I suspect injector cup problems on my 01 F350 7.3L but probably can't get to the problem myself for a while. My first question is how best to leave the truck, flush water in or out. My secondary question is about why the flush water, that was running clear yesterday, is yellow and smells like diesel today, residual pressure in the lines? Details are below, Thanks!

I was doing a final checkup on the truck before a road trip and noticed the level in the degas tank was higher than it has been when cold. Took the cap off and found the rubber seal on the cap swollen and the distinctive smell of diesel.
A quick check on the Forum narrowed the likely culprit to Injector Sleeve Cups. I've read that FORD wants to pull the heads ($$$) but Clay at Riffraff has a puller/installer that can be used after just pulling the injectors. The tool is backlogged so I probably won't get it before I have to be back East.
I decided to at least get the coolant/diesel mixture out of the system so yesterday I went through "Goochs Radiator Flush Procedure" making one flush with radiator cleaner and then running better than 40 gallons through until the output was looking very clear. I didn't put the distilled water in.
I left the water in the system overnight and went to drain my nice flush water this morning and found it severely yellow colored and smelling of diesel.
It's a stock 7.3, daily driver with the occasional 5th wheel haul (not since November '12), 157K miles. Exhaust looks clean, oil looks fine.

 

The cups are the usual issue when you get diesel in your coolant/water.
Replacing them though doesn't have to be that scary. There are a few people that have made their own tools for removing them.
Clay has a nice kit with cups, injector o-rings, cup sealant and a cup tool you can rent.

Just plan on a day to get it done if you haven't taken off the valve covers before. This way you can take you time and make sure that all is good.

 

I'd probably leave the truck drained of antifreeze if you cant get to it for a while, unless it will be subject to freezing temps. The fuel will continue to show up in the coolant unless you aren't running it.

x2 on Clay's kit. Worked for me 5 times! Search for Tugly's thread on his repair for a thorough treatment on the subject.

 

Thanks to All. Looking forward to getting back on the road. I've seen Tugly's threads, good stuff. I figure I'll follow posts from here to get me down to the injectors and then follow Clay's instructions on the cups.
I'll post again when I get to do to it.

 

I drove mine a while with the cups cracked. It just leaks fuel out if you don't skim it off frequently.

 

I had to close my eyes when I clicked on the title to this thread... it took four tries.

Just turning the key on will put fuel in the coolant, and it will ruin your coolant seals (like the cap on your degas bottle). The sooner the is done, the less likely you will have to replace much more than cups.

 

Looks like I'll have some time to research the fine line between success and failure here... I have the block plugs out and the radiator open so I'll flush through the "T" connector some more before I leave.

I noticed all of the responders were "Supporter"s - seems like a good crowd to be associated with so I joined. Look forward to future posts.

 

5 times? Good grief - hope it wasn't on the same truck....

 

It was, darn it. I learn the hard way sometimes - couldnt get the cups to seal. All kinds of tricks to do this right - from how to apply the sealant to cleaning the bores well.

 

I saw a comment that there may be a compatibility issues between ELC and the cup sealant. Anymore thoughts on this?

 

My cups are also the prime suspect. Dangit! And yes, this site is very good- thanks to the supporters schoolin us all through it. Since I joined and quit just reading posts i have saved some serious bucks just testing and troubleshooting. We need to have a national injector cup replacement day.

 

Yep!, had to do mine twice for the same reasons. People may be getting tired of hearing me say it, but I'll tell everyone that asks about doing cups, the secret is "clean, clean, clean".

There's a thread I started a while ago in which I described my progress (and setbacks) on the job, and in which others contributed quite a bit of good advice for me. Search it out. The second time around went perfectly, and my truck is running great.

 

Here's my multi-media extravaganza in homage to cups: [LINK]