Injector hosing

[Driver]

Hello,

What is injector "hosing", what causes it and are there any sumptoms before a piston gets holed?

 

[scottie]

Simply put an injector is a spring loaded valve like a bathroom tap and if the tap is leaking then it’s described as hosing
slightly more technically it opening is critical to the efficiency of the engine as it is designed to inject a designated amount of fuel at the correct time in the engine cycle which explodes under compression and forces the piston down thus producing the power required in the engine
the problems caused are normally unburnt fuel that results in the residual oil that lines the cylinder bores to be washed out the wear then produces a variety of complications including damage to piston heads lack of combustion and engine failure amongst other nasty things
piston damage is usually incremental poor starting and black exhaust smoke not reaching revs would be indicative of problems
taking technical advice at the start is advised

having your injectors tested is probably the first step if you suspect problems

 

[Driver]

Thanks for that. I have nothing suspect but live in horror of having to remove an engine and have it overhauled. The Volvo D9 engines have 800 hours, much of the last 100 hours at low speeds. I beleive the time to injector servicing is 2000 hours. Is there any reason to do so earlier?

 

[scottie]

The D9 is a robust modern design engine and as they specify a service time it makes sense to adhere to it although any change in engine behaviour should be investigated
in view of cos of investment in the engines servicing should take account of time as well as hours run
Bad fuel or filtration is possibly the biggest danger for you
Depending on where is the vessel based can affect the fuel supply quality

 

[B27]

The words used vary, but what I understand by 'injector hosing' is when an injector produces a very narrow stream of fuel instead of a spray.
The result of this can be a hole burned through the piston crown.