Vehicles are frustrating...

mike31154 · #1 02-03-2014, 03:09 AM

Well at least you should be back on the road after spending less than $1K. My Japanese import '92 Hilux Surf (4Runner with diesel engine & steering wheel on the right side) blew an o-ring on the injector pump & started spewing diesel fuel early last November. I don't have a garage, just a carport & it was getting a little too cold to be spending any time repairing that. I got as far as removing the injector pump which meant pulling the whole front off the engine, (radiator, timing belt, etc. etc.) to get the damned thing off. The o-ring itself is probably worth less than $5, but the labour involved is insane. A new pump is over $1700, an overhaul (if you can find someone to do it) is $1000..... and because it's an EFI pump, they can't test it after overhaul... Seal kit is hard to source since it's a Japanese Denso pump, pretty much identical to a Bosch VE pump, but trying to match part numbers to make sure it's the right kit is annoyingly difficult.

And all this after I had to fix a cracked head on the darn thing a couple of years ago! Thought it should be good for another 300,000 Kms after that.

Anyhow, I ended up buying a new vehicle. I'll try to get a seal kit & fix the old Surf once the weather warms up again. I now have a $30K o'ring sitting in the driveway!

hillegom · #2 02-03-2014, 03:42 AM

Mike, is it just an O ring you need? You can't take out the old and get a new viton O ring the same size?
Whats involved with a whole kit? different size O rings?

mike31154 · #3 02-03-2014, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hillegom

Mike, is it just an O ring you need? You can't take out the old and get a new viton O ring the same size?
Whats involved with a whole kit? different size O rings?

The kit includes most of the seals required to do a pump overhaul. While I don't need them all, I thought I may as well try to get a kit to replace as many as I can replace myself since I have the pump off the engine. Other than the faulty o-ring, the pump was working fine, so a complete overhaul is probably not needed. Diesel pumps are a little out of my league to get into the innards, but I'll change out as many of the outer seals as I can before putting it back on. The seal on the top cover & the one on the opposite side as the broken one could have been replaced without pulling the pump, which would have got me through the winter & saved me from buying a new truck!

Here's the pump with the offending seal, which is inaccessible in situ since it's right up against the engine block. The o-ring was hard, completely flat & came out in two pieces.

This is the one on the other side of the pump. Same size & it was not leaking, but showed signs of cracking & imminent failure. Would not have lasted too much longer either. This one I could replace with pump on the engine.

Apparently the new low sulphur diesel fuel they sell us these days contributes to accelerated failure of older diesel injection pump seals.

BlueTang<3 · #4 02-04-2014, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike31154

Apparently the new low sulphur diesel fuel they sell us these days contributes to accelerated failure of older diesel injection pump seals.

The sulphur was a lubricant in the fuel the new diesel is very dry, low lubricity in the fuel. They highly recommend using a conditioner in the fuel, the new partial bio diesel is really interesting stuff you should see the mold that grows in tanks especially once water is introduced.

Mike have u tried using a during style seal for the pump? Pm me the details on the pump we have a guy who used to work in diesel shop for 15 years. If both those seals look poor I would be a little concerned about the other seals in the pump.