Photographic Hall of Horrors

This is our Photographic Hall of Horrors 

or whoops should i really have done it like that !!!!

Most of these Photos are injectors damaged by previous attempts at removal before A P Autodiagnostics Ltd were called in to successfully remove them....

The rest are there for your interest and possibly even entertainment !!!

More M9R Solenoid and Piezo injectors suffering from the design fault where water leaks onto the injectors, there is a drain built into the cylinder head / cam cover but unfortunately

due to bad design it is too high up and allows the water to build up and collect around the injectors, holding it there to corrode the injectors over time causing significant damage and

destroying injectors and clamp bolts leaving vehicle owners with large bills for repair. there is a modification to the vehicle which reduces the amount of water getting onto the injectors 

and this modification is mandatory for any warranty to be upheld but due to British weather being damp most of the year the injectors still corrode into place and warranties are being 

voided due to external corrosion on the injectors being visible.

You can clearly see the water build up in these photos and the damage that can be caused the later solenoid injectors with severe corrosion have just rotted away, again this

 issue on the later engines has yet to be acknowledged by the manufactures as an issue and although the vehicle modification from the older model can be applied to the later

 one it still fails to stop all of the corrosion from being caused and stopping its results.

    This was an M9R Piezo injector before destruction !                  This used to be a Citroen C8 Injector !                                 Remains of a Chrysler Voyager injector !

             These two photos show an M9R Piezo injector damaged with the dealer type tool (threads torn off)                 This shows the Second of three M9R Injectors in a bare                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              cylinder head

     This is the third of three M9R injectors in a bare head         You can see that this injector broke just below the collar          If you look closely at the above image you can see

                                                                                                 at the securing ring groove but this didn't stop us getting          This is How not to attempt to remove an injector

                                                                                                  it out successfully, the center is missing from the photo           you can see where the cam carrier cover has been

                                                                                                  to keep one of our many little tricks secret !!                             melted where an Oxy Acetlyene  torch was used to

                                                                                                                                                                                                    cut the injector tops off leaving the injectors stuck

                                                                                                                                                                                                    in the Head following  a very poor removal attempt !!!! -

                                                                                                                                                                                                               Not by us we hasten to add !!!

This is a 1.3cdti Corsa engine injector as you can see it                               These two [pictures show the build up of "Black Death" carbon from exhaust gasses

suffered heavily before we removed it                                                         due to injector seal leakage being left to do its work without prompt repairs on a

                                                                                                                Mercedes sprinter 113 engined van, These jobs require a considerable amount of

                                                                                                                extra time spent on them cleaning prior to injector removal. a point to note is that the

                                                                                                                injector leak off pipes and the electrical connectors can effectively be glued in place

                                                                                                                by the carbon build up meaning the only option is to break them during removal.

  This is another  injector in a Mercedes, only                          This image shows some of the many ways in which an M9R                        This injector is out of a Honda accord 2.2ltr engine. Note

   this time in a car engine and damaged                                  Injector as fitted to the Vivaro / Trafic / Primastar can break                         The heavy pockmarked appearance and the groove cut up               

                                                                                            during the removal process, obviously we successfully                                 the side of the injector, This was caused by the owner

                                                                                            removed them all or we wouldn't have them to show you in                          continuing to use the vehicle without repairing the blowing

                                                                                            our picture.                                                                                                injector seal, which allowed the combustion gasses to eat

                                                                                                                                                                                                             away at the injector.

Here's one from a Vivaro with the 2.5 ltr engine                 Another failed attempt to remove a seized M9R injector using the                Note the extra holes where an air chisel was used in an attempt

the other three were no better either !!!                             workshop engine crane method.                                                                vibrate the injector free

This photo shows the injector threads breaking off (M9R engine)             Don't lever against the rocker cover when removing               This one we removed from a Honda FRV, as you can see the

                                                                                                          your injectors like this guy did !!! It's amazing how thin           garage had had a little go at it before calling us out !! destroying

                                                                                                          they can be .                                                                        the top of the injector in the process. And also smashing a very

                                                                                                                                                                                                     expensive cam cover.

    These three photos show how bad the corrosion can get on the M9R engine. Note the sand like corrosion almost burying injector clamps, and the damage done when trying to extract the injector with the

    wrong tools and no expierience !!. finally note the broken clamp bolts sheared off just below the surface in the last picture.

 Another idea that failed to remove the whole injector, although the       These Four injectors were removed from a 2.5ltr Vivaro engine they            And these are the holes they came from

 top unscrewed it left the lower half stuck in the head.                         were corroded so badly the clamp bolt heads had to be drilled off

                                                                                                       first before the injectors were pulled out then each one took between

                                                                                                      10 and 12 tons of force to remove them. then the manifold was

                                                                                                       removed to access the remaining bolts all this to replace 2 broken

                                                                                                       glow plugs !!!

