Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay

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Tue 17 Dec 2013 18:36
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - FiestaMan01

Hello,


I purchased a 2005 Ford Fiesta 1.4 Tdci 98,000 miles yesterday, Full service history, just serviced and Mot-ed (not by dealer). When driving it today, i noticed the smell of Diesel in the cabin, most notably when still and with the fans on. I opened the bonnet, but could not hear anything significant when revving the engine, just the strong smell of Diesel. I placed some news paper underneath the car, left it for about 30 minutes, came back and noticed what I would call a significant amount of Diesel on the paper. The Diesel appears to be leaking from the passenger side of the engine bay.


I thought this could be an injector seal, but did not hear anything odd when revving. It also seems like a large amount of Diesel for a seal.


I have called the dealer, and I am dropping the car off tomorrow A.M. Fingers crossed. It has a 90 day warranty, which only covers parts for the engine and gearbox, although as i found this problem within 24 hours of purchase and the cars are listed as "road worthy" I think I am well within my rights to request this is resolved free of charge.

Any thoughts on the potential problem, or my individual rights, greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

William Howard.

Edited by WHoward on 17/12/2013 at 18:37

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Tue 17 Dec 2013 19:18
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - elekie&a/c doctor
Usually the fuel supply/return pipes that run across the top of the engine to the hand primer bulb and filter.hth
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Tue 17 Dec 2013 19:20
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - MrEckerslikefromRamsbottom

You were right first guess.. Injector seals. That's the side it leaks out from. You'll also hear a 'ticking' from the injectors when you drive along a quiet road on light throttle. They can leak copiously even though the engine still runs smoothly. Mine's just started as well. I'm booking it into my local garage who did the job last time. The seats and seals don't last forever. Worst part of the job is chipping the black goo away from the injectors before they can be removed.

It'll be the MOT emission test that's blown the seats. It happened on my Fiesta's second MOT. they gave me the car back sounding like a tractor and smoke coming off the engine, but to be fair, they did a good job of changing the seats and seals and it's lasted nearly a hundred thousand miles (total now 178K miles).

It is unfair selling a Fiesta 1.4 Tdci with leaking injector seals because the fault is so obvious, with the passenger side of the engine, track rod and wishbone wet with diesel.

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Tue 17 Dec 2013 19:44
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - MrEckerslikefromRamsbottom

Er... I'm going to sound like a real wet blanket now.. At 98K miles and it's a 2005 Fiesta, it's due for a replacement cam belt, or has that already been done?

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Tue 17 Dec 2013 19:51
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - FiestaMan01

Thanks for your replies!

Cam belt was replaced at 90K.

Yeah, not happy about the seal. I've also heard you want a specialist to replace them if possible, as its a tricky job thats often botched. How long would you expet new seals to last? Any idea what the job would cost?

As you say, they most likely knew about the problem, so will be interesting to see what happens when I bring it back to the dealer tomorrow. I think I am well within my rights to request it is fixed free of charge.

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Tue 17 Dec 2013 22:52
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - MrEckerslikefromRamsbottom

I'll find out how much it costs in a couple of days when I book mine in! It's not a big job as such, as everything is easy to get to... It's just that you have to take off nearly everything at the top of the engine.. Air filter housing, fuel filter (so it's worth putting a new fuel filter on if that hasn't been changed), and inlet manifold with all the associated pipework. As far as I can see, there's only a copper seat and plastic seal for each injector, but getting the goo off and cleaning up the seats without scoring them seems to be the problem that unskilled mechanics suffer with. I don't feel competent to do the job in my backyard in the middle of winter, so I'll let my local garage do it. They'll probably use the job as training for one of the lads who's not done one before! Due to the iniquitous EGR valve, the inlet manifold will need de-coking as well.

Injector seal failure is well known on this engine. Remembering how we used to do regular jobs on the old Minis, regular head-gasket changes, always re-shimming the ball-joints, modifying engine and exhaust mountings--- If I had the time that I seemed to have back then, changing the injector seals would become just one of those regular tasks on the Fiesta! If yours are the original seats and seals, they've done well to last 98,000 miles. Then again, the ones Station Garage put in last time have lasted nearly that long.

