Howdy. I have a small fleet of 7.3's and was wondering about stocking some spare parts for them. They are as follows 99 F-250, 2000 Excurs, 01 F-350, and two 03 F-350s. I was wondering about injectors for them and if there was a universal injector that could be used with all of them with no problems? Rather than the different ones that they probably have from stock! My guess is the 99 and 00 have the AA or AB and the 01-03 have the AD and AE!

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

Early 99's have the AB injectors.

99.5-03's all have AD injectors. Most have AE's on the #8 cylinder, but AD's work just fine there too.

 

So there is actually a good chance they are all the same then! Can you replace the AB with the AD if that is what is used with the 99? What is the difference between the AD and the AE?

 

Correct. If your 99 is a late rather than early build, they will all have the same injectors.

Yes. In stock form they will run pretty much the same. The difference is the early 99's came with a 15 degree HPOP, where the 99.5-03's came with a 17 degree HPOP that flows a little more oil volume. The AD's are a bit more oil hungry than the AB's.

For stock tuning, you won't really notice much of an oil volume issue. Now if you throw AD's in an early 99, then add a chip, you'll run into a problem with lower injection pressures. Adding a chip on a truck with AD's and a stock 17 degree can already easily call for more oil volume than the HPOP can supply. Having a weaker HPOP just makes the problem a little worse. Doesn't hurt anything engine-wise, but it does reduce performance and increase smoke in some cases (depending on the tuning).

Of course, that's only if you plan to add a chip or programmer. Having a fleet, I'm assuming you're just leaving them all stock.

The AE injector is what is known as the "long lead injector". Ford installed this injector in the #8 position to address a fuel cackle issue. It was nothing more than a bandaid fix for a poorly designed deadhead fuel rail. Instead of correcting the fuel rail, Ford decided to try and reduce the fuel cackle with an injector that has a longer pilot shot.