      Another failed idea on how to remove a seized injector                       This image shows three clamp bolts from the M9R engine                  The top bolt was shortened rather than clean out the bolt hole

                                                                                                            Bottom a corroded bolt, middle a clean bolt, top a broken bolt              correctly in the first place

                                                                                                            just one more thing to add to your customers worries !!!

This image is of an M9R engine with black death caused by the               Its not only mercedes that suffer from "Black Death" this is a             And this can be another problem associated with blow past, as the

Failure of the injector sealing washer or incorrect seating of the               1.6 HDI in a peugeot to go with the last picture of a Renault M9R        gasses blow past the sealing washer they can cut a groove into the seat 

injector when replaced, possible not cleaning the hole out correctly          engine                                                                                             damaging the cylinder head. if this blow past is allowed to continue it can

before refitting the injector.                                                                                                                                                                           and will make the head unusable, Using the incorrect copper sealing                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             washer, will also effect the cylinders combustion stroke / burn as the injector                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  tip is not in the correct position so the fuel / air mix is altered. The injector tip                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  can also overheat destroying the injector as well.

This is another failed attempt at removal            This BMW's injector show the excess carbon build up                 Another damaged engine due to poor removal attempts of the injectors,

by not having the correct tools and  welding        caused by leaking of the copper washer seals, the                     as you can see a large piece of the cover has been broken away around

 on a pulling point on a Vauxhall 1.9 ltr engine.    chuffing noise and associated misfire along with the build           the stud at the back of the hole. we were later informed by the customer 

Although the welding looks sound insufficient      up of the black mess were obvious when lifting the bonnet         that pieces of metal had also been dropped down the intake holes before  

force was still unable to be applied to                  Injector 1 & 2 were the worst as seen in the picture with            we arrived and blocked them with our blue paper to avoid just that from

successfully remove the injector.                        no 2 injector looking as though the carbon was actually a          happening. Consequently upon restarting the engine it destroyed itself 

                                                                        part of the injector it was so well formed.                                 meaning a whole new engine was required due to a simple lack of care.

This picture shows two different sized sealing     This picture shows the tube as fitted to the PSA Euro           Here's the latest in injector removal equipment from a

washers fitted to the same injector causing         engine, these tubes can pull out of the head when the          bespoke  tool manufacturer, needless to say it didn't

the combustion gasses to bypass the seal          Injector is removed. in addition these can allow carbon        do the job....In this Peugeot engine'd Suzuki Vitara.

as by fitting two seals the force holding the         build up inside the engine as the base of the tube is not

injector down is reduced.the combustion of         sealed when the vehicle is driven with the seal leaking,

the fuel air mixture is also altered as the tip         this can eventually destroy the turbo and whole engine

of the injector is in the wrong place and               due to oil restrictions.

therefore injects in the wrong place causing

incorrect mixing of the fuel /air and also an 

incomplete burn giving reduced performance

on that cylinder.

This injector is out of a Mercedes 4 x 4 note the thinning     We occasionally come across wiring issue masquerading    As you can see this is another example of how not to

of the injector around the nozzle nut joint, it wasn't tight       as injector faults, this was one of the worst we have seen    remove an injector. serious damage was also done to the

so it certainly wasn't caused by the force used to remove    four wires were completely corroded through and another    cylinder head during this removal attempt which failed. luckily

it from the engine. we have seen this before several times  was extensively damaged. We have had this issue               we were able to remove the injector and repair the damage 

but haven't confirmed the cause although we have ideas..   damage the Piezo pack inside the Injectors as well.             done. this type of removal almost wrote off the cylinder head

                                                                                                                                                                                              which could have upped the customers bill by thousands of 

                                                                                                                                                                                              pounds. lucky for them they stopped and called us out......

Here we have the dealer tool for removing injectors from     Again we have a further picture of damage to the wiring      Another M9R injector, Another bodged attempt

the M9R engine in the Traffic, Vivaro or Primastar vans       harness, these splits allow damp to enter the cable and       at removal which failed to work. luckily once we

As you can see the injector was tight enough for the tool     rot the copper away giving a high resistance or total            had removed the bolt and its welding from the

to break, This is not common and usually the injector          failure of the wire, leading to either a misfire which can        Injector the thread was amazingly undamaged 

threads pull out damaging both injector and tool beyond      be permanent or intermittent, or no operation of the             and we used it to pull the injector out successfully.

repair, leaving the injector to be drilled out as the only          injector at all.

option available for removal.

