Whenever you are aware of abnormal signs on your vehicle, you are right to be worried, because a car represents a big annual budget and unpredicted malfunctions don’t reduce the costs. So what if you think that you have a leaking injector on your Fiat 500? You most likely figured it out thanks to black/oily drips along your engine unit, or a troubled idle, or uncommon black smoke. These three symptoms are the main signs of a leaking injector. As this problem can end up in more serious engine concerns on your car, we chose to write this content page to help you ensure the failure of a leaking injector and deal with it properly. To do so, we will initially take a look at the circumstance of gasoline injectors and then at those of diesel injectors Fiat 500.
Leaking injector on my petrol Fiat 500
It is fundamental 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 essential 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 Fiat 500: The different leaks
It should be said that injector leaks on a Fiat 500 equipped with a petrol engine are pretty rare. This is resulting from the much lower pressure in the petrol intake systems. Nevertheless, 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 part that is linked 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 Fiat 500
Unlike petrol engines, which have spark combustion, diesel engines run on compression. This combustion system 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 Fiat 500: The different leaks
In the circumstance of leaking diesel injectors on your Fiat 500, there are three several kind of leaks:
- Leakage from the injector inlet:
In this case, it is an inlet pipe that will deform along with time, generally the leak will be at the clamping point. - Injector return leakage:
As its name reveals, this leakage concerns the management of the fuel return in the injector, this time the injector that leaks on your Fiat 500 will be a consequence of an O-ring or its plastic tip that leaks. - Injector base leak:
This injection leak is one of the most annoying, it is the junction between the engine and the injector nose that leaks at a copper seal, you should feel 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 read this content page on the presence of oil leaking on your Fiat 500.
Leaking injector on my Fiat 500, how to fix the leak
And at last, we’re going to take a look at how to fix a leaking injector on your car. Frequently a leak is linked, 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 monumental, specifically on diesel engines. So you will have to take some safety 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 replacing the seals that have failed:
- Discover the source of the leak
- Take apart the injector in question
- Change the corresponding seal kit
- Reassemble the assembly and tighten with a torque wrench in respect with the manufacturer’s standards.
In all cases, these interventions are not automatically complex, but if you have the tiniest doubt in the treatment of your injector that leaks on your Fiat 500, we suggest you to get closer to your mechanic to avoid any bad handling that could seriously harm the condition of your Fiat 500.
Whenever you have any additional questions about the Fiat 500, do not hesitate to consult our Fiat 500 category.
