# Melted #3 Injector



## Snipesy (Dec 7, 2015)

Most likely leaking and catching fire. Very dangerous.

I'm serious. Get it towed. Don't drive or it could get really bad.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

GM probably would have covered it had you not gone ahead and done the DPF delete. You saw the problem before you modded your car so why did you do the mod before getting the problem fixed?


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

To me, it should be viewed as a separate issue. You have pictures on the same day as doing the delete to prove it existed before, if they give you any ****. That should be covered by the 100k PT warranty.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

MP81 said:


> To me, it should be viewed as a separate issue. You have pictures on the same day as doing the delete to prove it existed before, if they give you any ****. That should be covered by the 100k PT warranty.


In the end, yes. But that doesn't mean it won't be a major struggle getting there. And perhaps more costly than it is worth.

I'd give thought to unmodding the car and taking it to the dealer.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

ChevyGuy said:


> I'd give thought to unmodding the car and taking it to the dealer.


It would certainly make it much easier.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Yup. Unmodify the car and take it in. Don't need more headache for no reason.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

I'm guessing it was compromised during a manual regen. 

How many manual regens has it had - and were they always performed by an authorized dealer?


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## justin13703 (May 2, 2016)

If you're taking it in to the dealer, definitely put it back to stock. Once they see that delete, they're gonna make a note of it and they know about it permanently. It doesn't matter if you show them pictures of it the same day as the install. First of all, they don't know when you did the delete, and even if you prove that you took the pictures the same day, they will just say that it happened when you drive it after the delete. One of the things about doing a delete, is you may have to pretty much kiss the remainder of your warranty goodbye.

So if I were you, I would weigh whether it is better for you to remove the delete and try to get them to cover it, or just buy a new injector out of pocket for 200 dollars. But I definitely would not be taking the car to the dealer with a delete on it.


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

So I've done a little more digging, both visually and with the scan tools. 

Yes, absolutely, the mods now on the car will cause a headache for me down the road if I were to take this in to the dealership. However, I'm leaning more towards the possibility that something fell into the injector hole, was resting on the engine block (or is that the intake manifold?), and subsequently melted. What's melted and the injector itself seem to be two very different materials. There is a thick section of padding between the engine cover and the engine, and it's possible that a chunk of that foam fell off and into the injector housing. I'm not seeing any fresh signs of smoke, soot, or fuel. Given more time, I believe that I'll chip away at the entire mess to remove it and see if the injector is affected. 

Also, the balance rates for cylinders 1-4 are all within 1-2 of each other (not entirely sure what they're measuring). I remember during my Duramax days that the word on the street was even if your fuel balance rates were out of factory spec, they really weren't anything to worry about unless you saw one or two injectors running 4-8 units ahead or behind the other injectors. 

Will report back after I clean out that crap when I get the time to do so. The last time it had a manual regen would have been when I had that bad NOX sensor replaced this fall by the local dealership under warranty.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

starspangled6.0 said:


> So I've done a little more digging, both visually and with the scan tools.
> 
> Yes, absolutely, the mods now on the car will cause a headache for me down the road if I were to take this in to the dealership. However, I'm leaning more towards the possibility that something fell into the injector hole, was resting on the engine block (or is that the intake manifold?), and subsequently melted. What's melted and the injector itself seem to be two very different materials. There is a thick section of padding between the engine cover and the engine, and it's possible that a chunk of that foam fell off and into the injector housing. I'm not seeing any fresh signs of smoke, soot, or fuel. Given more time, I believe that I'll chip away at the entire mess to remove it and see if the injector is affected.
> 
> ...


That would make more sense to me as the connector and harness look fine in that photo you posted. Can you see any missing/loose/burned insulation on the engine cover?


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

I didn't see anything missing from that padding today, but I'll check again. Of course it's plausible that the injector housing itself cooked and formed that black goo, but I fail to see any performance issues at all. Melting foam or plastic would have caused the same black sooty matter to cover the fuel rails, too. 

Given that the car did have warranty work done by the previous owner- heck, he never even did an oil change by himself- I can only guess what kind of mechanics have been working on the car up till now, and what they could have dropped onto the top of the motor during work.


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## Snipesy (Dec 7, 2015)

Have someone Rev it while you observe? Although I'm not sure you will build enough pressure without some sort of load. Max pressure is 160 MPa exactly. Or about 23kpsi.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

starspangled6.0 said:


> I didn't see anything missing from that padding today, but I'll check again. Of course it's plausible that the injector housing itself cooked and formed that black goo, but I fail to see any performance issues at all. Melting foam or plastic would have caused the same black sooty matter to cover the fuel rails, too.
> 
> Given that the car did have warranty work done by the previous owner- heck, he never even did an oil change by himself- I can only guess what kind of mechanics have been working on the car up till now, and what they could have dropped onto the top of the motor during work.


You just answered one question i was going to ask about whether you bought it new or not. God only knows what happened to it before you got it.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Whatever is going on, I'd figure it out ASAP. Melty fuel parts is nothing to fool with. If you need convincing, go watch a few car fires on YouTube. If you don't think it can happen to diesel, go look for truck fires. Apparently there's enough plastic under the hood these fires never self-extinguish on shutdown. By the time the FD shows up, the car is totaled. 

If you're going to be proven wrong, it's better to have taken this too seriously than not serious enough.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Diesel doesn't usually ignite too easily, unless temps are high.

