12/06/2026
Today we have a Mercedes Vito with the dreaded black death. This is a common issue across most makes and manufacturers vehicles when the injector seals fail for whatever reason.
This particular vehicle had a clamp bolt repair previously that obviously did not last failing after a short ish time and allowing the combustion gasses to pass the seal and injector creating the black death build up as seen in the photos. unfortunately the owner kept driving it.
We stripped the vehicle for access, cleaned up the mess, which believe me is harder than it looks and the smell hangs on you for ages afterwards, removed the very tight injector (which is only held in by the rock hard carbon) cleaned the seat repaired the bolt thread and fitted a new injector , rebuilt and away it goes, another happy customer.
We usually replace the injectors for two main reasons. One the injectors usually need to stripped for us to gain a secure hold on the injector to remove it as extreme forces can be required. Two, we find that when the engine has been run for some time with a combustion gas leak it seems to "dry out" the needle in the nozzle causing it to stick and the injector to misfire, not always imediately but usually around a week after. so its just easier, more reliable and better in the long run.
examine the photos for further details particularly the replacement clamp bolt threads used by the previous repairer.
