I don't really deal with these beasties but was wondering if the problems generally stem from a build up of contaminants in the engine and/or carbon in the intake manifold, possibly from some sort of ridiculous egr system!
The reason I am curious is there are a lot of very cheap Volvo's around running the Mitsi 1.8GDI and I thought for a fun project it would be interesting to buy one and set it up with water injection.
Theory being, nice clean engine = reliable. I also think that the possibilities of an ignition/fuel re-map with water injection could be a lot of fun. Not necessarily a cost effective project but a good one for some learning and fun.
Curious on your thoughts on the matter.
ct9a,
Apr 20, 1:07pm
wurth does a great product that you spray in a vacuum line on these
also another issue they seem to blow the injector amplifier reguarly.
ladatrouble,
Apr 20, 3:50pm
Water injection will help clean out the combustion chamber,and certainly makes them run better.But it won't clean the intake manifold or ports.an intake cleaner can help a little,but there is so much crap in these intakes that removal is the only way to get them back to metal.
jezz43,
Apr 20, 4:07pm
doesnt GDI stand for teh phrase commonly yelled once it breaks! GOD DAMN IT!
savanna71,
Apr 20, 4:25pm
ther common misconception by people who understand almost nothing about the system or how the system operates is that any and all problems are caused by carboning of the manifold (which as you know is common to ANY direct injected fuel system common rail diesel included regardless of manufacturer) this would be true in less then 5% of direct injected engine "problems". The system is very good once you understand the fundamentals, problem was the huge lack of knowledge and understanding in the undustry resuslted in a "stay away from GDI" simply because workshops were unable to solve issues due to a general decline in skill set. off course workshops soon turnt away from attempting repairs quoting them as being rubbish and problematic rather then accepting there lack of understanding/knowledge as being the reason they were unable to affectively diagnose any problems
ema1,
Apr 20, 5:36pm
Google Is Your Friend .sure to answer your own question there I reckon. If in doub't check it out.
bigfatmat1,
Apr 20, 5:41pm
I have replaced a couple of mechanical high pressure pumps in them for poor performance ya get alot with coil problems and egr faults. I have even had one with no compression on one cylinder. I would agree with above toyot d4 petrol and diesel have bad carboning problems. Yet I have never struck it on a Neo nissan. I believe that Mitis tend to be a bit worse because of the tendency for a lot of oil burningthe egr system seems to be a standard system. ALot of faults are poor maintainance.
phillip.weston,
Apr 20, 5:59pm
The 2.4 GDI seem to be the worst of the bunch, the oil burning tendencies of the Sirius family engine combined with the EGR with the GDI really doesn't do it wonders. The 1.8 GDI seems to be alright but prone to blocking up. Haven't had much to do with the 3.0 and 3.5 GDI but they seem to go alright, have seen a couple cases of cracked pistons in 3.0 GDI Diamantes but have yet to hear of anything similar in a 3.5 GDI Pajero/Challenger etc.
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 21, 9:40am
Thanks for your input everyone, thats all valuable food for thought. I certainly have been googling as well but I find evaluating information from you guys in conjunction with the randomness of Google results gives a better picture for this sort of thing.
One thing I am really starting to appreciate of late is how a well designed EGR system can actually help an engine a lot (not just talking emissions here) yet a system that is too basic or poorly built can be nothing but a hindrance.
The specific engine I am looking at is the 1.8 Mitsi which Volvo used for a while. Its promising to hear that its one of the better ones.
vtecintegra,
Apr 21, 10:07am
They're really picky about fuel too I guess because they have a relatively high compression ratio
phillip.weston,
Apr 21, 10:08am
The 4G93 (the 1800cc) is prone to leaking oil from the head gasket, generally on the gearbox end. The oil pressure sender is attached to the head rather than the block and the gallery supplying the oil pressure to the head (and sender) is quite close to the edge of the block, which the OEM head gasket can deal with fine but only for a while until it eventually starts leaking.
phillip.weston,
Apr 21, 10:09am
Due to how the GDI works, the compression ratio doesn't affect it in the same as it would a conventional injection engine. They can run on 91, but it's not desirable.
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 21, 10:26am
Thanks for that phillip, I will be sure to check for that. Assuming I put on a new head gasket would it be reasonable to expect say 50'000km without leaks!
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 21, 10:28am
Thanks vtec, it should be a non-issue in my case given the water injection, its like running 108 Octane!
gmphil,
Apr 21, 10:46am
my sister has a 2000 model 2.0lgdi auto should she be runnung it on 95 !
phillip.weston,
Apr 21, 10:49am
it is favourable to use a higher octane fuel, but more so using a low sulfur fuel. The quality of fuels here in NZ are not on par with what is available in Japan, and with these vehicles which are designed for the Japanese market only, it always is a compromise running it on anything here in NZ.
95 would be good, 98 would be better. You can run it on 91, but it wouldn't run as efficient as it should.
savanna71,
Apr 21, 4:33pm
phillip.weston wrote: and with these vehicles which are designed for the Japanese market onlyquote]
Sorry but this is untrue they werent developed solely for there own market. and in fact were supplied kiwi new in the form of pajero super exceeds
richardmayes,
Apr 21, 4:47pm
Plenty of MUCH older technology engines have exhaust gas recirculation systems.
The reason GDI type engines eventually foul their inlet manifolds would be more because the inside of the manifold isn't being constantly washed clean by a mist of petrol in the intake air (as it would be in a throttle body injection or a carburettored engine) .wouldn't it!
phillip.weston,
Apr 21, 4:50pm
Yes and they were also sold new in Europe too, but like here in NZ the GDIs there had issues. Do you follow my every single posts to try pick at things wrong! It sure seems that way.
savanna71,
Apr 21, 4:51pm
correct and is also required to support afrs at 40:1all direct injection systems engines suffer this fault regardless of manufacturer differance being MMC started playing with this long before most
phillip.weston,
Apr 21, 4:51pm
Yep that's pretty much bang on, that and the GDI engines rely on a heavy amount of recirculation instead of the usual small amount in comparison. The later GDI engines used a bakelite inlet manifold with smooth internal surfaces to deter build up, except the cast rough surfaces of the inlet ports of the head still blocked up.
savanna71,
Apr 21, 4:54pm
laugable, i contibuted to this topic before you were involved. Had the information been fact i wouldnt have corrected you
budgel,
Apr 21, 5:52pm
Phillip, does the Carisma ( which shares a platform with Volvo) have the GDI engine! 1830cc I think.
The reason I ask is that my dear old 82 year old Mum has one with only 32K miles on it, which hasnt missed a beat. she has had regular servicing from day one and loves the car! It has a surprising amount of go with a top speed of just over 200KPH. The transmission re learns the change points after her sons have been driving it and becomes quite snappy.
phillip.weston,
Apr 21, 5:56pm
early models have just the basic SOHC engine but from about 98 onwards the 1.8 switched to DOHC GDI. You can often tell by looking at the exhaust pipes (assuming it still has the factory muffler) - one pipe = SOHC, no GDI - two pipes = GDI. You say 32k miles, is she and the car in the UK!
bigfatmat1,
Apr 21, 5:59pm
I would say that this is incorrect I would say that the carbon build up starts from the backs of the inlet valves from oil sepage and pcv because there is no fuel passing through the valves. The fuel also kept the valves cooler and so less oil cooking on the back of the valves. this is then amplified from the egr system all the way back throughthe system to the throttle body. This is why nana d cars clog up quicker due to the lower revs and more vacuum behind the valves causing the egr to recirculate more crap
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