Grand Vitara 08 Injection warning light

[platyphylla]

The injection warning light for the DDIS 1.9 came on after a long hard drive. The light goes out after turning the engine off then back on and the engine is back to normal performance. There is no perceptible loss of performance when the light is out.
Took it to a local mechanic who said there was not fault showing.
Light continued to come on when the engine was pushed.
Took it to a Suzuki dealer with the same 'no problem' showing. They checked previous faults and cleared them. checked the DPF; good, exhaust sensor; good. So they had no solution to the problem.
Suzuki said they need to check it when the light is on. Problem being we live in a country area and it is a long way to the mechanic on highways and over steep hills. Due to the huge loss in power when the light is on, I doubt I could get the car there when the IWL is on.
Any suggestions for a possible cause would be appreciated.

[dave43]

Did you solve your problem? Have you drained the fuel filter?
I was unlucky to get watery fuel once and a warning light came on - can't remember which one now. The whole filter assy comes off easily as the hoses have quick disconnect plugs, remove the water sensor wire on bottom of housing, undo housing holder screw with torx spanner and take whole assy out. disassemble and clean out thoroughly, replace filter if there is water and replace in car.
May be a contributor to your problem.

[platyphylla]

No. Still happening. Thanks for the description on the filter disassembly. I will have a look.
Happens when the engine is under pressure. Usually trying to maintain 100k/hr up a hill (overtaking a truck with 10 cars behind me).
It is more likely to fault on a long drive. I can feel the engine lose power intermittently when it is in the 'fault zone' much like the effect of air con on a small engine but worse (ruled that out in this case). Engine temp is stable though.
Have spoken to more mechanics but none have any definitive idea. Most popular was the 'body' sensor.
Next step is to get it to fault and drive it straight to the mechanic while the light is on.

[reg_c]

Originally Posted by dave43

Did you solve your problem? Have you drained the fuel filter?
I was unlucky to get watery fuel once and a warning light came on - can't remember which one now. The whole filter assy comes off easily as the hoses have quick disconnect plugs, remove the water sensor wire on bottom of housing, undo housing holder screw with torx spanner and take whole assy out. disassemble and clean out thoroughly, replace filter if there is water and replace in car.
May be a contributor to your problem.

was that for the water in fuel warning? or the injection system warning?

its possibly an injection fault with the signal to the injector solenoid, hard to detect with the fault not actually present I can only wish you good luck with your mechanic

[dave43]

You're right Reg C, was the water in fuel light.

Another thought - is the fuel cap venting correctly. If not, could this cause a slight loss of fuel pressure causing the injector light to come on? the problem occurring under hard driving and max. fuel requirement suggests this is a possibility.
Has happened to me with carb. engine - don't know if it could give same symptom with injection.

[platyphylla]

Tried the fuel cap. left it slightly loose for a tank. no difference.
Started when I was pushing the car on a long trip at 120km/hr average, hot day. Has been doing it ever since.
I vaguely remember the seller telling me the exhaust pipe colour (another aussie) was light grey. It is black at the moment. Which if memory is correct means it is running richer. Also seems to be a loss of power when pushed, but a bit vague on that.
Hard to tell if it is mech/elec/fuel fault or computer induced power loss.

[Andylewer]

It could be the Diesel Particulate Filter, Do you do alot of low speed driving / driving in traffic?

When i bought mine, the Injection Warning Light was on, about a week later the 4WD lights would start flashing......these problems were fixed by replacing the battery. It tested fine and would certainly start the engine, but something had broken down inside it and this caused the ECU to only be receiving 9.6v and ofcourse doing all sorts of weird things.
But, it did start out like yours so if the battery is a few years old it may be worth replacing?

[platyphylla]

Unfortunately? not the DPF. Live in a country area so very little low speed driving.
I have seen the battery as an issue before and will get the mechanic to check it.
The Suzuki dealer checked the DPF and said it 'only' had 25g of soot. I took it 'only' meant good.
Suzuki cleared a couple of old fault codes; DPF and exhaust sensor and said both were in good order.
I am going to get the fault happening and take it to the local mechanic. Will post back the results.

[Andylewer]

Are you serious, 25g of soot?

