So... I dove into the VCs again - with plans, parts, paraphernalia, and a purpose. For those of you just joining our program, I suck at giving my injectors the "Stay!"command... they don't listen to me. Injectors rejecting edicts... only I can inspire inanimate objects to cop an attitude. Each time I've been in there, I think I have a fix... or I'm in a hurry and just torque things down. Well... this time I have star washers of two types, red and blue thread lock, jamb nuts, wiz nuts, torque wrench, a shiny-new battery-powered impact driver, fresh batteries, an inspection camera, cleaners, and injector O-rings. While Clay, Platt Electric, and Ace Hardware are busy restocking their shelves in preparation for my next Buck$Zooka blast... I'm rootin' around under the valve covers like a pig snortin' for truffles.

Eureka! I see the folly of my impatience: Any time I have a loose injector hold-down bolt, I've been tightening it, and sometimes redoing the thread lock... but never reading the instruction on the thread lock, or properly verifying the upper bolt held each time. I now have some rules that I must follow:

1. Apply a small amount of thread lock to the hole, as well as the bolt. I've just been doing the bolt.
2. When a bolt is loose, pop the solenoid and check the upper bolt... because one loose one will loosen the opposite bolt. It's the see-saw that's getting me half of the time.
3. Really make sure I either temporarily put the VCs back on for clearing the cylinders, or do one last cylinder clearing with the Mity Vac before cranking the starter (glow plugs off).

In case you're wondering about that last one: I've popped sticks many times and I've always been **** about getting that last round of liquid out of the cylinder before cranking the starter. I grew complacent and just figured "I never had a problem before, I got it good enough this time." One touch of the screwdriver across the starter relay gave me an abrupt reminder of why I have always been so **** before today. Note to self: While my reading glasses are good for seeing things up-close, they get a big, fat "Fail" under the heading of "Safety Glasses". Looking at the truck and the driveway (after wiping my face), I just know things will only get worse when the missus comes out to check on my progress.

Anyway... all bolts tight and properly doped (blue in the hole and on the threads, red on the tapered head), and my injector experiment is in place. Oh. I forgot to mention washers are a no-go and the nuts won't fit... nor could I tighten them if they did. It's time for putting Stinky's nose back in order and I take a nap while my muscle memory does all the work. The anemic drive around the block indicated to me the nap could have been skipped over – I forgot to hook up the MAP line. Stinky's still belching, farting, and smoking while he's clearing all the air out of the oil and fuel, and the oil and fuel out of the air. I put my VC-Pop kit under the back seat and close the hood, then go in the house to the awaiting air conditioning. My wife exclaims "Oh my gawd! What the hell happened to you?!" Note to self: Visit the Jojo bottle/paper towels after working on Stinky and before entering the home.

 

Well, I sincerely hope you've got Stinky's cooperation this time around...he certainly seems to need you, sorta like a pup with seperation anxiety! Now that you're an expert on VC's, perhaps I can have you supervise when I get ready to pull mine for the first time.

 

I'd be glad to help out. We'll have your son hit us with the garden hose if it gets too hot out there.

I think I'm good this time, folks. I've put almost a tank of fuel out the tail pipe as exhaust, and Stinky is running quieter than he has since this adventure began. I've also cleared up a slight MPG mystery that reared it's head recently. I was averaging 16.5 to 17.5 MPG for a while, but I can see my 17.5 to 18.5 MPG return... with peaks that match what I had before the problems started. I am unclear how that came about... I'll mull on it.

In essence, I'm saying "Mission Accomplished". I'm looking down to make sure I'm not standing on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, and behind me to make sure there's no red, white, and blue banner.

 

That's great news! Might be awhile before I do a lift, so the heat should be gone.

 

Reps for seeing it thru Rich! The hardest job to do right is the one you've already done too many times.

$5 says next time you tack weld 'em.

Edit: someone please rep for me, I'm spent.

 

Edit: someone please rep for me, I'm spent.[/quote]

I got him for ya!

 

Rich,

I realize this is an old thread, but was this issue successfully "put to bed"?

Pop

 

Subcribing also

 

Single-word answer - no. I'm going in again this weekend. I made it many thousands of miles now before #7 acted up (I'm assuming it's #7 again, but it feels, sounds, and smells like #7).

My most recent problem with #7 (February) was a hammering stick and a rolled cushion ring. Looking at photos of the O-rings on HKusp's truck (example below), I noticed the slightest problem with the oil O-rings makes a difference. The rolled cushion O-ring would allow all kinds of weirdness on the top oil O-ring.



I swapped out Thor's stick and the engine is much quieter, but I fear I may need to take it to the next level with #7: The threads in the head may have lost their grip from all the adventures before now, but the threads were still good the last time I was in there.

I bought even more valve-cover-popping tools (Armstrong has cool stuff), and a portable canopy (single-handed setup and freestanding) for working in weather anywhere I go. I've really got my time down on popping a side - 45 minutes with setup and cleanup. Add 20 minutes for popping a stick and re-ringing. I have a Jar-O-Shame in the garage: I saved all the O-rings and injector bolts from these adventures, and they're piling up.

Stinky is running perfectly, now I just want this issue gone - without destroying my chances of ever getting the bolts back out in the future.

 

Whelp.... I was wrong. Good news, bad news:

The torque is holding strong, right where I left them in February. I have not used one drop of oil since my last oil change. I'll repeat that part - the oil is exactly at the line after 3500 miles. Since there were no repairs to be done (just checking the torque on both sides) it took 45 minutes total - from setup to cleanup.

Here comes the other part... which may (or may not) lead to a whole new thread: I still have a bang when it warms up, and the engine sounds a bit "off" at times, but not all the time. I may have another injector going loud on me... or I'm just paranoid after all my misadventures. Whatever is going on, I'm driving Stinky until something gets too bad to be vague... or I get bored with enjoying this possibly new-found reliability.

 

Glad to here about the TQ being okay. Now we all know the right way. Sorry about the injector possibility problem. I think its just the nature of the beast.

 

Rich....close the hood, fuel it up, turn the volume up........AND DRIVE IT!

 

That's the plan. I'm too battle weary to chase rising PERDELs on two injectors right now - I'll deal with that next month.

 

We use a lot of different loctites here and we remove bolts with "red" all the time heating to 500f where as blue is around 300f

Talked to a rep that stopped in and had a conversation with him.

he said:
Clean thread pockets with solvent to get all the oil out. (this is key) and let dry
Spray in liberal amounts of primer and let dry.
Install and torque bolts using 262 and let the loctite cure for 24 hours befor inducing oils or heat.

If you need to remove, Heat bolts to 500f .

to remove blue, heat bolts to 350f.

just sharing conversation

Ref Tech.
http://www.loctite.sg/sea/content_data/93743_Loctite_7649_Primer.pdf
http://tds.loctite.com/tds5/docs/262-EN.pdf<O</O

 

Blue is a little stiff when cool (never tried cold), but not bad. I'm afraid red would challenge keeping the bolt in one piece, and I was not prepared to run that risk on #7 back when I had the problems. The only thing I didn't do was use primer, and that would likely have helped me much earlier.

Since I did much of my wrenching in winter months, I would warm the truck up to full temp before wrenching, and that fended off frostbite for my fat fingees. Getting the truck up to a warmer temp is easy if it starts. If I had red in there, and the truck wouldn't start... well that could be a real issue when trying to remove that tiny injector hold-down bolt.