...or the fuel is incredibly highly pressurized and atomized, which is exactly what it is right there. And with the turbo being nearby - yeah, that could be real sketchy.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

Have you pulled the injector?


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

Haven't pulled it yet. I understand the risks involved, but after closer inspection yesterday, it began to appear that it was foreign matter that had melted, and not the injector itself. I will chip away at all that melted crud to see what's really going on in a few days.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

Fair enough.


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

False alarm on this one. I scraped away the rest of the crud surrounding the injector, and it appears to be either from a very cheap plastic or the foam pad on top of the fuel rails. I still can't find exactly where it came from, but that injector was fully intact and had no signs of wear.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

starspangled6.0 said:


> False alarm on this one. I scraped away the rest of the crud surrounding the injector, and it appears to be either from a very cheap plastic or the foam pad on top of the fuel rails. I still can't find exactly where it came from, but that injector was fully intact and had no signs of wear.


I washed and waxed my car yesterday and I always wipe down under the hood. As a result of this thread I took a close look under the top cover/foam pad but everything looked good.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

Well at least it was nothing to worry about.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

starspangled6.0 said:


> False alarm on this one. I scraped away the rest of the crud surrounding the injector, and it appears to be either from a very cheap plastic or the foam pad on top of the fuel rails. I still can't find exactly where it came from, but that injector was fully intact and had no signs of wear.


Good news! And good thing you removed it. Since it melted, it could have been a starting point for a fire if things got really hot.


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

Cue the song "Back in Black", black meaning oil and fuel spraying out of the injector hole, and back referring to the fact that the problem is back and with a vengeance. 

Noticed a ticking sound and some stuttering at idle, combined with a strong exhaust smell yesterday. I thought it was an exhaust leak, since I had just done the delete kit. This morning it died when I started it up for the first time, and won't restart. I pulled the cover off and sure enough, black goo is all over the #3 injector. Smoke shoots up when you try to start it, so compression has got to be close to zero. I don't think the injector itself is shot, but there are two rings that probably failed. 

Waiting for a buddy to come help me pull it; parts are insanely hard to come by though. Ordered one of the o-rings, and it's going to take 5-10 days to arrive. Can't seem to find the rubber o-ring though. Will keep ya'll posted.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

starspangled6.0 said:


> Cue the song "Back in Black", black meaning oil and fuel spraying out of the injector hole, and back referring to the fact that the problem is back and with a vengeance.
> 
> Noticed a ticking sound and some stuttering at idle, combined with a strong exhaust smell yesterday. I thought it was an exhaust leak, since I had just done the delete kit. This morning it died when I started it up for the first time, and won't restart. I pulled the cover off and sure enough, black goo is all over the #3 injector. Smoke shoots up when you try to start it, so compression has got to be close to zero. I don't think the injector itself is shot, but there are two rings that probably failed.
> 
> Waiting for a buddy to come help me pull it; parts are insanely hard to come by though. Ordered one of the o-rings, and it's going to take 5-10 days to arrive. Can't seem to find the rubber o-ring though. Will keep ya'll posted.


Sounds like you struck oil, cue the Bev Hillbillies theme.


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)




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## Snipesy (Dec 7, 2015)

Yes! I was right. What do I win?

Easy(ish?) fix though. I wouldn't be too worried.


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

So I pulled the copper ring out of the bottom of the injector cup, and it's completely out of round and mangled. How, I don't know, but that's certainly the cause. 

2 questions: any special procedures to install the new one, other than make sure everything is extremely clean? Also- I see a rubber o ring listed on the parts list, but the only o-ring I can see is on the return line stem on the top of the injector. Would there be another o-ring located on the injector, or is it just the copper washer?


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## Snipesy (Dec 7, 2015)

starspangled6.0 said:


> So I pulled the copper ring out of the bottom of the injector cup, and it's completely out of round and mangled. How, I don't know, but that's certainly the cause.
> 
> 2 questions: any special procedures to install the new one, other than make sure everything is extremely clean? Also- I see a rubber o ring listed on the parts list, but the only o-ring I can see is on the return line stem on the top of the injector. Would there be another o-ring located on the injector, or is it just the copper washer?



Is this your card? Looks pretty generic. Could probably find it at a lot of stores. Also I'm guessing the other o rings come with the injector itself. Kind of annoying. Assuming there is more than 2.


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

Yep, that's the copper washer. I ordered 2 from Rock Auto, should be here in 3 days. I really doubt that these use any kind of rubber washer anywhere except on the return line stalk on top of the injector. Bought some brake cleaner today and will be scrubbing the injector down with that.


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

Found puddles of diesel in each of the injector ports. Only #3 had wetness around the actual fuel line (both the return and high pressure line). The nut to tighten the high pressure line is very hard to reach, but I was able to crank another 1/8th of a turn on it. Will keep monitoring it... the car also moved from the deep south to the very cold north, and I'm guessing that some of the seals are not liking the temperature change.


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## sailurman (Sep 29, 2016)

....and we need to see this in 2 different threads because?????


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## justin13703 (May 2, 2016)

sailurman said:


> ....and we need to see this in 2 different threads because?????


What are you talking about?


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## sailurman (Sep 29, 2016)

My bad. Hooked on phonics here. But can't delete or edit so..... :xxrotflmao:


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## starspangled6.0 (Apr 16, 2016)

I have no idea what you're talking about, sailor man.

Another couple hundred miles under the belt, and the high pressure connection looks to remain dry. I'll still keep an eye on it, but I believe that it's taken care of.


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