Use a 3/16" brake line tube to go through the injector cup hole.

First post in this thread a few pictures down show's how I did this work.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...round-2-a.html

 

After seeing your pics of what was in your degas bottle, I'm convinced that mine has soot in it as well. So I wonder which one of my cups is the problem child.

I tried everything too. Member tag, user tag, @user, @user;....

Never thought of utag.

Thanks!

 

I found it silly-easy to find the offending cup with an air compressor, a rubber-tipped blow gun, and a can of silicone spray. It's too late for you, as you already have a cup out - but this is a way to confirm a good seal the day after your last cup is installed. Close all openings where coolant can escape, including the degas cap. Remove the small hose on the driver side of the degas bottle, and plug the hose with a bolt or a pencil. Use the air gun (with the compressor set to 15 PSI) to puff up the degas bottle, the cap will likely "squeal-vent". With pressure in the cooling system, spray each cup with the silicone spray and monitor for anything from bubbles to foam. The results are immediate - no waiting for a pressure gauge to bleed down.

 

Thanks Rich... that's a great tip. I will do that for sure.

I realized I didn't have the right sealant for the cups. I had to order a bottle of Loctite 620 from amazon.

 

^^^ This. I use 3/16" copper/nickel brake line, bent slightly. I keep the cylinder at bottom dead center, or as close as possible. Doing that allows you to reach the area where the piston meets the cylinder wall and the combustion cup in the piston. To keep chips out of the cylinder, coat a penny with grease and drop it in the injector sleeve. Give it a little press into the bottom of the sleeve with a long screwdriver and it isn't going to go anywhere.

 

A couple questions about the cleaning procedure. Can I use brake parts cleaner to wash out the bores? What about all the little chips of old sealant. Can I just leave the drain plug out of the block and wash the junk out with enough brake parts cleaner and/or distilled water? It seems really hard to actually get all the bores completely clean, especially the rear cylinders. Now I know who shops charge $1500-2000 for this job.

 

With all the cups out, and all brake cleaner evaporated (no explosive fumes left), I hit every hole with a shop vac. Not much is left behind when you vacuum after using a Dremel and a wire wheel in the hole.

 

I usually use a flat blade screwdriver and a mirror and carefully,chip away the sealant. The trucks I have done have well cured sealant so it is easy to scrape off. Then hit with non chlorinated brake clean and if particularly paranoid loctite ODC
ODC, then picture primer if really cold out, and then loctite.

 

Exactly. The retaining compound is quite brittle when it's cured and comes off easily.

 

There is something not quite right in all of this. Why is it called "retaining" compound?

Mine didn't always come out easily, some of the holes took a little extra effort.

 

What isn't right about it? That's what Loctite calls the stuff; sleeve retaining compound.

 

I use a penny before pulling the cup. Penny covers hole. Even though I would not be too concerned with Brass.

On Chevy 6.2(I only worked on them) When the glow plugs balloon they wont come out the hole. We would brake them off. Then insert new GP. Drive outside and floor it till the remaining GP was punched out the exhaust. Barbaric I know but it worked every time.

 

The fact that "retaining" compound "comes off easily". I guess it's a little like the question "If Teflon is so slick, how does it stick to the pan?"

 

Andy, I will assume that you have removed both the top and bottom hold down bolts for cup removal so what follows is on point.

In early December '16 I replaced injectors. When checking the torque values on the lower hold down bolts they were all within spec at 120 in/lbs. However, when I checked the upper hold bolts some were as low as 55 in/lbs which explains the loud engine due to loose injectors. There is a ton of speculation as to why they had worked loose and I won't spend any time on the possibilities for their looseness.

The antidote to their working loose so far, 12k miles later, has been this Loctite 243. Here are the specs: Blue Threadlocker | LOCTITE - Henkel Adhesives North America It is tolerant of small amounts of oil.

I also used the primer: Loctite 19269 7649 Primer N Activator after cleaning and drying all holes of oil and dirt. I then applied Loctite 243, installed and torqued the upper hold down bolts and let them cure for 24 hours.

Injectors were then seated. Then, the lower hold down bolts were torqued to 120 in/lbs initially and then HOT torqued.

I now have a quiet, it is relative, running 7.3L. I did exceed the factory spec on torque by 15 in/lbs on both.

I now think that I am preventing damage to cups thus preventing a future repair job.

 

Awesome, another loctite to add to my growing collection. I hope to be the first on my block to collect them all.

Seriously... thank you. That sounds like a great idea.