Finally tally is 6 cups in varying degrees from bad to worse. Only #5 and #8 seem to have survived. If it was only 1 cup I might...MIGHT...consider replacing that one. At this mileage and having 6 to replace I am going to just replace them all. Some extra time now will keep me from wondering for years to come.

Thanks for everyone's insight.

 

that's the way to do it. Also Replace all O-Rings, clean connections, and give the UVCH a good look and test with DVOM. You won't have to go in for long, long, time.

 

I have new valve cover gaskets and UVCHs waiting in a box along with new glow plugs. I was prepared for everything except doing the cups. I thought I had cup issues years ago so bought cups, injector o-rings, and Loctite 620. The 620 is far expired (4 years old) so the only things I need are 620, rent the tool from Clay, extra time, and LOTS of patience. If any o-rings are damaged during shipment from P.I.S. (or my installation) I have 8 sets as backup.

 

Brian, did your current valve covers sustain damage of some sort? This is the first time I have read about someone replacing the covers themselves that I can recall.

I have thought about replacing the covers as well when I do the injectors just to give the covers a nice and clean look on the engine.

Be sure to take a lot of pictures and provide your thoughts and experiences when getting into the cups, we are all hoping for an easy swap out.

 

Nope...just a typo. I meant to type valve cover gaskets but forgot the 'gaskets' part. I was too busy trying to not screw up typing on my phone with my sausage fingers. Good catch and thanks for the backup (corrected my other post).

 

I have never heard of so many sleeves having an issue in the same truck.
Those sleeves look to be in great shape, visually. My guess is that someone has previously replaced them with cheap parts store sleeves hence why they all (almost all) failed.
Make sure to use quality Ford, International, or Alliant Power sleeves and injector O-rings.

 

If they did get replaced the PO probably didn't use the correct sealant, I've used eBay and Dorman cups with no problem (knock on wood) lol...

 

I bought the truck with 146K on the clock and all the records showed maintenance done at the local dealership. It was a ranch truck and I know that there was some off-the-books repairs done (two different nerf bar mounts between the two sides) so who knows what else might have been done.

Even though I'm in for a round of cups along with injectors I can't complain. 306K miles with the original sticks (never touched until now) is better than average in my books. Some have gotten more but many have gotten less. The truck was running great (easy start, no smoke, smoothe idle) and had no indication of cup problems. After 15 years the injector o-rings finally started to give out and started me down the rabbit hole. #3 is the worst and I can watch a drop of coolant form on the inside wall of the cup. The other 5 have coolant pooling in them but can't see where it's coming from (possibly bad sealant job as z31freakify mentioned).

As frustrating and time consuming as it is, it's still cheaper than getting a new truck.

 

Cups aren't that bad to do. #5 and #7 were the most challenging obviously but just take your time and line it up the best you can.

The hardest part is making sure you get all of the old sealant out.

Put a penny in the cup before you insert the removal tool. It will prevent brass cuttings from getting into the combustion chamber. Probably wouldn't cause any damage if they did, but if you're like me, why risk it.

I bought the Alliant brush set which is really overpriced but brushes this size may not be that easy to come by where you are. It does work well though and you don't want to make any mistakes here.

 

Read about the penny trick in some other threads and am definitely going to use it. I don't have the Alliant brush set but have two CAT brushes: 9U-6862 and 4C-6161. They were about 1/2 the price of the Alliant set (before shipping). There's a CAT dealer about 15 min from my house so stopped by and picked them up on the way home from work. Hopefully these work well enough to do the job.

 

On one hand I'm sorry to hear about your luck with cups. But on the other hand I am glad you found a problem that could mean even better results for your upcoming work

Please post your progress and what you think of the tool and the job

 

Sorry to hear about this Brian. I'll be pulling for you. If I was still in Oceanside this summer, I would come give you a hand.

 

I appreciate the consideration. I am currently in a holding pattern for tools and parts. My PCM should be back today and injectors should be here Thursday. As soon as Clay gets a tool back I'm going to rent it and get started. Regardless I won't be able to pop the hood again until late next week.

 

I consolidated my injector and cup work here if anyone wants to follow along (or laugh at my failures):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post17730343