I have a question, hopefully will be answered by the end of the day. I just went out to my truck to go to lunch. It started OK, but was pouring heavy white/blue smoke. When I put my foot on the accelerator, it still smoked and a rattle from one of the injectors came from the left side. (I am assuming #6 as it has given me problems before). I am thinking it has a cracked injector cup causing bad seals on the injector. Here's my question. Can I pull the lead from the connector on the outside of the valve cover gasket and limp it home on 7 cylinders? It is about 12 miles home and I would take the back roads.

 

I personally would not attempt to pull the lead out of the connector..it, in my opinion, would cause grief later on, unless you had the tool to do it.

THey do make tools for "pin" removals, but I dont know what that would look like for that plug.

Good Luck!!

 

I have the proper tools. (I work in aircraft maintenance), I am just wondering if shutting the fuel off to that cylinder by pulling the pin would get me home. I hate to pay for a tow truck.

 

I would try unplugging the entire bank, see if the smoke goes away, and if so, then try to limp it on 4. And it sounds more like a split nozzle than injector cup. Cups generally put fuel in coolant.

 

I hope not. The injectors are new Alliant injectors, less than 4 months old.

 

Pulling the lead will likely cause the IDM to shut down the whole bank. If not, then you run the risk of damaging the IDM because it will still be sending the electrical pulse to fire the injector but that energy won't have anywhere to go.

I drove my truck for about 5 miles on just one bank (4 cylinders) before (UVCH came loose). I was on the highway and stuck in between exits and I was pretty much pissed at my truck at the time so I really didn't care. Once I got off the road I removed the valve cover and reconnected the harness and I was off and running as if nothing happened.

If you feel like risking it, then you might consider starting the engine and then disconnecting the entire bank and drive on 4 cylinders. That might be better on the IDM than pulling that one wire...

If you were in Phoenix, I'd offer to help tow you home but it's not even lunchtime here so I presume you are back East somewhere.

 

Why would pulling one pin be worse the pulling all of the pins? And no place to go with a charge would be a heck of a lot better then shorting it out somewhere.. I know it looks for a feed back of somesort, but it should be no different then loosing the coil on the injector??

I would think pulling the pin and taping off, you should be fine..

 

by the way, Shake and Bake is right, where are ya, one of us, maybe, could come get ya if you were a neighbor, or a couple miles plus neighbor..

 

He is in WA according to his profile.

 

My thinking is that pulling one pin might still allow the IDM to continue to try and operate that bank so the electrical pulse for the missing injector would still be sent down that center wire and the possibility for a feedback pulse when the next injector attempt to fire could damage the IDM. This is why the buzz test sends a primary pulse to the tested injector and a smaller secondary pulse to the other seven injectors at the same time. This minimized the chance of a feedback due to a completely open circuit.

If pulling that one wire causes the IDM to shut down the entire bank then it would be the same as unplugging the entire connector. In my opinion, it's safer to force the issue by unplugging the entire bank and then the IDM will have no choice but to shut down that half of the circuitry. The IDM is basically like any other transformer/ballast in that it has two halves that can be controlled independently so it's able to operate one bank while turning off the other.

Generally speaking, a cold engine will have a heck of a time starting on only one bank. A warm engine will start on a single bank most times. So, if the OP has a cold engine then he may want to leave everything connected until the engine starts and then pull the connector on the suspect bank to get home. Of course, it pays to be properly insulated since there is a fair amount of voltage present at that connector....

 

Sounds like a broken nozzle. I would not drive it anywhere. Once the nozzle is broken, there is no way to stop the flow of fuel, it will just keep running past the pin and into the motor.

 

^^^I totally agree. If you have a broken nozzle then getting a tow home is the least expensive course. Sometimes they split without actually breaking....even so, they still pour fuel uncontrollably. I had that happen to me once....it was pretty scary. I thought I threw a rod or some other catastrophic event.

 

Got it towed home. Took the rest of the day off to work on it. As far as pouring fuel uncotrollably, I'm sure that is the case. I tried bumping the starter and the cylinder is full of liquid. It's hydraulic locked. First I'm going to pull the glow plugs and see if I can pump the liquid out of it. Going to see if Clay can overnight me an injector. I've already got a cup kit that I just took delivery of, so that will be on the agenda as well.

 

Pull the injector first... could be as simple as a broken hold down that allowed the injector to come unseated...

 

You may be on to something. #8 injector was hard to get out. When I got it out, the area below the small seal is covered in carbon as if it has been exposed to the combustion chamber. Otherwise, it looks OK. Also the copper washer did not come out with it and when I got it out, it was bowed. Also #8 injector threw an unbalance code on my AE.

#6 injector has a scrape on one side of the nozzle area below the small seal and it looked as if there was some corrosion on the nozzle. I pulled all 4 of the cups on the left bank and will be installing new Alliant ones in all 8 holes tomorrow. I had to go find some green Loctite tonight. Thank you Pep Boys.

The other two injectors looked perfect.