I see the damaged o-rings now.

I am of the same mindset as Rich is with this, but of course all of this cost money. Also, I am not sure what your plans are in regards to tool rental for removing the bad cups. As I understand it, this needs to be done properly or things can go from bad to worse very quickly.

 

Same here John. My O-rings looked alot worse than your did when we replaced injectors on the Ex 3 years ago at 220K and I wasn't loosing oil like you are experiencing. I'm still confused on where the oil is going bud.


Check out this write up from Dave at Swamps Diesel.

https://swampsdiesel.com/files/7.3LI...Diagnostic.pdf

If it were me I would strongly consider sending them off to Jim at Rosewood Diesel (C******, Ohio) for a $500 stock rebuild. Check out his prices on:

Rosewood Diesel Shop

He also has a DIY kit.

Then I would pull the turbo off and see what is going on there.

 

any fuel in the coolant?

From Jim's (Rosewood) Website:

"The 7.3L Power Stroke injectors sit in a brass sleeve that separates the injector, and fuel, from the engine's coolant. These brass sleeves weaken and fatigue from age and tend to split and fail. A common symptom is finding fuel in your cooling system. This happens because the fuel system typically operates at around 60 psi of pressure, whereas the coolant system operates at a much lower pressure so the fuel gets pumped into the coolant when the sleeve fails and cracks. "

http://www.rosewooddieselshop.com/tools.htm

 

Also, how's the compression? Did you ever put the oil fill cap on upside down on top of the fill tube and she if she blows off?

 

Rich, you may have forgotten that he has a lot of oil coming out of the tail pipe as well indicating a turbo seal or another issue.

 

Following along to see what I can learn.

 

yeah, that's the part that has me confused since the turbo was just rebuilt recently.

 

I haven't found any fuel in the coolant system (yet). Though I have yet to check it after pulling the injectors out...Will check it today.

No budget for injectors right now. No budget at all, actually, but injectors are below a new turbo.

On the turbo side, I'd be into a different actuator ($150) plus, plus, plus etc.

I'd like to fix this turbo, make sure it is okay, then sell it as a tested and known-good unit with the SPXTurbo wheel and put that money towards a KC turbo. I like the lower drive pressures and 1.00 housing for cooler EGTs.

I'm leaving a LOT of power on the table because of high EGTs. It should get better with the oring fixes (heck, just running pure diesel fuel instead of fuel and oil), and possibly with the turbo bearing rebuild.

I'm leaning towards the hybrids after our conversation, but was hoping to put them off a bit. New tuning, tweaking to get it all just right, etc....

I don't know...right know I just want my truck to run properly and tow our camper

 

I understand your train of thought now. I am not sure where he got the rebuild kit from, but I guess something must have failed or maybe the rings are lined up just right to allow oil to pass through. I know with the SPTurbo kit the rings are stepped to help stop the leaking.

I am 99% sure though that he will need to tear into the turbo and see what comes up in regards to "well, that doesn't look right".

 

Do not forget to drain the coolant before removing the cups!

Hybrids, you talking hybrid injectors?

 

I'm living the same dream except I'm at 305K miles. The only symptoms I had were +1mpg overall, oil out the tailpipe, black fuel filter, and burning through 1qt of oil every 100 miles (no oil leaks/pools visible). There is nothing in the coolant degas bottle but I do have the "slowly decreasing level that nobody knows where it goes so everybody just considers it normal" phenomenon. Injectors were still running like a champ (easy start, smooth idle, good power, and no stumbling).

I will say that I don't know how I would have gotten the cups done without Clay's injector tool. If you can spare the down time to get it you won't be disappointed. You can buy the cups through Clay and rent the tool. If you go that route I recommend buying some M6 bolts of your own. Who knows how much fatigue the ones in the kit have had. I had two of them break off in the head.

I know you have been following my saga but here's what I've been through so far for considerations, accomplishments, and troubles:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-band-aid.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ctors-out.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-the-cups.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...tor-cup-s.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ole-fixed.html

You already have all the injectors out for new rings. I would recommend replacing all 8 cups since you've got some miles on them. I also recommend cleaning the injector tip if you don't send them out for testing/rebuild. Many of mine were caked but I was sending them in as cores.

I bounced back and forth on whether to keep running the injectors as-is (they were still solid performers), rebuilding them (using mine as cores would be the only option), or getting new ones. With 305K I was not really wanting to see how much more life was in the sticks so that was my last option. I was lucky enough to be able to go the new route (unexpected bonus at work could not have been timed more perfect) and only do this once. So far "once" has surpassed 2 months and still counting. I have read of guys getting over 400K out of the originals though.


I started to go to 120 in-lbs on the top bolts but didn't have the cajones to keep twisting too far after they bottomed out (I was probably a little timid after snapping two bolts installing the cups).

 

Well, looks like the time has come for injectors. Speaking with some folks, it seems to me it is very likely at least one injector failed internally, possibly one of the *internal* orings.

I'm leaning hard towards hybrids. Waiting to have a discussion with a tuner I'd like to use...probably know this eve if he is comfortable with them in my setup. If not...single shots.

I've also decided to replace all 8 cups, which now I have time to order and do, hopefully giving me a little more time to build my strength back up. Feeling better, but can't get the needle to move off "E" LOL

Once everything starts moving and the final decisions are made, I'll start a build thread on it

Thanks to everyone for their fast and helpful input

 

And a special shout out to a buddy who has been calling me and helping me walk through the options and troubleshooting.

You know who you are

 

Inquiring minds want to know, why are you leaning towards hybrids instead of the crowd favorite 160/xx injectors?

Who will be your supplier for the injectors?

Would you like to share your tuner of choice with us, or hold off until all negotiations are complete with said tuner?

What are your plans for the turbo?

 

Hybrids should have the lowest EGT, least HPOP demands, but quite tricky to tune- so I'm told.

In the interest of avoiding too many knee jerk choices, I want to wait until I have the rest of the conversations to make the final choices before laying it all out. I'll probably even be better able to convey *accurate* info after I ask some questions and such.

The turbo wheel and shaft feel fine and were all good when I changed the wheel a few weeks ago. 50k/3yrs on the 360 kit. So I'm going to call it good and hold off until I get the cups and injectors in.

If it still throws oil (unlikely), I'm okay going back for the turbo. I can't lay on my chest on the top side creeper right now and climbing around is out of the question. Another week or two and I should be back at it

Long term...aka "money"...probably a KC turbo Stage 2 with 1.0 housing.

As a daily driver, she does fine. As a tow beast...high EGTs, leaving power on the table, slower than traffic most of the time. I like the opportunity to get to lower drive pressure = less stress and less heat.

More air and possibly lower boost to get even and reliable power without the high EGTs is my goal- without having an anchor attached off the line in a different tune.

I'll put up more details after I get them and am sure about them.