I am planning on replacing my injector O-rings this coming week, and wanted to know if there are any special tools that I will need to either take out the injectors, or replace the O-rings? Any response is appreciated.

 

These might help Rosewood Diesel Shop

 

No special tools needed really, I just did mine over the weekend and it went pretty smooth. You need some different size pry bars to pop out the injector, I got a three pack from Harbor Freight that work well. When u pry under the injectors watch what u pry against so u dont booger up the head were the vc gasket goes. It also helps to have a small rubber hammer to seat the injectors, number seven is tight to push in, I tapped all mine in with the rubber end of a hammer, then put a strait edge over all four so I can tell if ones not all the way in. I used a tiny flat head screwdriver to pry the o rings up then cut em with side cuts. Dont forget to lube the injectors before they go back in. Not bad at all. Ryan

 

Alright, thanks guys. Big Poppa were you referring to the raffle that rosewood has listed?

And Ryan about how long did it take you to change all of yours out?

 

It took me about 6 hours but I did replace my IC boots and clean everything that I took off, even wire wheeled the bolts. I've had mine apart once before to do the 50 cent mod and swapped out #8. If its ur first time I'd say a good day.

 

No, I thought when I gave you that link it would take you to the injector cup tools, click on that link at Rosewoods, shoot, Clay has them too. I'm not positive cause I never did a injector install but maybe someone can chime in whether changing those cups out also would be a good idea or no.. since you have them out, Anybody??

 

One more thing to add to this thread.... make sure you get OEM o-rings. I made the mistake of picking up a set from the auto parts store that were not Motorcraft, and every single injector had failed o-rings after a few hundred miles. I yanked them out again, replaced them with o-rings from Ford, and haven't had any problems with them since.

Pry bars, rubber mallet, and a straight edge are your friends for injector o-ring R&R. Don't forget to evacuate your cylinders after re-installing the new injectors. You can evacuate the cylinders by removing all 8 glow plugs, bump the engine a few times (or turn by hand), then do some extended cranking for 15 seconds at a time a few times over. Make sure the injector harness is unplugged, or the CPS is unplugged so it won't try to start. It should turn pretty easily with the glow plugs out, since there's no compression. You'll also want to make sure you throw the valve covers on top so you don't spray oil all over the place. Once the cylinders are clear, remove the valve covers, reinstall the glow plugs, and put everything back together.

The first time you start it, it's going to take quite a few cranks to get it running. Then it's going to run like crap for a few minutes, and smoke a ton. After the engine starts smoothing out, take it out for about a 30 minute drive to further clear everything out. You'll start to see the smoke diminish and eventually go away. Once you reach that point, you're golden.

On edit: One thing I forgot to mention, when putting the new o-rings on, get them on all your injectors, then put some oil on the injectors and around all the o-rings. Let them sit for a while so the o-rings "settle" in place before installing the injectors.

 

Shouldn't be necessary unless there's already an injector cup issue. These injector cups are random, as they can last the life of the engine, or they can prematurely fail. Replacing them isn't really a maintenance item. Might be better for peace of mind, but there's really no guarantee.

 

As always Curtis, thanks for the info. Beings their brass and the reseating of the injector whether you get a good seal on reinstall was my concern. I guess he's good.

 

Late to the discussion but here are the OEM Injector Orings.

Riffraff Diesel: Alliant Injector O-rings

 

Yep, definitely keep an eye out for all the copper washers, and make sure they all come out with the injectors. Otherwise you'll have to fish them out.

And it's best to use the rubber mallet to tap them in when seating the injectors. That way they aren't pounded in with a hammer and potentially cause damage to the solenoids, or even crack an injector cup. Light taps with the mallet until they firmly seat, then use the straight edge to make sure all injectors are seated equally. Helps take some of the guesswork out of it

 

Aright, thanks for the tips guys. Looks like I might try and knock this out tomorrow. And thanks Clay, but I already bought them from you!

 

Well I got all the o-rings replaced today, not to big of a deal. Quick question though, I drove her after replacing the injectors and glow plugs (I figured I was in there so might as well replace the plugs, especially with 235,000+ miles). And first crank took forever to hit, which I was expecting as per Pocket's comment, but after a brisk drive of a mile or two I let the truck idle for 20 or so minutes, and then went inside and ate some dinner, two hours later I go out and it took a good 7-9 seconds before the truck hit, and then she ran fine. Is this normal, or should I worry?

I figured it was just some residual oil left in the cylinders, is this plausible?

Oh yeah, thanks again for all the help, it made this whole job alot easier.

 

Did you happen to notice if your truck ran any differently after replacing the o-rings? But for your ? There may still be some air in the fuel or oil system. Seems like recently that this has been a common occurrence after replacing injectors or o-rings. Could be wrong though!

 

If it did run any better I probably chalked it up to something in my head rather than an actual improvement. Well your idea is already better than mine.. which I don't have! lol