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Hello,

Late last year, I had an injector die; it was the injector in cylinder 3. The car sounded like an old VW panel van (the ones with the air-cooled engine) and it ran as lumpy as badly-mixed custard. The error code was P0203. The injector was replaced my the garage and the problem went away; job done.

Last weekend, I was on my way back down to Aberdeen from my Mum's house in Thurso, when the EML came on and "Engine Anti-Pollution Device Defective" flashed up on the MFD - but the engine still ran fine and pulled strong.

A couple of drives later and the light went out - phew, false alarm. But then it came back on. Curses.

I bought a code reader off eBay (ProScan V600 - I had actually ordered the V580 for £30 but the seller had run out of them, so he sent me the better model for no extra charge). It came up with the code P0202, and suggested that the problem was exactly the same as before, but with the injector/circuit for the no. 2 cylinder.

I am not currently experiencing any problems with the way the car drives (other than that one of the wheel bearings sounds distinctly knackered ) but I want to be able to sort this one out myself if possible. How easy is it to swap out an injector? I was thinking of switching the no.1 and no.2 injectors around and seeing if the fault code changes to P0201. But also, I want to have a spare injector.

I'd also be interested in knowing why I have had one confirmed dead injector (the garage tested the resistance and it was off the scale) and one possibly dying one. Do injectors have a set life-span before they need to be replaced? The car has done nearly 84,000 miles and is 11 years old. Should I be buying 3 new injectors and replacing the ones in cylinders 1, 2 and 4? If I do need to buy an injector (or 3) what part number should I use? And would these be the same model of injector as used on the 2.0, or with mine being a 2.2, would they have picked an injector with a higher rate of flow? Is there any benefit from using injectors from a bigger engine (i.e. the 3.0 V6) or is that just stupid/pointless?

Your collective expertise and advice is, as always, much appreciated!

Cheers
Graeme

My personal experience with Peugeot and Citroen injectors is that it is rare for the injectors to fail completely....i've only ever had one!

What I do is what you were intending....take out the faulty injector and swap it with a good one...this has usually resulted in the "dead" injector starting to work again

The injectors are held in by a slotted clip into the "rail" all 4 together in the rail, ie, if you remove the rail you remove all the injectors as one, there is a rubber seal at the bottom of each injector that you must lubricate with rubber grease or wd40 before you refit the rail and injectors.

Before you remove the rail you have to let off the fuel pressure first, undo the plastic tyre valve type cap on the fuel rail and press the pin in to release pressure, keep your eyes out the way.

There won't be many bolts/screws holding the rail in, usually a few torx screws and wire on each injector.

Right - so the injectors are connected to the rail, and I pull the rail + all 4 injectors out as one big part?

And the seal between the injector and the fuel rail needs lubricated presumably so that it makes a tight seal, so that when the whole lot is pushed back into place, fuel doesn't come pissing out all over the engine bay?

seeing as its the second time sum of the have been out i would go and get new ones just to stop air leaks

Would be the 3rd time, in my ownership - the fuel rail was cracked and had been badly repaired (bodged) by a mechanic in the service of the previous owners. I had it replaced last year.

highlander wrote:Right - so the injectors are connected to the rail, and I pull the rail + all 4 injectors out as one big part?

And the seal between the injector and the fuel rail needs lubricated presumably so that it makes a tight seal, so that when the whole lot is pushed back into place, fuel doesn't come pissing out all over the engine bay?

Yes and yes.

Cracking (looking forward to it already ...?) - thanks for your expertise Jasper!

Do I need any tools other than a torx bit for my screwdriver? No socket sets or anything?

Torx screws might be a bit tight ...Don't know if there are some small 10mm headed bolts ...