The last 7.3 I had I replaced two injectors at my mechanic suggestion. It was necessary, the truck ran much better after wards. I liked that mechanic. I have moved and have a new mechanic and again am being told that I have 2 bad injectors. But he is recommending replacing them all at once. Big bill to say the least. It also accrues to me if I decide to spend that much money should there be anything I should get out of the way at the same time?

 

With something like injectors I would agree that replacing them all would be the way to go, particularly if there are a lot of miles on them. They are usually all in the same condition. I would leak test injector cups and check your UVCHes, check bolts for torque. Other guys will probably have other things in their minds that I'm not thinking of.

 

Your profile says you have a 99 F250 with 250k miles on it. Whether it's a e99 or later determine injector type (AB vs. AD) and is only relevant if you're ever going to consider upgrading to make more power, especially if you're considering new injectors. You've already replaced two injectors, there shouldn't be any need to replace those again. Since the injectors run on engine oil, as long as that's properly maintained they should be fine, unless there's something systemic in your engine that's causing damage to them; maybe coolant leaks into the oil. As Mark mentioned, there are several supporting controls that can affect injector performance, and also the external o-rings can wear and leak, affecting performance.

Diagnosing the issue is where a good mechanic comes to play, and where it saves you money in wasted parts and labor later. Fortunately diagnosing these engine has come a long way since they were new and there's a lot you can do yourself, and folks here are willing to help. Tell us how it's running, whether there's smoke (color, amount, when engine cold/hot, off throttle or during acceleration, etc.), and best yet real data from the OBD-II port. Get a good OBD-II adapter and free software like Forscan (windows) or Torque (android device) and you can monitor all the things that drive your engine.

 

Doesn't happen to be #3 and #8 does it? What is the reasoning for needing injectors?

 

I would be extremely skeptical of a mechanic telling me that I needed to replace all of my injectors. More often than not, it's a diagnosis that gets thrown around when a mechanic doesn't really understand the 7.3L and it just throwing **** at the wall and hoping something sticks.

 

I'd almost bet that anyone taking a rough starting/running truck to a mechanic gets told that like 80-90% of the time !

 

At 200k+ miles if you are experiencing hard starts and glow plugs/relay/batteries are good, it is perfectly reasonable to diagnose injectors as needing replaced. Seems like they should be scheduled a maintenance item every 150-200k.

I did new injectors at 190k and my truck starts and runs 100x better. Also, hodge-podging and replacing 1 or 2 injectors when they are all old and worn is kind of a futile endeavor if you ask me. If you have it apart, do them all. Save the headache of when the others go bad, because they will...

 

 

 

Actually when I first joined this board a 99 f 250 is what I had. It now has 450,000 miles on the odometer and it has been broken for years. I retired that truck because body damage more then any other problem. I still have but it has been sitting for close to 5 years. And it is the truck I had two injectors done on. I now have 3 , 2000 ford F 250 with the 7.3. One has 330,000 miles on it and has never had any injector work. Runs great. The other truck has 260,000 on it right now and it is the one with problems. It basically has trouble starting and you have to warm it up quite a bit to get it down the road. My last one only has 177,000 miles on it and just going into the fleet next week. So I do own and have my guys running three of these as service vehicles right now. Everybody I know thinks I am crazy running these old trucks as service vehicles but except for this problem I have had few mechanical issue that are not problems on all vehicles. Brakes and wear and tear items. I was sort of surprised with a total replacement, but I was quoted a price of 4500.00 dollars to do all 8 injectors with glow plug replacement also. With the right maintenance I feel I can maintain these trucks for 4 or 5 years very easy. I do not have payments on them and I am not buying a 50000.00 dollar truck to put my guys in. And anybody who responded to this thank for trying to help.

 

 

FWIW, if I owned a repair shop, there is no way in hell I would replace someones injectors/glowplugs for less than $4500, lol. Consider the labor, insurance and rent they pay; That price is about what it should be.

DIY is not really comparable, as time, energy and money can all be put into the same pie chart.

 

Thats more than likely book price - IIRC it lists eight hours a side.

 

 

I'm in the DYI camp. I find that I am a more competent mechanic than most out there and it really, really bites when you pay $3000 for someone to install injectors and have a damaged O ring to diagnose when they're done. Let alone the other stuff that they find that 'needs repair' while they're in there. I can do the job myself twice vs paying a mechanic and still be ahead of the game.