In the event that you are informed of unusual symptoms on your vehicle, you are right to be concerned, because a car represents a big annual budget and sudden malfunctions don’t lower the expenses. So what if you find that you have a leaking injector on your BMW X3? You probably figured it out thanks to black/oily drips along your engine unit, or a troubled idle, or unusual black smoke. These three symptoms are the main indicators of a leaking injector. As this troubles can bring about more significant engine complications on your car, we decided to publish this article content to help you validate the failure of a leaking injector and treat it properly. To do so, we will initially take a look at the circumstance of gasoline injectors and then at those of diesel injectors BMW X3.
Leaking injector on my petrol BMW X3
It is fundamental to know that the injectors on petrol and diesel engines are different, in fact, the difference in combustion between these two types of engines makes the injection different. The main difference lies in the pressure experienced 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 BMW X3: The different leaks
It should be mentioned that injector leaks on a BMW X3 equipped with a petrol engine are pretty infrequent. This is because of the much lower pressure in the petrol intake systems. Nevertheless, there are two types of leaks:
- Leakage from the top of the injector:
It is possible that you have a leak from the top of the injector, this is the portion that is connected to the fuel rail, an O-ring will be involved in this. - Leak injector of the lower part:
At last, you may experience a leak coming from the lower portion of the injector of your car, this one will appear from the junction with the engine and not with the rail as seen previously.
Leaking injector on my diesel BMW X3
Unlike petrol engines, which have spark combustion, diesel engines run on compression. This combustion procedure generates 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 BMW X3: The different leaks
In the circumstance of leaking diesel injectors on your BMW X3, there are three several types of leaks:
- Leakage from the injector inlet:
In this case, it is an inlet pipe that will deform with time, commonly the leak will be at the clamping point. - Injector return leakage:
As its name indicates, this leakage concerns the management of the fuel return in the injector, this time the injector that leaks on your BMW X3 will be caused by 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 find an air noise and a compression loss. - If after examining you have oil leaking but it does not come from your injectors, we suggest you to consult this article content on the presence of oil leaking on your BMW X3.
Leaking injector on my BMW X3, how to fix the leak
And finally, we’re going to take a look at how to fix a leaking injector on your car. Oftentimes a leak is associated, as we have seen prior to this, to a worn seal as a result of the pressures endured. But think that the pressure in the circuit is enormous, specifically on diesel engines. So you will have to take some measures:
- Lower the pressure before any work is done…
- Masking you to avoid the risk of fuel spillage
- NEVER work on a running diesel engine injector.
Relating to the repair part of your leak, it will oftentimes be limited to replacing the seals that have failed:
- Find the source of the leak
- Dismantle the injector in question
- Replace the corresponding seal kit
- Reassemble the assembly and tighten with a torque wrench in respect with the manufacturer’s standards.
In all situations, these interventions are not automatically complicated, but if you have the tiniest uncertainty in the treatment of your injector that leaks on your BMW X3, we suggest you to get closer to your auto technician to avoid any bad handling that could critically harm the condition of your BMW X3.
Whenever you have any additional questions about the BMW X3, do not hesitate to consult our BMW X3 category.