Edited by MrEckerslikefromRamsbottom on 17/12/2013 at 22:54

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Wed 18 Dec 2013 09:20
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - slkfanboy

I don't think it's a hard job, just an issue that often goes un-noticed until real damage is done. Take pictures at each stage will make re asembly easy.

I understand the parts required cost around £90 from ford. The hardest part IMHO would be the removal/replacement of the manifold. Wire/Connectors being a real pain.

Using kitchen paper towel to fill the ports and clean all the crud before removing any injectors to avoid any crap falling in.

You then remove the injector lines/injectors cleaning them with gunk. Injectors are normally coded so they must go back from the port they came out of and handle with care the tips are easy to damage.

So fill the injector holes with kitchen roll and clean the housing carefully with gunk. Remember the housing need to seal , so care is needed.

I alway recommend re assemby using a torque wrench as it's surprising how little bolts need tightening.

I took the manifold of my Jag recently and the seal where nackered due to over tightening by the prev. owner.

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Wed 18 Dec 2013 14:08
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - FiestaMan01

Thanks for the reply.

Could the leak have caused permanent damage to the engine then? judging by the amount of leaked Diesel, the seal wear must have been somewhat far gone, although the engine appeared to run fine, with no power issues.

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Wed 18 Dec 2013 15:26
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - slkfanboy

I am not sure if them comment applies to the 1.4Tcdi engine or not , but seal issues on some engines have been linked with turbo failures. So I would get it sorted ASAP.

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Wed 18 Dec 2013 15:47
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - FiestaMan01

Dealer has confirmed, injector seal is the issue.

Ordering part, and work should be done by tomorrow evening.

Anything to look out for, following the work?

Thanks.

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Wed 18 Dec 2013 16:07
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - elekie&a/c doctor

Yes,make sure it runs evenly with no misfire under acceleration.These injectors are easily damaged if they are difficult to remove.Also make sure the seals are Ford supplied to get the exact ones.Non genuine parts usually do not seal adequately as they tend to be a slightly different size.Also would recommend new injector clamp down bolts.hth

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Wed 18 Dec 2013 18:21
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - MrEckerslikefromRamsbottom

Thanks for the mention of new clamp-down bolts. I was considering asking if they usually fit new ones. I hate using bolts that have alreaady been torqued-up once.

I hear that the chaps who know, don't go chipping off the solidified goo.. They spray it with Mr Muscle oven cleaner and leave overnight. They say it all wipes off next day.

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Thu 19 Dec 2013 19:44
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - FiestaMan01

Got the car back from the dealer. They refused to give me any paper work, related to the work, and emphasied that id got the work for free (as I should have).

Got the car back home, looked under the car engine bay, and again wet (great start). Wiped some of the Diesel away (incase it was old Diesel from during the job/ or earlier) and let the car run. Once again there is some Diesel on the newspaper.

Hoping this may be old Diesel dripping from earlier. But not very happy.

Going to see what its like after driving to work tomorrow.

Wondering if they've actually done any work. Car drives as before, no mis fires and acceleration is okay. No obvious noises.

Edited by FiestaMan01 on 19/12/2013 at 19:45

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Mon 26 Jan 2015 22:09
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - formulator
I had same symptoms of diesel in the engine bay. Dealer replaced the leak back pipes but didn't notice they had made an error and it was made worse. The result was diesel leaked onto both back tyres on the motorway and caused an accident because the car lost grip.
The location of the fuel lines and injectors means you can not see if the problem has been fixed. Total design fault in my opinion. If the dealer cannot fix it properly what chance does anyone else have.
Please don't ignore the diesel smell that others report.
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Tue 4 Dec 2018 15:21
Ford Fiesta - 2005 1.4Tdci, Diesel leak engine bay - eb123

I know this is an old thread but I have the same problem. Clean diesel over injector body but no chuff sound. Return pipes are clean. it looks like the big nut of the injector body gets wet.

How did you solve your problem

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