Background: Earlier this year I bought an '01 Excursion 7.3 sight unseen from Texas. It was a mistake, but now I'm deep into it and kind of stuck. You can see my thread here if you are interested in the gory details: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...sion-blog.html
I've been hanging around the Excursion forum for the most part. Hello to the 7.3 forum.

I finally got around to dealing with the nasty degas bottle. I bought a compression gas leak tester and ... shockingly ... it failed. So, now I need some advice on how to proceed. I usually do my own work, but it's cold and I don't have a big enough garage to work on this thing. So ... I plan to hire someone to fix it (advice on who also appreciated).
My thoughts are to just take care of business and put new cups, rebuilt injectors and replace the glow plugs. Hopefully, that'll keep the valve covers on for the next 100K miles+. Truck currently has 180K or so.
My concern is that I got the truck with a broken latch on the airbox. So, the problems may be worse than a cup.

Is there a way I can prove what the problem is without pulling the valve covers and injectors, or at least prove it isn't cylinder hones?
Should I spend the cash for futureproofing, or just fix the issue and take my chances with the injector$? Sounds like the injectors do eventually wear and cause performance issues (especially when cold, and there is zippy power until it warms up).

The truck runs decent right now. I'm guessing it's down on power, but haven't really driven any other diesels so don't know for sure. I expect it also needs a new turbo wheel as the lag seems extreme. I plan to rebuild the turbo and add a wicked wheel of some sort next summer. I have also bought the diesel-o-ring kit and will try to fix all the oil leaks next summer.

 

1st...

Your not going to get away without having to pull the valve covers.
Your on the right track i think with cup and injector r&r... but compression test while the vc's are off to be sure.

Turbo lag...

Check where the up pipes(they are on the back of the engine between the exhaust manifolds and turbo y pipe) look for black soot around the area where they connect to te y pipe(collector) on the back of the turbo. Look also on the firewall for signs of soot from that general area. More than likely... the "seals" have blown, in turn allowing much of the drive pressure to escape before it has the chance to spin the turbine.
Many (myself included) have been suckered in to buying IH name brand bellowed up pipe kits to fix the problem...

There is a Dorman kit that sells for half the price, installs jyst as easily, and is every bit of the quality product it needs to be to perform its function effectively.

If you have not already... click through the tech folders link at the top of this forum page.
There is awealth of knowledge to be found there pertaining to getting new purchases up to snuff.

Welcome to /forum31

 

times 2 on the compression check.First find out if the heart of the motor is good.There is no sense in fixing anything else if compression is low.Compression tester is about 100 dollars,and the harbor freight ones dont work,ask me how i know.I took a chance bought cups and injectors put it all back together in cental ny freezing cold with no garage and still had problems.Took it all apart again,checked compression whole left side was bad.If you look I now have a lovely little thread going on rebuilding my motor and its below freezing outside,again.Test compression and let us know what it is.You also need to consider how long are you planning to keep this?

 

Chris and JG have you straight. Pull the intake off the turbo and look at the fins. Take a picture and post here, we can tell you if the turbo fins show signs of dusting from debris. Don't jump to too many conclusions just yet.

 

I guess first thing to do is find a good shop and get the compression tested. I really have to find the right place that will be willing to work with me based on what we find. I really don't want to pay repair shop prices for injectors. But, I also don't want to pull this thing apart in my driveway in the cold. I just finished fixing fuel leaks and it took about 6 weeks with parts orders, bad weather, and busy weekends (long story shortened, see the thread above if you want the details).


The plan was to keep it for a while, but the cost/time to get it in that kind of shape is disconcerting for sure. The list of things this thing seems to need is pretty overwhelming. But, I'm someone who does things right, so I won't half-*** a fix either.
Selling now to cut my losses is definitely in the mix. I knew going in that it was going to cost some money to get it into the shape I would want it to be, so I set aside $3K. Ha, fool I was. Burned through that in parts quick.

 

jgilrfr may have had a bad compression tester from harbor freight but mine and others here worked fine. The testor and adapters to make it fit our motor will run about $35-40. to do the test is just remove the valve covers and glow plugs. Not to difficult. Check and see what a shop is going to charge and see if you might not want to do it yourself.

 

I read your other post entirely,and welcome to the club!I know the feeling of fixing frustration.I think its a great looking truck it suits your needs very well and with what you have got into it right now you will likely end up doing to anything else used that you might get.Pull the valve covers and compression check it.You know its the smartest next step.

 

After your compression test checks out, you can learn what to avoid when replacing cups by clicking the link in my signature - lots of pix/vids, but a bit of a read.

My cup test (when I am committed to the job - parts/tools on-hand):

1. Drain all fluids from engine (remove block heater for easy draining of the coolant from the block).
2. Seal coolant system back up after draining.
3. Pull the GPs, then the injectors.
4. Disconnect small hose to the right of the degas vent cap.
5. Plug hose with bolt, pencil, or whatever.
6. Spray the cups down with silicone lube (non-aggressive to the cup sealant, fuel rail, and oil).
7. Using an air compressor with a gauge and a rubber-tipped nozzle, puff the coolant system up until the vent cap squeals (about 15 PSI).
8. Look for bubbles around the cups.

The most likely path of combustion gasses into the coolant is a double-breach of seals: A loose injector can lift up and allow the combustion gasses into the cup area. The brass cup and injector O-rings were never designed to handle the heat and pressure of exhaust gasses, so things fail quickly in there. That is exactly what happened to me, and one or two other members here on the forum (that I have read about). Your engine possibly knocks (with a "tink") on one side, and smokes bad when cold. If this is the case, the knocking cylinder would be your prime suspect for a split cup.

The cup can also lift... but if that were the case, you would have fuel in the coolant.

 

If yer gonna sell it... how much you lookin to get fer it?

 

Thanks guys. A lot of good info. I have a lot going on in life right now and won't be doing this myself I don't think. A lot of business travel upcoming. I also have a race car to finish by March. Sucks to have the tow vehicle taking all the time and budget away.

I've been thinking over all the issues and I think I'll just do the cups and injector o-rings now if the compression tests OK. Save me a grand or so over replacing the injectors. I'll come back and do it later when I have the time.
At this point, I am assuming it's cups. If it's something else, I'll have to figure out a plan then. Maybe just keep driving it as is for a while, what am I going to do ... blow the engine? Ha.

 

If someone came up with 12ish, I'd have trouble saying no. It is still a hit based on what I've put into it so far, but ...

Right now, the plan is to keep it. Tomorrow?

 

Follow up:

I took it to a local diesel shop (Hollyrock). He just finished looking at it. He said compression is good and everything looked good on the motor, all the cylinders are working properly and everything tested good.
The problem appears to be rust. Specifically from the radiator. He flushed the motor and it cleared out quick, but the radiator took a lot of flushing before it cleared out. He suggests I watch it for leaks and maybe reflush and/or replace it in the spring. He also thought maybe someone had mixed different coolant types. Once he was done he ran it for a while and didn't see any compression gasses in the system.

He said he doesn't use compression gas testers because they indicate positive often. Not sure what to make of that, but we'll see what happens when I start driving it again. Mostly good news at least. Doesn't seem like there are any head issues.

 

Sounds like you dodged that bullet! Just north of Annapolis here, enjoying your rain tax?

 

Nope. St. Marys, dodged that bullet too

 

It's similar to The Twilight Zone.