Problem with Hyundai Grand i10 fuel injectors (Diesel)

CLYDE · 10th November 2018, 19:23

My brother owns an August 2014 Hyundai Grand i10 (done trouble-free 51,100 km. till date) and a few weeks after the last service at 50,014 km., she refused to start readily. Once she started, the running was smooth, without any smoking from the engine. Pickup was normal, but when slowing down prior to coming to a halt from 4th or 5th gear, when the accelerator was released, we began experiencing a series of forward jerks at speeds of 40 kmph and below, till we released the clutch, before coming to a complete halt. This was not the case earlier.

A few days later she refused to start at all. Luckily we were at Advaith Hyundai (AH), the Hyundai service point, to check up this very problem and they pushed the car in.

After elimination of the electricals and the glow-plugs, AH diagnosed the problem with the fuel-injectors (caused by impurities in the fuel, they said). The service people replaced the fuel injectors, the common-rail system and the fuel-pump from an old (nearly wrecked) i10 Grand taxi which was a trade-in, to convince us that was the problem, and the replaced system worked perfectly! The donor car was a (mis-)used and abused tourist taxi and must have swigged a million liters of fuel from nearly every fuel outlet around the South and beyond... And my car, which has been babied from day one, filled at the same fuel-outlet from day one, gives this trouble!

AH sent the three injectors, the common-rail system and the fuel-pump off to Bangalore to be overhauled. Nayak Diesels & Electricals, Mahalaxmipuram, Bangalore, did an overhaul and changed three control valves in all the injectors. AH then replaced the fuel-filter and cleaned the fuel-tank and fuel-lines out.

I am attaching a visual of the replaced Control Valves.

The bill for repairs came to a whopping Rs. 46,313 and it is close to Re.1 per km. driven. The car is back on the road now and back to her normal self, but it is a real loss.

Some background : my brother and I are the only drivers of this vehicle.
The car is filled at ONE INDIANOIL FUEL PUMP ONLY - never elsewhere. We have been filling both diesel at this pump since 1996 (for my various cars) and have had no problems whatsoever. The vehicle has been entirely serviced and maintained by AH from Day One.

I have the following questions and solicit some expert advise.

What could have caused this problem?
Adulterated fuel,
A problem with the injectors,
Injectors going out of calibration,
Faulty fuel-injector parts, or
Plain bad luck?

Could this problem recur? On advise from Advaith Hyundai's Works Manager, I have changed my fuel-point : from IndianOil to Bharat Pet.

Is there any way I can avoid this in future? How?

Is any diesel-fuel-additive required to be used?

Should I retain the car or trade her in for something else?

Hope to hear from someone out there. Thanks a million in advance.

CLYDE

Ravindra M · 10th November 2018, 20:21

No offence to anyone, but once a mechanic told me the Delphi Common Rail Fuel System (used in Hyundai) is prone to failures in Indian operating conditions and highly sensitive to fuel quality. He was working on an i20 with a failed high pressure pump due to bad fueling at a highway pump.

Obviously not every component fails, but it is your bad luck that you are part of that statistic. Just make sure the fuel tank is cleaned up thoroughly and change the fuel filter as recommended by OE.

Jaggu · 11th November 2018, 14:59

Hyundai injections (older ones) were prone to failure, new ones I assumed were better off, I guess not. In this case some rust type of formation can be seen on the plungers, that means there was moisture in the fuel. Did the car anytime throw the "water in fuel" warning light? Nothing much can be done on prevention front apart from draining water and replacing filter at regular service intervals.

Kosfactor · 11th November 2018, 17:15

If this was an issue with faulty part quality, the chances of you ending up with three poorly manufactured injectors are slim.

The last time I encountered all injectors of an engine failing at the same time was when coolant was mixed with fuel, it was later found out that someone poured coolant inside the fuel tank. This was a commercial vehicle.

The same fuel bunk does not necessarily means better fuel, after torrential rains the chances of your friendly neighborhood bunk having water in diesel is not that uncommon, happened to us, thankfully cars have indicator for this.

Rshrey22 · 11th November 2018, 23:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

thankfully cars have indicator for this.

What type of indicator is it? Haven't heard of anything like this before.

DRIV3R · 11th November 2018, 23:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rshrey22

What type of indicator is it? Haven't heard of anything like this before.

Water in fuel indication light in the instrument console.

Lights up in orange, whenever the sensor (usually placed under the fuel filter) picks up moisture in fuel.

HappyWheels · 12th November 2018, 10:05

A friends i20 Diesel Sports, which is close to 6 years old and reaching 100,000 kms, had an issue of refusing to start, randomly. Once it starts, there is no issue in running. And the restart issue happens out of the blue and without any specific pattern.

It got resolved by cleaning out the fuel line and the injectors.

SS-Traveller · 12th November 2018, 16:09

Quote: