injectors lasted 345000 km with no fuel treatment. Is there a connection or is this just a coincidence? Not sure but I picked up a couple cases before leaving town.

[JMBT]

I don’t know whether it is helping the injectors, I know it adds back in some of the lubricity that the new fuel has removed, so it should be helping, right? I have heard not to run it in a tier 3 or tier 4 motor because it plays havoc with the emissions system. Are you demandated or pre- dpf? If not I would be interested to know, if it is ok for newer motors? My brother runs it in his old Cat so I am curious. Thanks.

[Rawze]

we use diesel-kleen once a month. it has positive lubricity too.
http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...622#pid622

[kryten]

(11-02-2017 )JMBT Wrote:  I don’t know whether it is helping the injectors, I know it adds back in some of the lubricity that the new fuel has removed, so it should be helping, right? I have heard not to run it in a tier 3 or tier 4 motor because it plays havoc with the emissions system. Are you demandated or pre- dpf? If not I would be interested to know, if it is ok for newer motors? My brother runs it in his old Cat so I am curious. Thanks.

I am still mandated as I'm not sure there is even a butcher program for the D13 Volvo. On the bottle of Howes it says it's "for ULSD fuel" "no alchhol, no sulfur, no ash" and in the small print on the back "particulate filter-friendly, will not void engine manufacturers warranty".

I got it at a aftermarket parts store for $13 per 1.9L bottle, down the road about 4 miles the dealers regular price was $23 and his good mood price was $17.

[kryten]

I was taking a bit of a break this afternoon from doing a service on the truck and a friend called to have a bit of a rant. His truck is also a Volvo with Volvo D13 power but a couple years newer than mine. He just got out of the shop after doing injectors again and he said he was still on warranty, so it's still under 800000 km.

If I remember right he said the factory set lasted about 350000km. The second set about the same and the last set about 3 months. Good thing it's on warranty, he'd be going broke quickly at $4700 per 6 pack plus fitting.

He's in a little bit different boat than I am as I'm just trying to make my truck last another few years then I can hang things up and play with my toys. He's only in his 30's and with the injector problems he flat out said he loves the Volvo truck, but he's really not sure if he wants another Volvo engine. It really does seem there are no viable options anymore.

He also mentioned with the leaky injectors his fuel consumption was 32 - 33 L/100km and after they were replaced it was up to 44 L/100km. Could this be something as simple as they weren't adjusted correctly?