Replacing injectors in a 96 F250

[rammertide07]

My dad has a 96 F250 7.3 with 640,000 miles...he's owned it since 25,000. Every winter for the past couple years, it would "clack" and smoke for about 30 minutes until it warmed up. So my dad is wanting me to find some more injectors to put in it. Opinions on where to get some injectors???....I found some remanufactured injectors on thoroughbreddiesel.com for $155 ea. ($255 without core charge). They come with 1 year unlimited mile warranty.

Also, is there anything else he should have done while he has the mechanic in there.

Thanks

 

[JLDickmon]

just make sure you check the sponsor sites first..

I don't know if Beans is a sponsor or not, but they have stock remans for like $120.

 

[BJS]

I'll suggest Bean's Diesel for good remans. Though I would suspect that you have tired injectors but it's not going to solve the 30 min warm up smoking problem that would come from weaker compression which is generating less heat in the cylinders when it's cold.

While the mechanic is in there have him replace the glow plugs if they haven't been done in a while. Make sure to get good beru or motorcraft plugs. should be about 10-12 each and autozone stocked the motorcraft/beru plugs last I checked.

I will also suggest checking UVC harnesses & valve cover gaskets for shorts or problems such as brittle wires.

 

[rammertide07]

I'll suggest Bean's Diesel for good remans. Though I would suspect that you have tired injectors but it's not going to solve the 30 min warm up smoking problem that would come from weaker compression which is generating less heat in the cylinders when it's cold.

While the mechanic is in there have him replace the glow plugs if they haven't been done in a while. Make sure to get good beru or motorcraft plugs. should be about 10-12 each and autozone stocked the motorcraft/beru plugs last I checked.

I will also suggest checking UVC harnesses & valve cover gaskets for shorts or problems such as brittle wires.

I was thinking it may just be the o-rings wore out. Like you said, when it first cranks up cold...the o-rings are tight....when it warms up they expand and make a good seal. I'll ask him if he just want's to try replacing the o-rings...what do ya'll think? It hasn't been an easy 640,000 miles He's leaving it all up to me, so I want to make sure I get it done right because I'm spending his money

 

[Patrick Feeley]

I the mechanic knows what he's doing he could remove the valvecovers and check the armature clearance on the injectors after removing the solenoids. I'm betting they'll be out of spec (less than 0.0015", I think ... mine were getting close at 250k). That's not even considering the other problems that injectors with that many miles can have. If external o-ring changeout didn't help, you would be out another set of o-rings and the labor cost associated with it to put in new injectors. Cheers!

 

[rammertide07]

I the mechanic knows what he's doing he could remove the valvecovers and check the armature clearance on the injectors after removing the solenoids. I'm betting they'll be out of spec (less than 0.0015", I think ... mine were getting close at 250k). That's not even considering the other problems that injectors with that many miles can have. If external o-ring changeout didn't help, you would be out another set of o-rings and the labor cost associated with it to put in new injectors. Cheers!

Thats what I was thinking...just needed a second opinion

 

[BJS]

the rings I was referring to or at least thinking about in my head were the piston rings.

I would suggest having the mechanic do a compression test on the truck before you pull the trigger on injectors and any other work. While the PSD is a good engine 640k is a lot of miles, lots of hours, and lots of compression and exhaust strokes of the engine. I would begin to check other vitals of the engine before jumping @ the injectors.

 

[rammertide07]

the rings I was referring to or at least thinking about in my head were the piston rings.

I would suggest having the mechanic do a compression test on the truck before you pull the trigger on injectors and any other work. While the PSD is a good engine 640k is a lot of miles, lots of hours, and lots of compression and exhaust strokes of the engine. I would begin to check other vitals of the engine before jumping @ the injectors.

How do you check the piston o-rings? If the o-rings on the injectors are bad....wouldn't that cause it to fail a compression test?

 

[BJS]

How do you check the piston o-rings? If the o-rings on the injectors are bad....wouldn't that cause it to fail a compression test?

there is a copper crush seal that maintains the combustion environment and is one of the least likely components to fail. the injector o-rings serve to keep the oil in an appropriate location and the fuel in an appropriate location

Here is an image of the 7.3 injector in the head in cutaway

and a cutaway of the injector

and injector with o-rings

the internal o-rings are behind a check valve and would not impact compression tests. the external o-rings do not see compression pressures unless something else is messed up and then you'll have much more noticeable problems in the running of the engine.

You're going to take compression readings by removing the glow plugs or I have seen one adapter that replaces the injector but why you'd want to go to that trouble to check compression is beyond me.

 

[arrowstrap]

Hey, don't leave us hanging we need closure! what did you find out about the smoke, injectors and compression?