Good Morning fellow enthusiasts. My completely stock 96 with 200,000 miles on it let me down. It is my daily driver and I started having a fuel leak (the infamous fuel in the valley thing) about 1 month ago. On Friday I was literally taking it to the shop to have it fixed and I ran out of fuel. My fuel gauge was reading almost a quarter tank however could not start it. So my friend delivered me 5 gallons and she started up but ran very rough. I had it towed to the shop. The shop is telling me that 3 injectors are bad and they gave me a quete of over $2500.00 to replace all 8 injectors and new valve cover gaskets, and that is before we even get to the fuel leak. My questions are, what are the chances of 3 injectors going bad all at the same time? Did I suck up some bad stuff to clog the injectors? Does that sound a little high for injector replacement? Thanks in advance for your responses.
d

 

When talking about large bills like that, ALWAYS get a second opinion. After running out of fuel, you get air into the injector lines. This most likely caused the rough running symptoms.

If also want the shop to SHOW me how they tested the injectors and how they figured 3 of them are bad.

That being said, $2500 isn't bad for 8 new injectors, UVCH and labor...

 

$2500 seems high to me unless theyre getting injectors straight from Ford or quoting you the core charge on them too.

An injector swap isnt a big deal if you're a little bit handy.

 

I was thinking air also with the combination of running out of fuel and the fuel leak. How do you test for air in the system and if it is there how do you remove it? Yes that is a quote for Ford injectors. He stated that he put a spare IDM in and it still ran rough. He also stated that the system has plenty of fuel pressure and that he received codes that 3 injectors were bad. Do not know which ones he just told me 3 of them.

 

You just have to run the truck to remove the air. It will bleed itself out.

 

So there is no way to 100% say that its air or its injectors or a combination of both? Should I put some fuel in the rear tank and see if it runs better? Should I run it at all? I was thinking about picking it up from the shop and getting a 2nd opinion, however I don't want to drive it if it is going to make things worse,and also do not want to tow all around town getting opinions.

 

Often times when these trucks "run out of fuel" with a gauge showing ~1/4 of a tank left it is because the fuel pickup umbrella dealeo in the tank has broken off. Pretty easy fix if you can turn a wrench and handle the weight of a 3/4 empty tank.
This reinforces my feeling that the pickup broke off. You could also just have a bad level sender. How long did you let it run rough? They run like complete crap for a bit after losing fuel.
Their $2500 quote of work you hadn't even asked for would throw a HUGE red flag to me. I'd tell them to pi$$ off and stay away from my truck. You can get all 8 injectors rebuilt to like brand new in stock form or larger for over $1000 LESS than their quote if you can follow documented methods you'll find on here. And why are they suggesting UVCH replacement too?

 

I only ran it for about 5 minutes. It idled rough and would smooth out around 2500 rpms than idle rough. I shut it down because I was afraid I was going to hurt something else. I don't know how long he has run it at the shop. He recommended changing gaskets because of the electrical that is there and stated that they are $100.00 a piece. Do you think it would be ok to lightly drive it?

 

Someone may speak up and say otherwise but if you weren't having issues other than the leak before running out of fuel I'd fix the original fuel leak, put some Diesel Kleen in the tank, and carry on business as usual. IF there are bad injectors or UVCHs I don't believe(not 100% positive) driving it will hurt anything further. It will run crappy.

 

How well does it run on the other tank?

 

It ran perfect prior to running out of fuel. If you think it is ok to drive than I will put fuel and additive in rear tank and give it a try. Just have to get it to the gas station.

 

I say give it 200 miles before you condemn any injectors.
And you have 2 options with the fuel tank running out at 1/4 tank:
1. Never let it get below 1/2 tank OR 2. replace the fuel pickup / "showerhead".

 

NO! A lot of people like to say that it's bad to run a tank empty or below 1/4 because you will suck crap off the bottom of the tank. THE TRUTH: every vehicle ever made sucks 100% of it's fuel from the bottom of the tank! That's why there's a filter on the pickup and another inline filter. How else could you empty a tank if it didn't, unless someone somehow made a fancy pickup tube that moves up and down with a float. The only reason to not run your tanks too low is that the fuel cools the pump. So when you're near empty, pump is not submerged in fuel and could reduce the life of the pump.

 

Thes trucks don't have a pump in the tank. The fuel pump is in the valley on the engine, unless it was converted to electric fuel pump. Even then most put the pump in the drivers side frame rail. Gassers do have the pump in tank.

 

Where about are you? If there are other members in the area they might be willing to teach you to do all that work if you want to learn. If you were in my area, I'd work with you for a pizza...

Nothing on that list is "difficult" they just take some time. and a basic set of tools.

BTW, I'd say just drive it.

A fuel bowl rebuild can be a cheap and rewarding first forray into the 73psd and will introduce you to how the system works (a bit). it will also (likely) fix your fuel leak.

Richard

EDT: doing a rough calc, for less than $1000 and a couple of weekends you could do all that yourself.