Fuel Injection Calibration 101

[Doc Diesel]

A lot of people don't seem to understand how calibration works, what it does to your engine, how much it costs, how to diagnose if it needs it and other stuff.

I was thinking of putting up a sticky thread for everybody to read before throwing all kinds of questions for everybody to be informed and educated on the subject matter.

I may be raising some eyebrows with this action as anybody might ask, "who are you to teach us?" there may be more but it's up to you guys. I am just trying to help so that when you need that kind of service, you know what to say to a diesel mechanic, what problems to tell him, what to look out for on cost estimates and what kind of shops to avoid.

If anyone is interested, post your questions below and add to it by copy and then pasting it to another post. I'll set the break point at 15 questions.

Hope this will help everybody.

[vinj]

This is cool.

You can start with what are the tell-tale signs that calibration will be needed before moving on to the process itself. Also, what are the signs that it doesnt need calibration but some other type of service to help people from being duped.

[bilog]

Here's my question Doc,

my td42 seems to be chokig on third gear especially on high revs and on hil climbs. During morning warm ups it suddenly drops its rpm down to 1500. But once the engine heats up it normalizes. I changed the fuel filters already.

[dudetalaga]

hi Doc Diesel, i myself personally appreciate your concern for the fact that zero talaga ako theoretically sa makina. i suspect the information involved would be a massive one but is it possible for you to draw up a calibration basics first (like in a nutshell) para nga maintindihan ko, in layman's terms? and then progressively, we can go on with the problems and symptoms and on with solutions, etc.

in my case, somebody told me that my 4m40 ay medyo malakas ang konsumo and maybe needs calibration or something. isa pa, when i press on the accelerator, hindi agad umaarangkada, there's a delay bago mag-pick-up.

thanks.

[Doc Diesel]

so I got:

1. Tell tale signs to look out for.
2. Signs or what to look out for other types of services.
3. Engine diagnosis [somewhat related to tell tale signs].
4. Calibration flow chart with solutions.

anybody else? can we have the mods make this or the new thread a sticky one?

[impulzz]

Doc Diesel,

my 94 hi-ace(2L engine) is strating to emit black smoke lalu na pag medyo napalakas apak mo sa pedal. pinakita ko sa denso(banawe) sabi nila injector tips daw papalitan... parts and labor 4K++... then he added kung di maalis usok calibration na ng pump kelangan... so now di ko pa ninagawa... still would like to know more about the signs kung injector tip ba o calibrate na agad...

to add, engine power is still the same as before... consumo sa krudo ganun pa rin city driving nasa 7-8 kms with dual aircon... pero mausok lang talaga

[nugundam93]

4. Calibration flow chart with solutions.

<--- is this the same as listing what exactly happens when doing calibration, what tools used, etc?

this is a nice thread, +1 on making this a sticky. :D

[promdiboy]

pasali narin. what if ang laki ng tinaas ng emission testing ko. same shop naman and equipment from .39 to .38 to 1.1 na. sabi ng tester next year babagsak na raw ako. calibration ba ang kailangan. local 4m40 engine 6 years old with 65 k on the odometer.

[eurie]

kaylan po ba kaylangang magpa-calibrate? 5 years na 4d56 ko,ginagawa ko lang lagi ko lang nililinis strainer ko.ok lang ba yun doc? 143,000 odometer

[perryboy]

thanks tsikot family sa pag accept.

[KCboy]

ako po 77,000km odometer ko and i feel i need a calibration na din since last time ko was 2001 pa. just had me tips replaced 2 years ago....

[acenie]

kung mag change gear ako tapos tatapakan ko yung RPM, biglang may lalabas na Black smoke. May connection ba sa nozzle Tip or the injection pump ang black smoke.

[perryboy]

may adventure diesel engine 06 pag rektahan ang takbo then tinapakan ko ang pedal ng kaunting todo may lumalabas ng black smoke. natural lang ba yon. thanks

[Gian Paulo]

Guys ano prevailing rates sa linis ng nozzles? Though precautionary lang naman kasi medyo tumatakaw na 4D56 ko. Thanks

[1902]

good afternoon. meron akong pajero fieldmaster 1999 na 203,000 Kms pero no calibration yet. mausok lang pag mabigat ang paa pero sandali lang wala na. sabi nang mekaniko kailangan buksan kasi over 200k na tinakbo. tama ba siya????

[rsnald]

ako po 77,000km odometer ko and i feel i need a calibration na din since last time ko was 2001 pa. just had me tips replaced 2 years ago....

intay ko din kasagutan ni Doc Diesel, Ph. D. sa mga katanungan dito.

*KCboy,
medyo nag worry ako sa post mo, ako kasi more than 115,000 km na di pa nagpapacalibrate. dinadaan ko na lang sa biodiesel pag medyo mausok na ride ko. oks naman basta naka regular load ko at least 1-2%, mga once or twice a month ko ginagawa per full tank.

[Doc Diesel]

My apologies for not getting back to you as promised....had my hands full the past week and I realized I couldn't gather all the answers in one sitting and I'm afraid won't be able to finish it too so I'll discuss it one by one here.....

I won't go into the nitty gritty details of how the diesel engine works since I would presume that everybody knows about that already but if you don't here's something worthwhile to read...

http://betancalibration.com/pdf/Dies...n_Overview.pdf

1st Topic..

1. Tell Tale signs

The most common signs that your fuel injection system needs calibration are the ff:

* Black / White / Blue and irritating smoke and that includes what others would describe as maanghang sa mata.
* Sluggish / no idling
* Slow power or none at all. Don’t expect launching power in a diesel.
* Unusual than normal driving power and or engine noise like metal tapping sound or misfiring.
* Required PMS or tune up which is separate from engine tune up. This is what a lot of people ignore or don’t know.

Other "unique" problems can be a basis for calibration of which a proper diagnosis is to be done first. Remember, not all problems are the same.

[docvic]

I commend you for this noble effort docdiesel.
I had a 2.6 reading during the last emission testing and a 6-7 km/liter fuel consumption for purely city driving. My ride is a 95 2.5 TDIC with 87K in the odometer. Do you think I need calibration of my pump or injector tips lang ang kailangan i-check. Maraming salamat at huwag sana kayo magsawa sa pagtulong sa kapwa.

[docvic]

I commend you for this noble effort docdiesel.
I had a 2.6 reading during the last emission testing and a 6-7 km/liter fuel consumption for purely city driving. My ride is a 95 2.5 TDIC Paj with 87K in the odometer. Do you think I need calibration of my pump or injector tips lang ang kailangan i-check. Maraming salamat at huwag sana kayo magsawa sa pagtulong sa kapwa.

[av8or5]

i too like this thread. in addition to the questions above, when do you really need to have your ride calibrated? my troop although less than 3 years with 20k mileage exhaust black smokes specially if you need more speed. kakahiya. but i have seen this in most isuzu rides. is this really normal or i need to have something adjusted. i just had my 20k PMS done and changed fuel filter as well, but nothing changed.