How to maintain your D4D car Engine in Uganda

Am sure many of us have seen Toyota cars specifically SUVs with a tag labeled D4D. However it is no surprise that very few people actually know what that D4D tag means or even how a D-4D engine performs, even those who own those vehicles.

Very often I ask close friends who drive Toyota SUVs with these engines to give me some information about D-4D and to my surprise; I haven’t met any…yet! Now, if this can happen in my country Uganda then I am pretty sure someone elsewhere in the world is naïve about these D-4D engines. In that case I have tried to educate you about this whole tech used to revolutionize the original diesel engine.

So, what does D-4D technically mean?

D-4D actually stands for direct Injection 4 Cylinder Common Rail Diesel Car Engine. Common rail diesels inject a fine mist of fuel into the engine at very high pressure. The result is the same power and refinement as a petrol engine, but with better fuel efficiency and lower emissions.

Why D-4D is better than your Ordinary Diesel Car engines/Turbo Direct Injection (TDi)

When we look at the Car Engines in Uganda, TDi is the older version of turbo diesel car engines while CRDI is newer one. The D-4D/ CRDI engine is better in fuel efficiency and pick up.
One feature of the electronic controls associated with the common rail (D-4D) is that there is no need to wait for glow plugs to warm up before starting the engine like in the way it is in the turbo direct injection car engines. You just turn the key and it fires up immediately.

Fuel in the D-4D is pressurized to an extremely high mpa within the "common rail" that feeds all four cylinders (older diesel engines have a separate pipe leading from the pump to each cylinder). The high pressure injection creates better fuel atomization for complete burning and increased power output. And because there is less fuel wasted though inefficient combustion, the D-4D delivers better fuel economy too.

In addition the computer control unit injects a small amount of fuel into the cylinder just before the main fuel load ignites. This "pilot burn" lowers the explosive force of the main combustion process and goes a long way to reduce the noise and vibration formerly associated with diesel engines. This all goes to make it one of the silkiest diesels engines ever built unlike the older diesel engines.

Diesel Cars Models with D-4D Engines within Toyota Car lineup in Africa

• Toyota Hilux Vigo 2500 cc 2WD Single Cab, Extra Cab and Double Cab


• Toyota Hilux Vigo 2500 cc 4WD Extra Cab and Double Cab


• Toyota Hilux Vigo 3000 cc 2WD Single Cab, Extra Cab and Double Cab


• Toyota Hilux Vigo 3000 cc 4WD Extra Cab and Double Cab


• Toyota Fortuner


• Toyota Corolla Diesel


• Toyota RAV4 Diesel


• Toyota Hiace


• Toyota Land Cruiser 70 series


• Toyota Land Cruiser Prado


• Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series

The down side of D-4D Car engines in Uganda

Typically, the newer D4D and other common rail engines in low developed countries like Uganda constantly have injection failure and fuel pump problems. I wanted to share some information with you in order to make us understand the quality of fuel that we use on daily basis and have our engines face these problems which lead to very costly repairs.

Common rail is a very good technology that produces more horse power and gives better fuel economy. The only reason that these engines fail is the quality of fuel and filtration technology we use. These engines run on regular diesel but there are a few things we should keep in mind to make these engines run without problems.

The Quality of the your fuel Matters

First we need to know a few things about diesel fuel.
The fresh diesel from the refinery is actually very good; things start to happen after it is transferred from there to the storage or equipment tank. Here, the stability of diesel starts to change as quickly as after three months. The process of oxidation starts and diesel starts to become darker in color as dark and heavy particles starts to form. They can gum up and plug fuel filters and causes low power and poor performance.

Water is another problem as it enters fuel through condensation and poor handling along with dirt. Water and piston rings cause severe damage to fuel injection systems causing poor running and reduced performance and even valves are affected.

Another thing is fuel degradation caused by heat and it occurs when fuel comes in contact with extreme heat in high pressure injection systems.

The bottom line is that our diesel is not handled properly. It is stored for long periods and the storage tanks are not regularly cleaned. These newer engines are sensitive and cannot take bad diesel. Therefore, I suggest that the fuel tanks should be cleaned and polished frequently by the oil companies and fuel stations.

There are additives available in some countries which can solve these problems if added to the diesel but I doubt they are available in most of our low developed countries like Uganda.

Quick tip on caring for your D4D car Engine

Be sure to use quality fuels; for my diesel powered Toyota Hiace I normally go for Shell or Total fuel stations. Traveling from Kampala to Jinja a distance of about 70km I save some UGX20k…! On the flip side of it, if you don’t take care of your D4D engine, get ready to incur high maintenance costs.

In a Nutshell, STAY AWAY from Adulterated Fuel….!

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