HI , I Have a tector engine in an iveco 2001 75E17. On driving home the other night the engine went down from 4 cylinders to 3 and now sounds like it is running on two, so it is hard to start but does start. i have put new fuel filters on and basically the common rail appears to be full of diesel and under pressure. Cylinders one and four appear to be firing, but no diesel appears to be coming out of the valves on two and three (these are the valves that fit between the common rail and the injector feed pipes that go to the tubes) when we had it running the other day on two cylinders, we actually took the two feed pipes off and it made no difference at all, it carried on running and no diesel came out of either, there is def not blockage in the common rail as we have stripped it and checked it. But if we swap the valves from cylinders one and four to two and three the problem remains on cylinders two and three ! does anyone know what these little valves do ? when i take them out i can just about blow through them (50 and asthmatic!) and yet the diesel doesnt seem to come through them at all !! any help would be greatly received, it is stumping us......
thanks pete

pete, January 2013

hi pete ..i think i have info overload lolat least unlike many you give a thorough description of your fault ..so i will try my best to help ..1 or 2 bits do confuse me ..but i will try my best to assist..The common rail is just a tube feeding the injectors so why you aren't getting fuel to 2 of the injectors is a puzzle..So starting with difficult starting ..that sounds like a fuel pressure issue ..you haven't mentioned any warning lights so i will dismiss a fuel blockage .Issues can be the prop valve on the main fuel pump which has the elec plug on it ..Another issue can be fuel leak off back to the fuel tank...To check that remove the leak off pipe at the rear of the cylinder head,and fit a pipe to the head in to a jug..Remove no 1 injector pipe and fit a blank on to its position on the common rail ,vehicle will now be runnning on 3 cylinders ,run for 1 min and check fuel in jug shouls be less than 30ml if not continue till you get less than 30 ml ..the injector that is blanked when you get less than 30ml is the faulty one ..replace injector and redo test as now you have sorted any excess leak off the pressure will find the next weak point if there is one ..Also check pushrods ,just did a misfire running on 3 cylinders and the bridge pieces where off the valves 1 pushrod was bent

norb, January 2013