D4D 2.0 Engine Sounds Strange

[JohnYossarian]

Dear All,

I am starting to question the "bulletproof" Toyota reliability.

My MOTs and Servicing are all done at authorised Toyota dealer and yet I keep coughing cash up for lots of things.

The last straw (I am not sure whether this time is the camel's back, but it is getting very close) is a strange noise that comes from the engine once started. The engine starts normally and then 10-20 seconds later there are some coughing from, as it seems, engine compartment that very soon after its first appearance joins the typical diesel engine noise but this time as if a broken fan rotates at constant speed but hitting something everytime it makes a turn. I am sorry but I cannot explain better, not a native English speaker.

I do not get any faults on the dashboard.

The question(s) I have is whether it is dangerous to drive the car to the Toyota garage tomorrow first thing in the morning? What could be the possible reason for this noise? Has anyone encountered anything similar?

I will see what happens this time but if it is another costly repair, this will be it.

Thank you in advance!

Jordan

[JohnYossarian]

[JohnYossarian]

I have added a picture of the engine. The thing in the blue circle (I could do with some suggestions what the thing is) you can see some oil, which is not present at the rest three. My initial thought was that there must have been an oil leak as I cannot imagine where the oil would come from at this point. The oil filling inlet is further and it is unlikely that the oil is from the recent oil change.

[Beagh1958]

It's your electrical multi plug to injector, looks like seal around top of injector is leaking.

Regards, Beagh.

[JohnYossarian]

It's your electrical multi plug to injector, looks like seal around top of injector is leaking.

Regards, Beagh.

Thanks Beagh!!!

I had built this crazy theory that the oil somehow interfere with the el. current and it works with three cylinders only. Obviously one of the injector does not play it vital role at the moment. How dangerous is it to drive the car? I will take it to Toyota tomorrow morning and fingers crossed, it would not cost too much?

Cheers,

Jordan

EDIT: I have been thinking that should the electrical multi plug to injector is not sealed properly the light on the dash board surely should have registered this but nothing happened.

[JohnYossarian]

Today I went to Mr. Toyota and the guy there told me that it is the injector(s) that is(are) at fault. In fiscal terms he was not able to give me a figure as they need to strip down the engine and decide what and how many injectors. One thing that I do not get is why the noise disappears as soon as the rpm of the car exceeds 900. It is only audible at idle. I was thinking that if I keep the RPM high enough, above 2000 rpm the injector could eventually clean up (or is this too naive an assumption?).

Has anyone experienced anything like that?

Can the injectors be simply cleaned?

Thanks!

Jordan

[AygoChris]

Hi, the Toyota garage should be able to give you a rough idea, as using their tester (IT2), should be able to see which injectors are working and to what amount, on a scale from -5 to +5, ideally as close to 0 as poss. anything above 3 and they are out of spec, the only down side is if say cylinder 1 = 3.8, another will be about -3.5 to compensate so could give you a false reading. They can been cleaned and/or repaired so long as they are not to far gone.

Another thing you could get them to check for the noise would be the clutch/flywheel, the flywheel is a 'dual mass' style made up of springs etc, giving a softer/smoother take up of drive but is a bit of a weak point, the internals break up and become very noisey and cause vibrations.

Hope this helps

[JohnYossarian]

Hi, the Toyota garage should be able to give you a rough idea, as using their tester (IT2), should be able to see which injectors are working and to what amount, on a scale from -5 to +5, ideally as close to 0 as poss. anything above 3 and they are out of spec, the only down side is if say cylinder 1 = 3.8, another will be about -3.5 to compensate so could give you a false reading. They can been cleaned and/or repaired so long as they are not to far gone.

Another thing you could get them to check for the noise would be the clutch/flywheel, the flywheel is a 'dual mass' style made up of springs etc, giving a softer/smoother take up of drive but is a bit of a weak point, the internals break up and become very noisey and cause vibrations.

Hope this helps

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your explanation!

I am taking the car to them on Monday and fingers crossed that it could be something small-ish (although with my luck I do not believe it). The oil leak has not come back although I do not see it as "one off". The seal is either intact ot not. I still cannot explain how the plug's seal can influence the injectors and the most puzzling of all is that the ECU has not registered anything, as if the injectors are in specs.

Cheers,

Jordan

[JohnYossarian]

The saga continues. Today I took the car to Mr. Toyota and after one hour diagnostics I was given one good and one bad news. The good one was that all my injectors are fine and do not need replacement. The bad however is pretty painful, the air-conditioning compressor is making the noise. I was quoted £ 1140 for compressor and labour. I asked for my discount and it went down to £ 940 but still painful amount.

I have just read the thread on air-condition compressor and started wondering whether I do not have a problem with the pulley bearings rather than with the compressor itself. I will start using the air-conditioning on a regular basis although it is a bit late now. As mentioned before, when I go above 1000 rpm the noise disappears. Does that mean anything?

I will appreciate your experience/advice.

Cheers,

Jordan

[JohnYossarian]

Can anyone explain something to me that I do not get? (too thick may be?)

I was told that it is my AC compressor at fault and I assume that when the AC is ON it should be worse.

I was very surprised when I turned the AC ON and the noise disappeared immediately. I switched the AC OFF again and the noise was back. I repeated this procedure several times and every time the result was the same: AC ON - no noise; AC OFF - the noise comes back.

Am I right when thinking that it is the pulley's bearing that is likely to be the culprit?

Please, let me know what you think as I have arranged a visit to the garage tomorrow for the compressor to be replaced. I am going to question the diagnostics though.

Thanks in advance!

Jordan

The replacement was done this morning, £ 940 less money wise. No noise anymore. They explained my previous question that it is normal for the noise to disappear when the AC is ON. Hopefully this will stand for longer.

So far after buying it second hand at 60 000 miles (86 000 miles at the moment) I have spent more than £ 3500 on repairs over 2.5 years. I think it is too much, but it is obviously down to my luck. So much about Toyota bulletproof reliability.

Cheers.

Edited June 8, 2010 by JohnYossarian