Fuel Injectors K-Series 1.8 MEMS1.9

Original Injector

Since I noticed that the fuel economy was not all too good I started suspecting the injectors, as this was one of the very few parts that I never changed. I remember years back that I noticed that the fuel economy seemed to suddenly get worse, that was also around the time that car started struggling with annual MOT due to emissions.

Since a few weeks the car is back on the road after many years, this time with a different engine sourced from an MG, still a MEMS 1.9. I used the inlet manifold from the MG but kept my fuel rail and injectors as the MG had different ones.

Now looking at the fuel economy being not all the best, around 1 litre per 9.3 kilometre, I started looking for options to play around with injector options. Here is what I found so far:

The cars injectors originally have part number MJY10015L according to the official Land Rover Freelander Parts Catalogue. Which as far as I can find is a Bosch 0280150703, according to motorwestperformance.com the flow rate is 155cc / min @ 3 bar and has 16 Ohm resistance.

Thing is that if I would not have a parts manual I would go to a webshop, select the Freelander 1.8 and I would end up buying this one (also because of price): MJY100550TO. Which also appears to be a Bosch with part number 0280155885 and according to motorwestperformance.com has a flow rate of 150cc / min @ 3 bar and has 15 Ohm resistance. However, on this website you'll find more and different specs: www.injectorplanet.com

All-in-all I'm a bit lost on this and also don't really know if my injectors can be in a bad state or that this part number have been superseded by a better/different type.

I'll see to fit some different injectors I have from MG parts and will see to get som slow motion videos of the spray pattern and see what fuel economy does.

Any thoughts and insights are welcome!

Below a recording of the injectors in slow motion after cleaning the by forcing injector cleaner through time:

Oil Change

Replacing the engine oil, engine oil filter and gearbox oil. The engine oil service was according to schedule, however according to the Haynes manual gearbox oil it is not needed to be replaced. Since I am taking of the IRD (see other post) I might as well put new oil in it. Getting the oil out is easy, but geting new oil in is a little trickier.

To fill up the gearbox I used a (clean!) garden hose and stuck it in the filler hole.
Mileage: 169030

VCU and Driveshaft Removal

The VCU realy started to stiffen up the drivetrain, to be safe I removed the entire main driveshaft including the VCU and bearings from the car.

Removing it is pretty straightforward, just make sure to secure the shafts they are a bit clumsy. I fixed the shafts to the bottom of the car and gradually lowered the enter shaft, being careful not to bend it too much.

Belt change

As the Haynes manual states the auxiliary and the power steer belt should be changed every so many miles, also when I start the engine a short squeal is heard. Not a very hard job but I managed to mess this up in a great way.

To take of the auxiliary belt the tensioner should first be relaxed. But before you do this you should of course first loosen the securing bolt that holds the tensioner to the engine. I did not do this.... As a result the bolt broke. To find out what bolt this was I ordered the official Land Rover parts manual. This book is full of exploded views with part numbers of every part of the entire car, highly recommended!

After finding the correct part number for the bolt I ordered and installed a new bolt, power steer belt, auxiliary belt and auxiliary belt tensioner. Job done.

Mileage:
155270

IRD and engine oil change

Changed the engine oil, filter and the IRD oil. Not a very hard job. I had no record of the last engine oil change so it seemed like a good idea to do it now and keep records. Engine oil had no surprises, the IRD oil however did show some scary symptoms. The oil was silvery and had some small metal parts in it. I guess the parts are from broken spacers from inside the IRD. Not good.

Since the oil was out I was curious about the state of the pinion. I loosened the nuts on the drive shaft but had trouble removing it from the flange. To get it loose I attached a hose clamp to the CV joint on the drive shaft and carefully tapped it loose.

When the pinion was finally loose I could not see any visible damage to the gears or excessive play in any of the gears or bearings accessible. I reassembled the IRD and drive shaft and filled up the IRD with oil while following the instructions in the Haynes manual. To be safe the next plan is to get hold of a new IRD, preferably a newer unit with the newer/better ratios.

Mileage:
154909

Installing a portable radio set

Having a portable radio set in the car should be fun. Every now and then we set out with multiple cars and having an easy way of communication always comes in handy. I did not want to mess around with battery's so I got a cheap radio set including a DC charger base/holder.

It took a while to figure out where to place the charger, eventually the small storage in the tailgate was the best fit. This way the radios are also out of sight when the car is locked, it's not an expensive set but could be convincing enough for someone to break open a window for it.

The charger unit is 7.5 VDC so I needed a DC/DC converter, again a cheap option was at hand by using a plug-in cigarette DC/DC type. The unit was stripped and the input and output cables were attached directly to the PCB.

The power is sourced from the central cigarette lighter, a cable was added and routed beneath the carpet along existing wires the the back of the vehicle. Here the DC/DC converter is attached behind the bodywork and all cables are labelled. The charger base is fixed with screws to the base of the tailgate inner plastic. Some Velcro straps are attached to the charger to secure the radios while in the charger.

We have been using this setup numerous times since installed, pretty cool to always have fully powered radios at hand! The maximum range is about 3 to 5 kilometres, which is good enough most of the time.

New rear differential

While the subframe was removed for the chassis repairs I also replaced the rear diff for a completely new unit from Ashcroft. The old unit had worn pinion bearings, and was also the older TVK100380 type. Replacing the diff with the newer TVK000180 type sounded like the better option than rebuilding the old unit.

It's a pretty easy job, especially when the subframe is removed.

Mileage: 15400