diesel rattle in D4D Prado

[spooky Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close spooky]

Hi all

I have had my Prado for about 4 months now. In the last two months I have been getting a metallic tapping noise, especially when the engine is cold, it tends to reduce as the engine warms, it is defintiely not a standard healthy diesel nosie. My Prado is just under 3 years old and has done 65,000kms. I took it in to Torque Toyota at Brendale (my first visit there ever) for a 65K service and to have the noise looked at as I am going on an outback trip next month and plan on doing about 9,000kms. I suggested to them it might be the injectors and to check them please.

When they rang me the had detected the noise but said the injectors tested as being in spec. They suggested they might be dirty and that two cans of injector cleaner in the fuel tank might help. As there was no alternative I said okay and they added it to the bill. As the tanks had about 90l in them I will have to drive a bit before I get the full two cans of cleaner through the injectors to see if it made any difference. I have only done 40kms or so and haven't noticed any change yet.

Just wondering for those more mechanically minded than me (which is probably just about everyone) whether you think this is a reasonable strategy or are they just fobbing me off. As the warranty runs out next month (and I have my trip planned) I dont' want to get caught out with and expensive repair in a couple of months time.

Any advice appreciated.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Other than extended warranty or being prepared for a fight I can suggest nothing. TT will have checked the injector read outs and if these are within spec as they say that is it until such time as the readings are out of spec. If that happens while you have your existing warranty then well and good. Outside warranty that will become an argument with Toyota. I was hopeful that the Scangauge could pick up the injector readings but that isn't the case unfortunately (if this is wrong please enlighten me). It would be nice to keep an eye on the readings and do something before the damage becomes catastophic - IF you have injector problems, not every engine is having trouble though. BTW this is the reason I went with the extended warranty. First time ever for any Toyota 4wd that I have owned so that gives you an idea of how confident I am that the injectors in my car will last the distance. Oh and I will be selling before the 150,000km comes up on the odometer. As for the cans of injector cleaner I think that is meant to be a placebo for you. The only way to clean diesel injectors properly is out of the engine.

Michael

[ToeEdge Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ToeEdge]

Talking to a Diesel mechanic the other day about this issue and he suggested it may be caused in some cases by a leaking injector which would cause a small amount of diesel to pool on the top of the cylinder while the vehicle is parked for a period of time. It would generate the familiar noise until all of the liquid diesel burns off. This would occur regardless of ambient temperature however I suspect.

[blakegregory Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close blakegregory]

Have got my car booked in at Toyota tomorrow for the diesel rattle issue as well. Car is out of warranty so I am hoping its not the injectors.

[marrisy Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close marrisy]

the price of replacement injectors being quoted in the above pages, ? Dave at Albany fuel injection is only $600 plus fitting.
Seems to be a bit of a discrepense.My 8-2009 Prado has only done 30,000. So far so good.

[harro Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close harro]

Hi all. Had the cold start test a few days ago. Dealer says the injectors are in spec but as an act of good faith Toyota have agreed to replace all four and pay half the cost. Haven't heard that one before! Vehicle is December 2006-ie first shipment of D4D with 60000km on clock and obviously well out of warranty. Have had the vehicle to Toyota twice previously for the rattle and last visit in October 2009 had the reflash of the ECU. Interesting that this time I received a print out of the feedback values -the worst injector being -2.4 which is within spec of -3 to +3, so why have toyota come to the party (even if only for half)? I did notice that the injector volume was 120mm3/st and the injector FB volume for idle was 12.92 mm3/st when the figures should be between 5 and 12. Perhaps someone with more knowledge than me could comment on these figures and whether injector idle volume is also an indicator of injector fault.
The other point of interest is that I have been advised my cost will be $1500 making total replacement cost $3000 which seems a lot smaller than many are being quoted.
Naturally I will be fighting my need to pay half as the fault was brought to their attention while under warranty and the local Toyota admitted the fault existed prior to the reflash.

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

Harro,
I was about 8 months out of warranty and Toyota made the same offer to me (50% parts no labour). I fortunately had extended warranty and Swan picked up the balance.

Cost without that was to be $1700 for balance of parts and labour.

