Hi didn't want to post earlier because I intended on reading the whole thread before doing so.
I too had my injectors changed.
Had a strange episode once, even created a thread about it, in which the engine seemed to be misfiring with a sound similar to knocking. The car was taken in to check what happened but there were no fault codes logged and after getting to the garage the engine resumed working as it normally had done so up until that moment. Therefore I cannot say if it was related to the older injectors.
The dealer alerted me about the recall when I went there for an unrelated situation.
Injectors were changed at around 62 thousand miles.
At the time the dealer also alerted that there was a software upgrade available. I declined the update at the time as I wanted the changes to be done one at a time so that if its behaviour changed negatively it would be easier to pin point.
The car had a quirk, from new, that I never really bothered to dissect. My experience told me it would take too much time and probably would never get a satisfactory answer. Dealers looked into into but never quite made it go away. When properly cold, initiating march, just in first gear, if the rpms were taken above say the 1800's then dropped and once again taken up the car would sometimes hick-up, even maintaining a steady throttle. I'm at a loss for a better description. He only made it in first gear. So much of the time, being it is a diesel, I just used first gear to get moving, then to second and it never hesitated. On harder accelerations of if the rpms were taken above 2000 there was no
problem. DMF, injectors? I guess I'll never know.
Having the injectors changed I've instantly noticed a different behaviour. The car was way more lively and the overall mpg noticeable rose from 42 to 46.
The car was fine for some time. Then somewhere around late August I got a CEL with a clear prolonged regeneration going on. Took the car to the dealer the day after, had a fault on one of the DPF sensors. Got cleared and everything seemed fine. Tantrums I thought. The light came on a couple days later with same symptoms. Didn't thought much of it, let it do the regen and even helped by following the indicated procedure to
help the filter in case the DPF light comes on (the DPF light never came on). Didn't even bother taking him into the dealer. In the meanwhile also got the famous cable and did a check for myself but there were no faults logged already. Kept an eye on the regen cycles for a while as I was worried that the injectors replacement could trigger DPF issues has it seems to have done to many.
Sorry for the wall of text but the story doesn't end here.
After all this the car started showing a different behaviour. Remember what I described about the hesitations in first gear above. It started doing it on all gears. More noticeable on the
lower ones naturally. Some days it would start going nicely others it wouldn't. Some days I'd already be going on the highway and I'd feel a slight judder and the engine sound seemed to get slightly mute and there was a very faint drop in performance. It either did that right from the start or a bit after as I've said. As the engine got warmer I'd feel again a slight judder and everything got back to normal.
From what I could tell, on warmer days or after being let in the sun for some time it seemed that those issues weren't present. But I can't really tell. That left me dreading some electrical issues though. I also theorized that it was trying or doing some kind of mini regenerations, if such thing is programmed on to the ECU. Driving it harder seemed to create some extended gaps in between manifestations.
After owning it for six years one thing I already know. These are quirky engines. As long it didn't left me stranded, no lights and major faults showed up it could wait to be checked at a posterior service.
That's what happened. The pending software update was made as no mechanical issues were detected and guess what, I've got a completely different car. Absolutely different. So different I've even had to readjust the clutch operation. On the back of my head I always had a faint idea that those symptoms could be related to diesel starvation at cold. And if you ask me, among other possible corrections the newer software brought, a better injection map is one of them. The engine feels a lot livelier, gets going a whole lot better from standing still. Clutch feeling is a lot smoother and the engine itself is a lot smoother running. MPG seems to have had a minimal drop but that needs confirmation with more miles. I'm truly fascinated at how better it is behaving right now.
I'm fond of this injection map theory I've got because it suits well all the issues. Plus, many of the complaints about DPF issues after injector changes may be precisely caused by
lower exhaust gases temperatures caused by the new and improved injectors. I noticed and clear rise in mpg, that could only mean they were more efficient but with it comes less diesel being used and therefore colder exhaust gases. The DPF relies in part on those to
help with the cleaning process. Even my regens are a lot smoother now. That old "Ford Transit mode" is still there but a lot more civilized.
All in all, the software upgrade was a definite improvement.
If you happen to have any similar issues with the new injectors, drop by your dealer and check if there are any new versions available for your car.
It is a FR 2008