This is from the workshop manual;



As Diesel Particulate Filter is a device to trap the diesel particulate (PM), it is necessary that the accumulated PM is

burned and diesel particulate filter regenerated.

There are three ways to regenerate diesel particulate filter.

• “Natural regeneration” by catalysis and exhaust gas temperature
• “Forced regeneration” by post-injection
• “After-sales regeneration” by using SUZUKI scan tool
And, here is the mechanism to regenerate diesel particulate filter.
1.
Diesel particulate filter, trapping PM, carries out “Natural regeneration” according to the driving condition. The
driver will not find it.
2.
ECM consistently monitors the exhaust gas temperature, injection quantity, driving time, vehicle speed, PM mass
etc. In case of the long-time idling and traffic jam at low speed that cause lowering the exhaust gas temperature,
PM is accumulated gradually.
When “Natural regeneration” becomes insufficient (PM mass exceeds 25 g), ECM will perform “Forced
regeneration” by the post-injection at the point of appropriate driving condition. The post-injection will heat the
exhaust gas temperature to enable “Forced regeneration”. In this situation, any warning indicator will not come on.
Therefore, the driver will not recognize that “Forced regeneration” is performed.
3.
If “Forced regeneration” is interrupted by the engine stop, long-time idling and traffic jam at low speed that do not
keep the specified exhaust gas temperature, ECM will memorize it as “Regeneration failure”. When the
“regeneration failure” number (5 times) or PM mass reach at the specified conditions (PM mass exceeds 42 g),
ECM will find it as “impossible to regenerate by diesel particulate filter itself and incapable of continuing the
driving” and ask the driver for a help. This is “Speed request” announced to the driver by diesel particulate filter
warning light (1) in combination meter. Then, the driver will be asked to increase the vehicle speed more than 75
km/h (47 MPH) on the average for heating the exhaust gas temperature. If the regeneration is completed by
“natural regeneration” or “Forced regeneration” when accumulating “regeneration failure”, the accumulation of
“regeneration failure” will be reset.
4.
After the driver fulfills “speed request” for the regeneration and PM mass falls to the specified amount (5 ~ 8 g), the
regeneration will complete and diesel particulate filter warning light be turned OFF. It will take about 20 minutes to
complete the regeneration if the regeneration driving is performed properly. During the regeneration driving,
“Forced regeneration” will go simultaneously to hasten the increase of exhaust gas temperature and shorten the
time of regeneration. When the engine stops before diesel particulate filter warning light is turned OFF, PM mass
that should be decreased will be calculated at starting the engine next time. At that time, if PM mass does not fall
to the specified amount, diesel particulate filter warning light will come on again and the vehicle continue to ask the
driver for regeneration driving.
5. If the regeneration driving is not achieved and diesel particulate filter becomes almost clogged while “Speed
request” is on, injection warning light (Gravity 1 Fault) (2) in combination meter will come on. Also, to prevent
diesel particulate filter from melting and cracking, ECM will take following actions;
1) EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) will be cut off to avoid generating the extra PM.
2) “Forced regeneration” function will stop.
3) Driving performance will be limited by lowering the engine torque to avoid “Natural regeneration”.

Therefore, the driver will recognize the malfunction of diesel particulate filter.
In this situation, “After-sales regeneration” using SUZUKI scan tool will be necessary or diesel particulate filter has to
be replaced in the worst case.



If he is correct and the DPF in fact has 25g of soot.......there's your problem?

The battery wont show anything abnormal under any sort of multimeter or load test. The giveaway sign for the Suzuki mechanic was the ECU showed a voltage of 9.6v.....obviously causing a heap of drama. I would just replace the battery with a known good one to test first.

[platyphylla]

Thanks for the advice on the battery.
Re the 25gm. I am sure that is what the mechanic said, but I will double check. I did not know what was good or bad so just picked up on the 'nothing to worry about' attitude. I will dig out my receipt. I believe he said he cleared it. But it is something solid to chase up. Thanks

PS. The DPF light did come on a couple of times when it was first purchased. Drove it around and cleared it. Given we live 15km from the 'shops' and 50km from the main town we do very little town driving and plenty of long distance 100k/h runs.