It looks like we haven't had a thread on injector lifespan for almost 10 years. I searched and only found this one. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...life-span.html Perhaps it's time for us to discuss again how long the factory injectors have lasted in your 7.3.

Our 2000 F-250 has 240k miles on factory injectors and they seem to be working fine. If they were not I suppose there would be hard starting, low mileage, or a cylinder weaker than the others. That said, we rarely get very cold morning temps here in Texas.

What's your experience?

 

I bought my truck with 351K and replaced the injectors, 6 were original. I think as old as these trucks are now, many of us understand things that effect injector life spans. Poor air filtration, lack of proper regular maintenance etc.

 

Your question is a tough one to answer because there really is no rule of thumb, except ~250K miles.

I look at it this way, how many steps does it take to wear out a pair of shoes. Well there are a lot of factors like the terrain they work in, are they maintained/cleaned, temperatures they are exposed to, etc...

I have seen some members on here with 400K miles on their OEM injectors. My injectors (knock on wood) run strong and efficient. Although, I bought the truck 3.5 years ago with 220K miles on it and it now has 242K. I have never been under the valve covers, so maybe it has new-ish injectors in it.

 

My 2000 was a 1-owner truck when I found it. The guy runs a used pickup dealership here in TX but as far as maintenance I don't think he was a stud muffin. The oil was black and the filter was dated 2 years ago. So I'm doing another oil change after only 2500 miles, soon.

I bought some Delo 15w40 at Costco but now after lurking here a couple months I wonder if I should go with a 10w40 or 5w40 instead to prolong injector life. Then again, going to 80% injectors now at 240k might just be money well spent. That would put my free-flow 4" exhaust to better use.

What's your advice?

 

Mine went at 155K. My dad has over 220K on his. I bought my truck with 64K and I did used oil analysis for a long while, experimenting with good oils, even ran Schaeffers, which in my opinion is the best oil available. At 150K cold starts were a big problem, and by 155K, I was done at any temp below 50 degrees F. I considered myself to be someone who took very good care of my engine, but they were done.

 

The stock A0s in my 95 are still ok....borderline cold starts below -10F at 269K but lots of smoke. I have a 97 pickup ( AAs) at the shop that barely starts below 30F and will not rev above 1200 rpm until warm that has 155K.

Luck of the draw I think.

 

Verify that the oil that you got at Costco is sufficient to run in our trucks, CJ-4.

Mine has 177,xxx miles on it, I'm third owner and injectors appear to be original and they are working fine the best I can tell. They're not noisy and the truck starts good for me.

 

I'm splurging for full synthetic, 5w40. As soon as I get to the only auto parts around here that seems to pay its workers more than minimum wage, because they actually have good product knowledge, Advance Auto Parts.

 

That's ironic, my Advance Auto seems to hire the unhireable who are more concerned about grabbing a smoke than they are waiting on a customer. NAPA works for me here since our independent guy passed earlier in the year.

 

No NAPA 'round here. I used to go there in NorCal, and most were good. YMMV depending on where you live, it appears.

 

15w40 caused "the romps" on my truck. I switched to 5w40 (Rotella T6) and haven't had any issues since.

My stock injectors were replaced at 180k but they were by no means done. Not sure how much life was left in them. The o-rings were a different story though, they came out in chunks.

I would put absolutely zero stock in anything an Advance Auto parts employee tells you about the engine. I would also not buy any parts from them aside from oil, washer fluid, etc. Get all your advice here, and all your parts at RiffRaff.

 

Yeah, I hear you. It's not mechanical advice, it's more like having a pulse and being able to look up the right air filter etc, maybe knowing what circlips pliars look like, and where they are in the store. Bonus points if they actually use their cleaning/waxing products and can say how they worked.

 

Injector life depends on quality of maintenance. Seems like the people on here who have had their vehicles since new and completed regularly scheduled maintenance have long injector life. On the other hand you have multiple owner vehicles lacking a documented maintenance program seeing a vast decrease in injector life. Injector life is directly proportional to proper maintenance.

 

Personally, I don't think maintenance is the only key factor in injector life. We know about the poppets, seals, and wear points in the injectors. In my mind, wear on injector parts also has to do with operating temperature. If you live in a cold climate and make a 5 mile trip to work every day, your injectors are going to wear out quicker than if you live in a warm climate and average 100 miles per trip. Wear comes from cold operation at startup and warm up.

I replaced my stock injectors at 300k miles because I had 2 different, well respected, injector rebuilders tell me I should have already replaced them and I was living on borrowed time and they were worn out already anyway.

I live in a warm climate and drive more than most. I saw absolutely 0 difference in terms of power, smoke, performance, mileage, startup, etc. when I changed mine out at 300k, so I believe I could have run them for much longer. I've read of others who have run theirs much longer, but those were also high mileage per year vehicles (which I believe factors into things).

The replacement sticks I put in have about 270k on them now with no signs of weakness, but the son in law is driving it now and putting a whole lot less miles on it, so we'll see how that plays out.

 

Chris, there is SOmuch I could say about this, but I'll make it short and just say that I highly agree. My truck is a one-owner with 261,000 Miles and still has the original injectors. It runs extremely well and idles so smooth that a glass of wine would show no ripples if it were set on the hood. I talked to him on the phone every couple of months and I asked him a while ago what exactly he did and he told me that there were a few key things. When he started it up in the morning, he let it warm up for 30 minutes, he drove about 200 miles a day, and at the end of the day he let it cool down. He also said he never shut the truck off during the day and let it idle most of the time, meaning that the truck was worked fairly hard but was also maintained extremely well.

My point is that I would much rather have a higher mileage truck that was maintained extremely well and worked hard rather than a low mileage truck that was driven a lot of short distances and only used on the weekends. I have had both and I can tell you with utmost certainty which truck fared better in the end.

So, I think it's maintenance, but to also think these trucks thrive on more use rather than less. That has been my experience more than once.