My wife's Citroen C3 diesel sent in for its 6 year service today to a Citroen approved independent (£150 cheaper than the main dealer!). Mind you, they wanted £53 to change the front wipers. Erm, no. They passed its MOT but said on the test drive, the technician heard a "chuffing" noise which they said was the injectors blowing past the seals. Now I've heard no noise and if they've MOTed it, it can't be dangerous. Is it going to be a problem? They want £250 for the job which is mostly labour.

Most probably the fire washers that the injectors sit on. If they are leaking then get it sorted ASAP as the last thing you want id diesel getting into starter/alternator and the likes.

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Originally posted by smart51
and if they've MOTed it, it can't be dangerous.

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a friend has just had the same problem with his daughters C3, they got the injecters 'remanufactuered' for £100 each... then just the cost of removal/fitting. ill find the name of the company if you think there worth a call.

It's fairly common for the washer to leak. If you leave it you'll end up with huge amounts of baked on carbon around the injectors. Bit of a faff to get to but nothing you couldn't do. £250 sounds bloody steep. Whats thier hourly rate? The washer/seals are just a couple of quid.

edit.. Last one I did was diagnosed by the owners mid-wife. At one of her pregnancy check ups, they found her blood high in carbon monoxide! So yes, it is dangerous... but not part of the MOT.

[Edited on 11/11/10 by adithorp]

[Edited on 11/11/10 by adithorp]

Had a similar thing on our Discovery, the copper annealed washers were shot and cost a few pence each. took me 10 mins to replace them!

I guess I should be doing it for a living and charging HUGE amounts of dosh .

They are not all that easy! baked on carbon can be wicked stuff! nothing worse than having the head off....

I agree with them not being easy.

I'm a technician and have done a few of these. Depending on how long they've been leaking for they can be a real ass to do. You need special tools to clean the injector seat and sometimes the copper washer can stick in the injector seat.

I have a Honda diesel and my car has done this twice now. Mine doesn't leak badly but I can smell fumes when sat in traffic. I'd get the repair done asap as the longer you leave it the worse it will get.

Soaking the injectors pockets in Cocca Cola overnight is suposed to make pulling the injectors a lot easier.

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Originally posted by britishtrident
Soaking the injectors pockets in Cocca Cola overnight is suposed to make pulling the injectors a lot easier.

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all the cars that use the 1.4,1.6 ford peugeot,citreon engine (same engine in all manufactures) suffer from this,its a rocker cover off job to gain acesss and as said not a five minute job and messy if its been like it for a while.We have a special little kit for cleaning the seats of the injector holes up and stopping the crap going in the bore.prob a good couple of hours to do depending on how much crap has built up.

A friend of mine had a C2 with the same problem, fire rings. He had all 4 done for £150 at a local Citroen/Peugeot specialist. It is a bit of a pig to do apparently. You could smell the diesel under the bonnet as a symptom of the problem.

[Edited on 11/11/10 by Peteff]

Thanks for the replies. I've had a look at the car in daylight and it sounds normal to me. Is there any way I can check it to see if the garage is trying it on? There's no trace of the chuffing noise they claim to have heard.

Can you smell hot diesel in the engine bay? Dead giveaway

No smell of diesel in the engine bay, even after 10 minutes of idling followed by 15 seconds of fast idle at 3000 RPM. The only smell was a faint hint of Liverpool Lime Steet - An enclosed station where they let diesel trains idle for hours on end. Fond smells of my childhood. There were two odd rattly noises, other than the engine. One went away when I put my hand on the turbo cover and the other went away when I put my other hand on the diesel priming bulb. Otherwise nothing to report. I reckon they were having a go.

I had injector trouble with a beemer a while back. As a result of massive bills id probs pay to get them done to be on the safe side. There are other specialists about that could give a second oppinion / better price. Is car under warranty? If so then make sure any work done at independants wont invalidate it.

Beemer trouble started when car wouldnt fire up without cranking over for a while, guess yours is OK. This was caused by 2 injectors leaking back and not holding fuel rail pressure. Not necessarily an issue with the lower seals. If seals are starting to go, as said above, ive heard the injectors can be a pig to pull out and seats may need recutting before new seals are fitted.