D4D what's the risk

From what you read it's not an uncommon event. However it's also not difficult to circumvent. Some use special filtering funnels. Some install an additional fuel filter as a first line of defence. Some say "She'll be right mate" ......... I expect they're the ones you read about.

I installed an additional filter with a water alarm which is spliced into the OEM alarm light and buzzer and feel reasonably comfortable with this as insurance.
The obvious first step is to, wherever possible, fill up at a high volume outlet. We have picked up dud fuel in the past from smaller outlets even in reasonably sized towns.

At the end of the day it is unreasonable and unlikely that the OEM filter/alarm is not up to the job, however additional precautions are good for insurance and peace of mind. I would expect the failures could be attributed to a lack of proper service e.g. ignoring any warnings or not having spare filters available.

Common rail diesels are virtually the go these days so you have to learn to live with the issue.

lj_eco
The term D4D is a Toyota alloted description. D4D looks impressive as a badge on a Toyota.
What you are talking about is Common Rail Diesel Injection systems.

You can fill up with contaminated fuel from anywhere and do not have to go outback to find it. Your local servo can accommodate you with dodgy fuel, you just don't know when.
So it happens in town and out of town.
In town there is just as many vehicles filled with petrol by the drivers as get crook fuel. But people are becoming aware. In another 10 years in may not happen much at all.

The original filters are adequate but possibly not the best you can have and are only one line of defence.
As Rosco mentioned, having an additional filter is increased insurance, as long as it catches water, dewaters the fuel of emulsified water ie unseen water and also stops contaminants like particles of solid matter.

Where there is only one line of defence, then a breach of that is more likely easily accomplished and I also believe most vehicles affected have only one.

The other issue which is so important, is often, the dealers DO NOT change the filters at service time and wait until the filter is borderline or already contaminated/blocked or water laden and that is when any alarm should happen. The dealers rely on you telling them IS a problem, when it should be serviced to AVOID a problem.

If that situation is reached then you are close to, or are at, the beginning of system failure. There is not many options then.

Cheers
Ross M

And the seat/sealing washers leaking diesel into the sump /clogging the oil pick up with carbon and seized motors. Toyota did a recall for the rest of the world to fix this but not in Australia ??

Don't believe all you read on the world wide web.....

D4D engines have been out since early 1999 and first introduced in Australia in 2005, what you have to remember is this injection system is in the Hilux, Hiace, Prado and Landcruiser 200 and 70 series, six vehicles that are high seller and sales leaders in their segment compared with anything else in any other manufacturers range.

If there was a concern for reliability you would here about it in the media and over the net..... it would be every where. (and for the knobs who are going to say it is everywhere)..... over 350000 D4D engined vehicles have been sold in Australia and millions overseas and in comparison there are only a hand full of complaints to be found on the world wide web.

Contaminated fuel will affect any common rail diesel and there are really no filters that will filter out 100% contaminates.

I am sure other manufactures have the same issue, it's just that they don't sell the numbers like Toyota so the problem isn't in your face or seems as common.

All manufactures have issues and Toyota are no different.

Hi all,

Its typically not the fuel that is the problem, it's the way it's stored. Many outback locations and farms (including our own), store diesel in tanks above ground. Hot days and cold nights leads to condensation inside the tank hence contaminating the fuel. Or in long buried underground tanks water leaks in via corrosion holes or the vent pipe.

We opted for a pre filter as added protection.

Cheers

Pete

From my research the earlier models were the ones that failed. The newer models have an improved Denso injector with a Diamond like tip. Having spoken to various Toyota service centres the incidents of injector failure seem to have reduced dramatically. The other thing you should remember that the replacement Denso injectors have dropped dramatically in price , in the early days you could pay $1000 per injector, the Hilux D4D injectors are as cheap as $300-350 so it is in my opinion the risk is not a factor like it used to be.

I have a 2012 d4d hilux and live in outback wa filled up all over the state with most remote places and no issues yet. My work (mining) thrash the living hell out of all the utes both v8 land cruiser hilux and prado's we have mostl underground locked into 4wd low screaming all day cos no one cares and they keep on going

Take a couple of weeks off work and have a look here:

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread.php?26809-Preventative-D4D-maintenance-measures

not much that isn't covered there - but to save a lot of time reading it all, a catch can looks like a good idea

The fact is these common rail diesels are nowhere near as tolerant of fuel contamination as the earlier mechanical pump diesels.

The old diesels you could throw significant quantities of petrol or other solvents in the tank and they would run fine and have a high probability of no ill effects.

Solvent or petrol contamination can not be filtered by any means.

Some of the common rail diesels are reported to be more sensitive than others to solvent or petrol contamination.

The older diesels would tolerate very small amounts of water passing in the fuel, but mostly had adequate water trap filters operating in a low pressure fuel line.

The common rail diesels are almost completly intolerant of water in the fuel and the the filtering and water traps ( in the view of many) are not adequate considering this intolerance.

One poster of another forum was furiuos......he had purchased a new small excavator, that had a near identical engine in to that in his near new ute......these two machines where similar in dollar value...but the excavator had a very comprehensive multistage filter..factory standard...his ute had what he and others consider a token effort filter.

As far as being a one in a million chance....if that was so there would be only 2 D4D hiluxes in brisbane that have had a common rail related fule system failure.

Well there is a bloke I know just arround the corner that has had a major fuel system over haul paid for by a fuel company...because toyota refuesed to take responsibility...he was fortunate..he baught all his fuel from the same company on a fuel card.

The D4D hiluxes DID have issues with their early injectors that they systematically tried to deny responsibility for.....my brothers best mate baught an early D4D hilux new and had fuel system issues quite early on....not disasterous but not running how it should.....at first the dealer tried to fob him off.....untill he made some phone calls and the dealer was informed who he was, his long term reputation as a mechanic and his long term relatioship with toyota as a mechanic.....the injectors where replaced at no cost......most do not have that sort of leverage.

It is the view of many that while Toyota have addressed the early...plainly substandard ...injector problems, their injectors are still not as robust as some of the others.

As for the thousands of vehicles out there having no problems at all........of course there are thousands out ther having no problems...because they have not been put in the situation where a failure may occur.

Even the dodgyest products you could find...the manufacturers will be able to point out that there are thousands of units out there "operating perfectly"...that can not be taken as proof that there is not a problem and the many failures did not occur.


There is a real problem that Common rail diesel is still a new technology......being offered for only less than 10 years in the volume market, makes it a new technology.

While some of the better manufacturers may have had the time, will and volume of units to perfect thier product others may not yet have been able to do so...in addition, the rest of the motoring world including the fuel suppliers may not have improved their game to permit the common rail diesel to be as reliable as it realy should be.

For my part I will be staying away from common rial for a while yet......I will continue to drive my crude old diesel burner for a while yet. And when I do replace it I will be very serioulsy considering a petrol motor.

The reasons for running a diesel are not as convincing as they where in the past.

Electronicaly injected petrol motors have been proven to be long term reliable, are more efficient and powerfull than they have ever been and their fuel systems are cheaper to repair and service.

cheers

Another way to avoid contamination is do not buy fuel at a garage when you see a tanker filling the in ground tanks.
The fuel goes in that fast that it stirs all the crap up in the bottom of the tanks and it takes awhile for it to settle.

Even new direct injected petrol engines can suffer from dirty fuel problems so best to buy from servos that aren't filling up at the same time as you

Good article on the subject i found recently

http://www.racq.com.au/motoring/cars/car_advice/car_fact_sheets/diesel_injector_cleaning