In the event that you are alert of abnormal symptoms on your vehicle, you are right to be preoccupied, because a car represents a huge annual budget and unexpected breakdowns don’t lower the bill. So what if you think that you have a leaking injector on your Citroen Saxo? You probably figured it out thanks to black/oily drips along your engine unit, or a disturbed idle, or strange black smoke. These three symptoms are the main indicators of a leaking injector. As this troubles can cause more serious engine problems on your car, we chose to write this article content to help you ensure the failure of a leaking injector and deal with it properly. To do so, we will first look at the case of gasoline injectors and then at those of diesel injectors Citroen Saxo.
Leaking injector on my petrol Citroen Saxo
It is important to know that the injectors on petrol and diesel engines are distinct, the truth is, the difference in combustion between these two kind of engines makes the injection distinct. The key 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 Citroen Saxo: The different leaks
It should be known that injector leaks on a Citroen Saxo equipped with a petrol engine are rather rare. This is due to the much lower pressure in the petrol intake systems. However, 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 component that is attached to the fuel rail, an O-ring will be involved in this. - Leak injector of the lower part:
At last, you may encounter a leak coming from the lower portion of the injector of your car, this one will occur from the junction with the engine and not with the rail as seen sooner.
Leaking injector on my diesel Citroen Saxo
Unlike petrol engines, which have spark combustion, diesel engines run on compression. This combustion system 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 Citroen Saxo: The different leaks
In the case of leaking diesel injectors on your Citroen Saxo, there are three different kind of leaks:
- Leakage from the injector inlet:
In this instance, 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 relates to the management of the fuel return in the injector, this time the injector that leaks on your Citroen Saxo 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 bothersome, 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 checking you have oil leaking but it does not come from your injectors, we recommend you to read this article content on the existence of oil leaking on your Citroen Saxo.
Leaking injector on my Citroen Saxo, how to fix the leak
And finally, we’re going to look at how to fix a leaking injector on your car. Regularly a leak is associated, as we have seen previously, to a worn seal due to the pressures suffered. But think that the pressure in the circuit is monumental, specifically on diesel engines. So you will have to take some precautions:
- Lower the pressure before any work is achieved…
- Covering you to avoid the risk of fuel spillage
- NEVER work on a running diesel engine injector.
Concerning the repair part of your leak, it will oftentimes be limited to changing the seals that have failed:
- Find out 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 automatically difficult, but if you have the tiniest hesitation in the treatment of your injector that leaks on your Citroen Saxo, we recommend you to get closer to your mechanic to avoid any bad manipulation that could significantly harm the condition of your Citroen Saxo.
To get more tips on the Citroen Saxo, take a look at the Citroen Saxo category.
