New Injector Leaking now what...

I purchased 6 GB Remanufactured fuel injectors to replace the original ones that have 198,000 kms on them.

While this job is not necessarily difficult, the smell of the gas is enough to make you hate it. Anyways, I got all the injectors on, started it up and one leaked. I removed it, reseating it again etc. It still leaked. I think moved it further up the fuel rail. Still leaked. Changed the upper seal, still leaked. So I suspected it was bad the top of the injector was not perfect, had some pitting you see when you take a wire wheel to a piece of metal to remove rust.

In the interim, I put the old injector (same position) and I contact the supplier, and they sent me another injector. The old injector did not leak.

Got the new injector, replaced it and it leaked just the same. In tried swapping out the upper o-ring with others, no effect. So, after reseating and messing trying get it to work 4 times, I put the old injector on. The old injector does not leak. So I am at a loss.

Not sure if it the remanufactured Injector, the top of it is not identical to the old one even though they are both Siemens. In the pictures you see the old one is flat there is no ridges, on the remanufactured you see the ring more so (A) not as flat as the original, and some of that pitting (B).

Anyone have any ideas, the other 5 injectors are ok, and the old one works with no leaks. Could it be a bad injector?


Note: Fuel filter and regulator was replaced several weeks ago. In case someone is thinking regulator.

I'm assuming that you mean the injector is leaking gas past the o-ring on the fuel rail end of the injector and it's dripping down the injector? Does the o-ring feel equally tight on both the new and old injectors before installation? Do both old and new injectors take about equal force to pop into the fuel rail?

It either has to be leaking from the top o-ring or from the body of the injector somewhere.
Have them send you another injector.
I just changed 8 on my friends 540, he got them from a rebuilder on ebay.
Not sure what they (ebay seller) do when they "rebuild" them, if they do anything at all other than running a cleaner thru them.
The injector and o-rings were sprayed with a clear laquer to make them look new.
I cleaned it off the o-rings.

Originally Posted by BikesStillRule

I'm assuming that you mean the injector is leaking gas past the o-ring on the fuel rail end of the injector and it's dripping down the injector? Does the o-ring feel equally tight on both the new and old injectors before installation? Do both old and new injectors take about equal force to pop into the fuel rail?

Yes, from fuel rail down the injector...

Same fit/force betweek old and new, but maybe not as tight as the others as I recall. I tried swaping the old o-ring with the new O-ring same, still leaked.

I did have them send me a second one, it leaked as well. The old one, however, does not leak.

The older OEM Siemens injectors for the M54 3 liter engine had a manufacturing problem, and they start to leak after a while. They addressed the problem (Siemens) and the new ones are OK. I had that issue. There was an internal BMW bulletin concerning this, never made public (this would have been an expensive recall - it afectes numerous BMW models).
So, a "remanufactured" bad batch Siemens injector, will always leak.
A"remanufactured" injector is:
- cleaned (ultrasound & maybe chemicals)
- spray patern calibrated
- new filter
- new O-rings.

But what's the chance of TWO injectors doing this?

Why did you need to replace the injectors in the first place?

Why did you replace them in the first place?
Just curious.

It doesn't make sense that the old injector doesn't leak. I would say from my experience it is entirely possible that injector could leak, it looks like they clean them up with a wire wheel so you might get some variations if the injector thinkness where surface corrosion was. Or as Doru notes simply one of the bad injectors.

Originally Posted by JimLev

Not sure what they (ebay seller) do when they "rebuild" them, if they do anything at all other than running a cleaner thru them.

I'm not sure either ... but for the OP (or anyone interested), there are excellent pictures & references on how 'most outfits' clean the fuel injectors in this thread:
- How to replace and service your BMW E39 fuel injectors (1) & details on replacing the 7.52X3.52mm and 9.2X2.8mm fuel injector o-rings (1)

It is indeed possible that you can get two bad injectors.

Take a look at this picture. I was inspecting the injector more closely today and noticed I was getting gas on my hands. I wiped it dry and then it was wet again.

Turns out as shown in the picture, gas is seeping out along the seam where the plastic contacts the metal, wiped it clean, and more gas appeared.

I can't be bothered to re & re this 5 time to confirm it leaks, with another replacement from this supplier GB Manufacturing. I have ordered a new one from another supplier.

Originally Posted by morrisroad

It is indeed possible that you can get two bad injectors.

Originally Posted by morrisroad

Take a look at this picture. I was inspecting the injector more closely today and noticed I was getting gas on my hands. I wiped it dry and then it was wet again.

Turns out as shown in the picture, gas is seeping out along the seam where the plastic contacts the metal, wiped it clean, and more gas appeared.

