OT: diesel injector question

[Biggles]

About 10 months ago my son took his van to a garage who charged him £2k+ to replace all 4 injectors. The fault recurred and he has just had all 4 injectors replaced again (at a different garage because he was at the other end of the country) and, from the condition of the removed injectors, it seems likely that the original garage only actually changed one of them. Is there any way to tell the year of manufacture from the serial number printed on the injector?

[Dave Liquorice]

Donno about directly but the maker might have a record of when a given injector was manufactured. The cynic and "closed shop" nature of the motor industry tells me that they may well not want to tell an ordinary member of the public.

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes.

Every part is traceable in principle in order that recalls and so on work.

Try contacting the manufacturer with te serial number of the car..they should know, even if they don't tell.

[Adrian]

You really are quite amusing, y'know.

[John Williamson]

Any number on an injector in my experience is a part number. If there are two numbers, one *may* be a serial number, which will make the part traceable.

If I'm feeling paranoid about the garage I use, then a spot of nail varnish on any bolt that needs undoing to get access comes in handy, along with another one in an inconspicuous place on the part to be replaced.

[Muddymike]

About 10 months ago my son took his van to a garage who charged him £2k+

Surely they had 12 months warranty, most new parts do. Go back to the original garage and complain.

Mike

[Dave Liquorice]

The injectors on my car have a number that you have to feed to the ECU. AIUI if you don't the fueling is not accurate, that is AIUI mind ...

[Rick Hughes]

The problem will be serial No. will only tell you date of manufacture ... not when it was taken off the shelf, so garage could easily say it was stock item.

[Biggles]

They do have a 12 month warranty but that doesn't help with the fact that it seems he was ripped-off. Going back is the plan, but we would be in a strong position if we could show that 2 or 3 of the injectors were made around the same time as the van but that one was much more recent.

[Biggles]

Yes, but if 2 or 3 turned out to be around the same age as the van and one or two were recent then this would be strong circumstantial evidence.