In the event that you are aware of abnormal symptoms on your vehicle, you are right to be worried, because a car represents a massive annual budget and unexpected malfunctions don’t reduce the bill. So what if you feel like you have a leaking injector on your Audi Q3? You most likely figured it out thanks to black/oily drips along your engine, or a disturbed idle, or unusual black smoke. These three manifestations are the main symptoms of a leaking injector. As this troubles can cause more critical engine trouble on your car, we chose to publish this content page to help you validate the failure of a leaking injector and treat it properly. To do so, we will initially look into the case of gasoline injectors and then at those of diesel injectors Audi Q3.
Leaking injector on my petrol Audi Q3
It is important to know that the injectors on petrol and diesel engines are distinct, actually, the difference in combustion between these two kind of engines makes the injection distinct. The main difference lies in the pressure undergone by the injectors, on a petrol engine it will vary between 3.5 bars for indirect injection and 120 bars for indirect injection.
Leaking injector on a petrol Audi Q3: The different leaks
It should be mentioned that injector leaks on a Audi Q3 equipped with a petrol engine are rather rare. This is due to the much lower pressure in the petrol intake systems. Even so, there are two kind of leaks:
- Leakage from the top of the injector:
It is plausible that you have a leak from the top of the injector, this is the portion that is linked to the fuel rail, an O-ring will be involved in this. - Leak injector of the lower part:
Finally, you may encounter a leak coming from the lower portion of the injector of your car, this one will come from the junction with the engine and not with the rail as seen sooner.
Leaking injector on my diesel Audi Q3
Unlike petrol engines, which have spark combustion, diesel engines run on compression. This combustion procedure creates very high pressure in the engine, as do the injectors. On these models, the pressure is more than 10 times higher than on the direct injection of car petrol engines, reaching 1800 to 2000 bars.
Leaking injector on diesel Audi Q3: The different leaks
In the case of leaking diesel injectors on your Audi Q3, there are three several kind of leaks:
- Leakage from the injector inlet:
In this case, it is an inlet pipe that will deform as time passes, generally the leak will be at the clamping point. - Injector return leakage:
As its name reveals, this leakage relates to the management of the fuel return in the injector, this time the injector that leaks on your Audi Q3 will be the result of an O-ring or its plastic tip that leaks. - Injector base leak:
This injection leak is one of the most troublesome, it is the junction between the engine and the injector nose that leaks at a copper seal, you should encounter an air noise and a compression loss. - If after checking you have oil leaking but it does not come from your injectors, we suggest you to read this content page on the presence of oil leaking on your Audi Q3.
Leaking injector on my Audi Q3, how to fix the leak
And to finish, we’re going to look into how to fix a leaking injector on your car. Frequently a leak is associated, as we have seen sooner, to a worn seal due to the pressures suffered. But think that the pressure in the circuit is tremendous, especially on diesel engines. So you will have to take some measures:
- Lower the pressure before any work is conducted…
- Masking you to avoid the risk of fuel spillage
- NEVER work on a running diesel engine injector.
Regarding the repair part of your leak, it will frequently be restricted to swapping the seals that have failed:
- Find the source of the leak
- Dismantle the injector in question
- Change the corresponding seal kit
- Reassemble the set up and tighten with a torque wrench in respect with the manufacturer’s standards.
In all situations, these interventions are not inevitably very hard, but if you have the slightest uncertainty in the treatment of your injector that leaks on your Audi Q3, we suggest you to get closer to your repair shop to avoid any bad handling that could significantly harm the condition of your Audi Q3.
If you wish more tutorials on the Audi Q3, go to our Audi Q3 category.
