Not Black Death?!

tonydobbs

Member
So I have an interesting issue here. I've been having some fuel issues, and I saw oil/fuel on the fuel injector cover, so I thought the issue was clear... black death. Also I would occasionally receive a P0088 DTC. The last week it's been raining hard, so I would go out once or twice per day and hit the bolts with some PB Blaster. Today the weather was really good, and I went to address the issue... except now I'm not so sure that I do have black death. The injectors looked clean (except the PB blaster) and the fuel injector cover only seems to have oil on the outside (left side, mostly in the back, none in the very front). Looking on the inside of the fuel injector cover I didn't see any oil, nor did I see or hear anything coming out of the injectors. This is a bit perplexing. It seems like black death, it has the same hard start that one would expect with black death, but if it were black death I should see something on the inside of the cover or the injectors, not on the outside of the cover. Has anyone else seen something like this? I'm going to get under the van later and see if I'm able to spot anything that could be shooting oil or fuel on the cover.
 

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
In my experience, Black Death doesn't really cause hard starts. It doesn't effect anything the ECU is looking for to tell the injectors to start firing.
Have you done an injector leak off test?
The P0088 DTC is "high fuel pressure". In a weird way, the injectors leaking off too much fuel lowers the fuel pressure and then the fuel pressure regulator on the back of the rail overcompensates and the sensor on the front of the rail registers too high pressure and the ECU throws the code.
Now. Oil on the outside of the injector cover. You say "left side". This can be confusing based on whether you are sitting in the drivers seat or leaning over the engine with your belly on the grill. Do you mean passenger side or driver's side?
Bottom line: if there's no chuffing or tar like substance or misting coming from the injectors, it's pretty unlikely that you have black death.
 

tonydobbs

Member
In my experience, Black Death doesn't really cause hard starts. It doesn't effect anything the ECU is looking for to tell the injectors to start firing.
Have you done an injector leak off test?
The P0088 DTC is "high fuel pressure". In a weird way, the injectors leaking off too much fuel lowers the fuel pressure and then the fuel pressure regulator on the back of the rail overcompensates and the sensor on the front of the rail registers too high pressure and the ECU throws the code.
Ah, I thought I had read that people noticed a significantly longer time to start when their van has black death. I was thinking today that the P0088 DTC could be caused by excessive leak off, but have not checked that yet, I'll have to check that tomorrow. That does make sense, and is an easy test.

Now. Oil on the outside of the injector cover. You say "left side". This can be confusing based on whether you are sitting in the drivers seat or leaning over the engine with your belly on the grill. Do you mean passenger side or driver's side?
Bottom line: if there's no chuffing or tar like substance or misting coming from the injectors, it's pretty unlikely that you have black death.
Sorry for the confusion there, I had meant passenger side(not sure why I said left). There is no chuffing, misting (visible to my eyes at least) or tar, just whatever substance is coating the passenger outside of the injector cover.

I have another potential clue... I just went out to the van with my Autel 802 and did a check on the common rail after clearing the P0088 DTC, and it said the signal from the O2 sensor was faulty (voltage too low). I'm surprised that didn't throw a CEL or normal DTC. This might not be a bad sensor, but it might be worth replacing the O2 sensor anyway on a van of this age with unknown history.

Thanks for the advice! I'm still getting used to the world of German diesels... so much still to learn coming from the world of American and Japanese gas vehicles.
 

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
Low fuel pressure causes hard starts. The ECU is looking for a certain PSI at the fuel rail and until it sees that (and a few other things), it won't tell the injectors to start firing. A dying fuel pump or injectors that are leaking back too much fuel can take a longer than normal cranking time to build up the needed pressure. You can use your Autel to monitor fuel pressure while you are trying to start and see what happens. I can't remember the exact fuel pressure number off the top of my head, but I have it written down out in the garage. If no one chimes in here with it or you don't find it with a search on the forum, I'll post it on monday when I head out there again.
 

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