I would question the $3000 you quoted.
Good luck

[harro Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close harro]

########## and Pedro
Thanks for your replies guys. All four injectors have been replaced. Ihave nor received a bill as yet as it has to go to toyota first but have been told 50% will be about $1400. I have written to Toyota along the lines that you advised , ##########. So will advise when i get a reply. I was interested in your comment, ##########, re injector volumes at idle as i suspected also that excessive fuel pooling on the top of the pistons would be a worry. keep ypu advised.
Harro

[blakegregory Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close blakegregory]

Well it turned out that the injectors were buggered and I've been quoted $4500 to get them replaced. Have been getting quotes from diesel shops which quote about 700 bucks per injector so i might have to go down that road...

[Fisher Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Fisher]

Somewhere miles above in this thread I passed on that CMI Adelaide replaced all 4 at roughly 70K with no invoice, now on 135K and no problemo even with a shocker of a cold winter. But remember chaps, use high cetain only.

[blakegregory Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close blakegregory]

The response I got from Toyota was that they applied for an out of warranty repair which was declined and if I wanted to appeal I would have to supply a full documented service history and they would have to run a computer test of some sort. Unfortunately I performed the last service myself which leaves up a certain creek with no paddle. Where to from here?

[Mick70 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mick70]

Hi Guys, I have only posted once before to this thread but after my truck died on my way home last night, thought I would up date you all on my disasterous run!.. The story thus far...... My 2007 D4-D model Prado developed the dreaded rattle during the onset of this past winter at about 132,000kms on the clock. I appoached Toyota with hope of a Good Will repair dispite having purchased my pride and joy second hand and through a non Toyota dealership. I was dubious as to whether they would be willing to help out but to my surprise, they came back with an offer of 50% parts covered and nil labour. I thought that was fair considering the above and went ahead with the repair work. They replaced 4 Injectors + associated Pipe assembly at a cost to me of just over 2k. By that time, I had done a little over 5,000kms from when I first noticed the rattle to when the Injectors were replaced. Now, 3,000kms later, as I was driving home from work last night on the M1 (Gold Coast), I started noticing a noise, like a rhymic, loud tapping at 100kph. Subtle at first then loud enough to hear it above the stereo. Then I noticed a loss in power so pull over and turned the igition off, jumped out and noticed plumes of smoke coming from the grill. All fluids were fine- Oil, radiator fluids, transmition etc. I had the truck towed straight to Toyota last night and returned first thing this morning to advise on what had happened. They gave it a quick start up, it started ok but with that horrible banging sound- the mechanic yelled "turn it off, turn it off!".... I have a horrible feeling that this is a terminal, deep in the guts of the engine drama and will be a costly repair. I cant help but think could this be the resultant engine failure I have heard about that stems from the Injector problems/failure? A failed piston perhaps? Does anyone have any ideas/diagnosis as to what could have happened? As you can imagine, I feel gutted especially after previously thinking I had the issue sorted. Then again, it may be totally unrelated. I await Toyota's prognosis and will keep you all updated.

Regards
Michael

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

Michael, Sorry to hear of your problem and hope you can get it sorted.

If you go to page 90 of this thread check out some photos and comments by PeteS.
Might be worth sending him a pm.

[Mick70 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mick70]

Thanks Pedro, I have seen his post and that scares the ba'geebers out of me.. but I'll do that,

cheers
M

[Violet Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Violet]

I've taken my bus into a dealer for a test tomorrow morning. I asked for a printout of the results and was told this was impossible. I pressed further and asked for the results to be noted - and they 'agreed'.

Certainly earlier in this thread people have given exact results for faulty injectors - so I presume this is possible.

Interestingly the service guy said he's organised over a hundred of these tests and no one has asked for a copy of the empirical results. A pass or fail was always what was accepted.

Comments anyone???

Also for interest, I have had a DPCHIP installed for a while. While I've noticed the 'rattle' for over a year in cold conditions, only the last few weeks I have decided to act. In the mornings I've noticed a fair amount of rattle. I've taken off the chip (no point in giving Toyota a excuse) and over the last few mornings there has been almost no rattle (slightly warmer - say 5-6 degrees).