Here we have a solenoid off an injector that was installed    This Vivaro injector was suffering              This is the little blighter that causes all the problems on the

in a G9U engine as you can see the corrosion was so          from seal leakage due to the previous      M9R engine fitted in the Trafic, Primastar and Vivaro. This

severe that the nut which retained the solenoid in place        installers negligence. When the new        is the Piezo crystal pack that fails inside the injector allowing

 was completely eaten away which caused a fuel leak,         injector was fitted they failed to remove    the engine to misfire when it fails to open the injector as it

the injector was still working fine it just constantly leaked      the old sealing washer causing the           was designed to do. Unfortunately these injectors are a 

 fuel.                                                                                        leak to appear. this was obvious to           sealed unit and the changing of this part alone isn't an option.

                                                                                                us as soon as we opened the bonnet

                                                                                                as the injector was noticeably higher

                                                                                                than the other three.

If you look closely you can clearly see where the                      If you look closely at the injector clamp              Note the red tinge to the liquid inside the injector body on this 12

combustion gasses have cut away at the copper seal              you can see that this injector has been               plate Vivaro, this means it's running on red diesel which has no road 

left unrepaird this can cut into the cylinder head destroying      fitted without its support collar, this means         fuel duty paid on it. It's illegal to use red fuel on the highway and

the seat and making a seal impossible thereby making the      that the injector is held insecurely and the          using it can attract very large fines and even prison....4 injectors

head scrap. these came out of a Mercedes sprinter engine     sealing washer could fail at any time .....             and four clamp bolts to drill out.

                                     BEFORE                                                                             AFTER

This is a 14 plate M9R engine in a Renault traffic van          This is the job all done all injectors drilled out and all four

so badly corroded all injectors and clamp bolts had to          clamp bolts, takes a while to do but its either this or a new

be drilled out, even this badly corroded 20 tons of force       cylinder head, and this is cheaper.....

wouldn't shift these injectors...... 

This Glow Plug removal was attempted by a customer who learned to regret his attempt to save himself a few pounds.

if you look closely at the second picture you can see where the guy managed to smash a lump out of his cylinder head,

 unfortunately causing major damage in the process.

A bent injector caused by attempted removal with an            The injector seat in this engine was repaired using a nut to space out the gap left after

extremely large slide hammer, this shows the damage          the old injector was either drilled out or a damaged seat was cut far too deeply in an

that can be done by trying to remove an injector with            attempt to get the injector to seal, unfortunately this improper repair or bodge simply

the wrong equipment.                                                             failed to work and the damage done effectively destroyed the cylinder head.

                                                                                                We can sometimes repair this damage with a specially adapted seal which we make

                                                                                                specifically for each individual engine, which we still managed to do in this case saving 

                                                                                                a relatively good vehicle which otherwise would have been scrapped.

Its not very often we see a new idea for injector removal     This 12 plate M9R engine was suffering from the usual water collecting around the injectors rotting away the injector

but this one is the first we've seen for some time. we were   body and clamping bolt head, these can usually still run without misfiring and only give the game away when they leak

impressed that they had managed to drill a hole sideways   Diesel, but these had developed a misfire and needed to be changed promptly. easyer said than done but we now have 

through the injector to get the bolt in. needless to say it        these off to a fine art.

didn't work so we were called out to rectify the issue.

The injectors on the left came from the engine on the right, They were extremely tight taking in excess of 20 tons of force to remove them. the first one snapped near the bottom of the hole 

but this didn't present an issue as we have dealt with this many times over the years. The engine was a 3ltr Iveco unit.

Both of the above images show removal attempts by threading a bolt into the remains of the injector, the first a Jaguar "F" Type V6 petrol had been extensively hammered in an attempt to shock it free 

cracking the cylinder head in the process and costing the customer greatly, The second was a ford transit, A "mechanic" at this large hire company had welded a bolt to the end of some threaded rod and 

screwed it into the injector remains, as soon as force was applied the weld broke leaving the bolt securely fastened into the nozzle and the nozzle securely fastened into the head. (at this point we must 

point out that in both cases were not the ones who did the dastardly deed).

Every now and again we get an odd ball job to do and this was a nearly new Nissan NV400 van with barely 3000 miles on the clock, yes you read it right 3000 miles from new. two injectors were badly seized 

in and took considerable force to remove them, it doesn't bear thinking about what this would be like in another 50,000 miles or so

Although A P Autodiagnostics were successful in removing many of the above injectors, We strongly recommend that you don't abuse your injectors to this extent before calling us.

Not only does it make our job more difficult but it can also increases your costs quite dramatically in some cases!!!