Darwen Diesels explains why the use of quality diesel testing equipment – off-site or in your own workshop – can help you to achieve an accurate diagnosis of suspected fuel injector problems.
Diagnosis of engine issues and problems has always been an issue for car repair garages, and trying to narrow down a problem to a specific and accurate cause is an ongoing challenge. At Darwen Diesels, we make use of – and also supply to workshops – a Common Rail Diesel injector testing machine that can overcome the issue of incorrect fault diagnosis.
How does it work?
The machine simulates the operation of an injector in an engine’s typical daily use and the varying stresses that it is subjected to. The unit is able test an injector under full load conditions, medium, idle and pre- injection conditions.
The results of this testing allows the user to accurately pinpoint an injector fault or an issue elsewhere. It does this by testing an injector against pre-set parameters which are stored in the machine. The results of the test are then compared to these pre-set parameters, allowing the operator to see in detail how the injector performance compares to the original parameters.
What are the benefits?
The real benefit of a Common Rail injector testing machine is that it gives information about how much an injector is above or below the pre-set parameters – not just a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ result, as might be the case with some other testing machines on the market.
This is important, as having this information to hand allows for a full and accurate fault diagnosis. For example, if fuel deliveries are well below parameters, this could be an indication of a lack of power, whereas if fuel deliveries are above parameters then the customer could be experiencing a metallic diesel knock and possible black smoke.
Off-site or on-site?
At Darwen Diesels, when we test injectors for workshops we can assist with fault finding by being able to discuss test results with our customers, which then allows us to make an assessment as to whether the results tie in with the initial fault diagnosis that the garage has made.
For customers that have purchased one of our injector testing units there are great time and cost savings that can be achieved by testing the injectors in-house. The machine is fully automated, so the operator doesn’t have to be a fully trained technician.
An injector can be fully tested in just 10- 15 minutes, so getting an accurate fault diagnosis in under an hour for four injectors allows for a far more rapid customer turnaround and greater customer service.
Ultimately, this time saving cuts costs for the garage and their customers – a win-win situation all round.
