There is a ticking sound?

Honestly since I have done my mod the motor is quieter, runs smoother, and throttle response is smoother. I still haven't checked my fuel pressure yet so I may need to adjust a bit.

Now many say if you do the in tank mods there isn't much need for the dead head fix since no air should be mixed in. However I like the idea of fuel "flowing" threw the heads some and for sure any air bubbles in the heads will be evacuated.

 

Common Tug, post up the picture!! Still waiting to see this! Anyways interesting what you found. Never heard of it before, and seems like an obvious issue if its as bad as you described on the phone. Also still waiting to hear what your fuel PSI results are.

 

I'm guessing old tore up o-ring clogged an injectors passage.

 

as far as i know, no.
ill let him share though

 

Sorry guys, I went back to bed and just now got up to snack.

The root cause was a copper washer in place, but not sealing on #8. It was one of those penicillin accidents that made the problem "pop up" like a prairie dog (literally) and I'll name it the "Tugly Test", if nobody already came up with it before. It could aslo be called the "popcorn test"... because a lot of popcorn was eaten before this was discovered and it contains the word "pop". 4 injector O-ring sets later (longer story), Stinky's off to a great "Start".

I'm going to eat and go back to bed.

 

An extra copper washer?

 

OK... I'm upright, but I work today... so it will take me at least until tomorrow to put miles on the truck.

Everything we tried was checking out fine, but there was the exhaust indicator (aluminum drier hose on exhaust out the garage door) pulsating and chugging... telling me things were not fine. A simple compression test would have found the problem, but you don't want to endure the long story of how we came up short on a compression gauge. Things like this happen in a small town. I wanted to learn if air was going from the cylinders to someplace it didn't belong, so I made a toy for the glowplug holes:



I tried this the first time and learned how far the engine will move before a valve opens. I was getting ready to try it a second time on cylinder 8, but the injector popped up like a prairie dog. I had loosened the hold-down bolt before the test, but the injector should not have come up that easy. I thought maybe I'm wrong in the head and I tried to pop three more injectors with air... no go. In an attempt to understand this, I review: Upon return from my trip, I found 6 to be a little loose and 8 to be a lot loose. I tightened up the injector hold-down bolts, but the face of the copper washer on 8 would now be covered with soot and might not seal properly. My compressed air test allowed air to get past the washer and up against the fuel O-ring... which has a much larger area. This larger area used the air to lift the injector out of the cup.

I had a false "aha" on 8 when I first pulled it. My foul eyes thought fuel was escaping out the side of the nozzle. A closer look at 8 and the subsequent injectors showed it was a "D" stamped on the nozzle. I looked at the second injector I pulled out of #1 (still in a box on the bench) and it had no stamp on it... making me wonder many things about the immediate rise in the #1 perdel when I first installed that.

A lifting injector in a running engine will allow the compression gasses into the fuel system, sending gasses (or at least a shock wave) to the fuel. I have an FRx, so this may have saved #8 from destruction... since it's the end of the line on that head. The lifting injector also disrupts the ICP, which could effect the operation of the cylinder before and after 8 in the firing order... 6 and 1. The injector lifted real easy with not much pressure, so the disruption to the system would start the moment the piston started to rise... during #6 injection cycle. It's hard to say exactly what was going on in #1... maybe the ICP hadn't settled by then. I suspect if I had a fuel pressure gauge, I might have seen something on that to tell me something was up. I have one now, but I haven't run the truck yet.

I pulled all my suspect injectors and put new O-rings and copper washers on them. I swapped a known good injector from #2 to #1, and herded my black sheep to the driver side (easier access). The truck started and sounded much better than it had since the problem began, but the air is still not out of the system and the fix has to be confirmed. The drier hose test says all is well.

I now think at least two sets of O-rings and copper washers should be on hand before you ever pop a VC. If an injector is loose after it has been running for a while, don't just tighten it down... that didn't work for me. Pull it, fix it, and try again.

One other thing, I think I got the wrong injector in #1 the second time around, then the right one showed up just before the trip. It was at this time that #8 chose to rear its head... making me think I was chasing a continuation of the same problem.

Bad freaking luck... just like I said before.

 

Why do you think the injectors loosened up? Do you think 8 being kind of tight, you may not have gotten the hold down clamp on the injector just right when tightening it down the first time? Hard for me to believe that an injector can just loosen up if everything is seated right and torqued right.

I ask because I haven't even had the thought of popping my VC's again to check anything but if they can loosen up I may go back and check all my injectors again int he spring.

 

I'm unsure what's at play here. 2000ca250 put the torque wrench to all of them and set them at factory specs (10 ft.lbs.)... I sawr the hoal thang. I'm hoping a hot-torque is just the bump it needs. I know this... the next time I hear a noisy injector, I'll take the time to check the torque before it grows worse. I had enough tools onboard during my trip to snug the injectors.

 

When I was checking my first set of injectors I noticed I had to re torque them after I had some miles on them. I just put the new set it a couple months ago. I had the VCs off Saturday and had to re torque ALL of them. I have a feeling this is more common than some may realize. I think with some heat those washers compress more and get softer which would require a re torque.

 

I looked carefully at the new copper washers and they have a "rise" to them on one side. I can see heat and pressure flattening these and the situation you describe can occur. Mine just got out of hand on #8. Once that happened, every seal on the injector was compromised.

 

Rich I wasn't saying your conclusion was wrong I.just wanted to throw it out there to people reading that it may be wise to re torque your injectors after 500 miles or so.

 

I'm reading this as we are both reinforcing each other. I didn't know I needed to re-torque... and I really let one get out of hand. You can bet this oversight won't be repeated on Stinky.

 

I didn't either I had never heard it but now that it has happened 2 times I think it is necessary.

 

JT250: Thanks for posting this!

Tugly is talking about a "hot" re-torque. I assume that is when the engine is still warm from running?

Shouldn't we do a "cold" re-torque because everything expands when hot? And we would want to re-torque when the engine heads, injectors, etc. are not "expanded."

I plan to re-torque based on this thread, but should I do it with the engine hot or cold?