I can't be bothered to re & re this 5 time to confirm it leaks, with another replacement from this supplier GB Manufacturing. I have ordered a new one from another supplier.

Was this a Siemens injector? If yes, can you take the p/n off it?

Doru

Yes both are Siemens DEKA injectors.

First injector 1439800 with the number on front looking at plug 0992
Second injector 1439800 with the number on front 3061

These are the old style injectors - they look the same as the new ones, only they have a defect. They deform and start leaking as you noticed. The weird thing is that only this injector model for the M54B30 engine had issues. I changed all 6 on mine this summer. Last winter the leak was brutal until everything warmed up. One morning I opened the hood and there was literally a fog of fuel vapours coming out from the fuel rail. Risky business to drive to work...In this thread I have pics with the old style & new style injectors. They look identical, but the p/n is different.

Thanks Doru for the confirmation. Where did you confirm?

Originally Posted by morrisroad

Thanks Doru for the confirmation. Where did you confirm?

It's the new p/n look at this link. It's marked "new". You cannot find the old p/n brand new anymore. But there are people who sell them as refurbished. Hit and miss. Also, the p/n stamped on the new and old are different.
The new OEM p/n is 13537546245. The weird part is that it does not show as "superseeded" in realoem. Or maybe it's not that weird if think economics.....

Internal bulletin not much chance of us getting to see that. I did a quick search but could not find anything that described the Siemens DEKA injector defects and BMW. It would be helpful to know the series of injectors maybe by part number range like I have seen in other posts.

I guess this is a tradeoff, pay the $140 for new injector or $70 for remanufacture and take the risk you might get some bad ones. It shouldn't be that way though, if the remanufacture knows some series is defective they should cull those out. I am going to send a note to the manufacture to see what they say as I now have 5 injectors which could be in of the same batch.

At any rate. I received my new injector today from VDO...it was packaged in the same way as the new ones in Doru's link, sealed box, end caps.

I had the new ones for around 90 bux/piece from ECS Tuning. Everywhere else, the price jumped to 120 or more.

Does this only apply to the 530 engine, or do the 525 Seimans injectors have the same problem. I'm thinking about pulling my intake off sometime in the near future and wondering about haveing my injectors cleaned or go off and just buy new.

Originally Posted by poolman

Does this only apply to the 530 engine, or do the 525 Seimans injectors have the same problem. I'm thinking about pulling my intake off sometime in the near future and wondering about haveing my injectors cleaned or go off and just buy new.

Only the M54B30 engine. The 3 liter ones. Weird....but affects lots of BMW models. The few indys in our city all know about this issue. They are also in touch with the BMW dealership - some of them former master techs at said dealerships.

New VDO injector installed. No Leaks ...finally.

Lessons Learned

1) There is a chance (3%) you might get a buggered up injector if you buy remanufactured and that's the tradeoff for paying and extra 25% or double the price for something new. Some thoughts on whether on buying

• If you own an older car, and don't mind doing re&re until it works, then remanufactured might be a good choice.
  
• If you don't want the hassel of Re&Re until you get it them all right, buy higher grade or new.
  
• If you own a new car, and intend to keep the car for more than 5 years, by new.
  
• If there is a local shop that can clean and align the pattern, this might be another economical choice for you. But the cost might be nearly the same.
  

2) Buy from a local supplier if you are getting remanufactured, its just easier for returns and you don't get dinged as much from shipping

3) You get $9/injector for core, but it can cost you $30 shipping to return them. So you get basically 3 cores worth in return.

4) I noticed the stamped serial numbers 4453 were all the same on the injectors taken out of my car.

5) There is likely a batch of injectors out there that have known issues and could be remanufactured. The old p/n is 1439800, the new OEM p/n is 13537546245

As the weather would have it at -10C another one of the remanufactured GB injectors started to leak. Likely the result of expanding and contracting materials. I just ordered a VDO replacement.

I'm revising my thoughts on remanufactured, don't bother with remanufactured unless they have an excellent QA process and reputation. Better yet, get your old ones cleaned and adjusted. If there are indeed issues with older Seimens ones, you'll likely get one from remanufacturing. Out of the 7 GB injectors I got, 3 were bad, one of which was the replacement. GB Remanufactured injectors - would not buy again. I should have followed Doru's approach getting new injectors in the first place.

Thanks for helping others benefit from your unfortunate experience. Hope the injectors fix your problem.

Another GB Remanufacture injector #3 went south the other day. Having had the rail off so many times it didn't take much time to replace it. I've sent it back on warranty. Buy new injectors if your thinking about replacing or get them serviced at a reputable dealer. You'll save money on not having to buy aspirin.

Thanks for the feedback.

I had no issues after I replaced the leaking OEM with the new Siemens injectors, so far, knock on wood.