Tell me more about this. What do you use to lubricate? Blue loctite? WD-40?

I often spray a little wd-40 on bolts (not injector hold down bolts, just to be clear) when going into cast iron or aluminum. Habit, I guess.

What do you use?

 

Almost all internal bolts are assembled with a lubricant... in fact I really do not know of an internal assembly bolt that I'd dry torque... General engine assembly lubricant is sufficient. ARP, Carillo, JE or other aftermarket manufactures typically provide and say only use their lubricant upon assembly(pretty much all the same crap).... these are injector hold down bolts though engine oil old or new is just fine. Help on external bolts as well, especially if its steel into aluminum (HP0P/frt cover rez bolts, AC compressor to bracketry, etc....)

Regarding hydro torquing, for example you can do this by accident on head studs, if the bore and threads are not completely evacuated of motor oil/old lubricant..,. you bottom the stud on fluid/dried thread locker/junk providing a false torque reading. Common issue with ARPs I have seen others do on 6.0s... If you stage torque over an extended period of time it will go away as the fluid bleeds, but who does that? Goes for any motor, bolt, application if their is settled fluid/junk at the base.

I wouldn't or have ever used loctite as a lubricant, its an anaerobic adhesive that cures as a thermoset plastic. Yes loctite is great stuff though! I just wouldn't be using it on these bolts, ever.

 

I have had my injectors in and out 3+ times and always used engine oil to lubricate until I used blue loctite the last time.

 

Thanks for asking the question!

Thank you for providing a clear concise answer!

 

How is that working out for you and your truck. I may do exactly that in about 2500 miles....

 

Please don't hear me wrong I have nothing against with loc tite and use it in daily.

The problem is it will not setup properly sometimes when oil is introduced.

 

Is there a version of Loctite that will set up in an oily environment.

 

I've done hot, cold, oil, Lok-Tite, 6 or 7 torque wrenches (some with dials, some with click), hired two mechanics to do it for me (including the dealership), I've used 120, 125, 130, and 135, I've done it standing on my head, but mostly with my head up my butt. I'm pretty sure the diesel guy at the dealership (who owns a 7.3L) knows what he's doing and has the right tools - and one very respected member here tried his hand at it, after making sure the bolt holes where good. Fail, fail, fail, and then fail. The only thing that has really worked for me is the Lok-Tite and 125 in/lbs. Even with that, I've had one work loose within a couple thousand miles of messing with an injector. Once they're solid, I hate touching them. I even had one that was good for a couple of years after torquing it with oil, but it finally jumped out and took a cup with it.

I'm not light-headed enough to think if I keep doing the exact same thing over and over again that I should expect a different result. Between experimental fluids, new bolts (several times), different torque wrenches and hiring people to fail for me - the loose bolt thing alone has cost me about... crap... maybe a couple of thousand if you count lost ELC, oil, cups, tool rental, labor, tools, shipping, supplies, yadda, yadda, yadda. To say I'm doing it wrong is poking the dealership in the ribs, as well as Woodnthings.

I see people saying they never hot-torque and never have problems. I have yet to find an injector bolt within factory torque spec under a virgin valve cover on countless engines. They are always far less. Every time I snug 'em up, the driver reports a quieter-running engine. It leads me to ask the question... of those who "never have issues", has there been a follow-up visit under the VCs just to make sure the torque didn't drift? I can only suspect not if there is no detected issue, but I welcome proof I'm wrong - it would give me hope that I have a shot of being done with this on the engine swap.

I should receive my digital torque adapter this week, and I have one more virgin valve cover to pop. It's going to be checked before I remove the injectors.

 

Otto396,

Not sure if you know or not and I don't mean to insult your intelligence or 7.3L knowledge. But the single shots will be a bit louder at idle than the stock splits.

 

That is a great point.

They will be slightly louder no matter who tunes for them; however, some tuner's tunes will be a heck of a lot louder. If "you" notice a huge difference and/or your neighbors complain and ask if something is wrong with your truck, it is probably the tune writer who is at fault.

 

What makes you think it wasn't engineered that way, or even that it's possible for it to stay at the initial torque spec?

 

Yes, thank you for the very complete response! Even I can follow that one

 

Yea I have heard that.

I just am not sure whether that's what I am hearing or if something else is going on... And the noise I'm hearing is also during acceleration. Especially above 2,000RPM. It sounds like something pun ding against the block/head.

 

That thought crossed my mind. All I have to go on is a torque spec and a series of injectors that worked loose while using that spec. Loose enough to knock and "tink", put oil in the fuel, make the IPR climb to maintain ICP, smoke, and ultimately take cups out. I'm not blowing snot bubbles over a little bit of noise under the hood.

 

I feel like that's what I'm doing