Have you ever had to replace an injector cup in your 7.3L engine?

Five categories for "No, never" and five categories for "Yes". Each category will have a mileage component so the "no's" and "yes'" can be grouped by mileage.

 

Didn't think I had a problem until I did injector o-rings. That's when I saw that 1 was cracked and at least 3 more were weeping (coolant in the cups). I changed all of them and saw that there was no retaining compound left around the upper edge.

 

I see people voting and the numbers are growing. If we can get a good bit of input, this may turn out to be educational.

Part of my questioning is the fact that I'm needing to get into my injectors and shim them, and am planning on doing the o-rings at the same time. I'll at least see whether or not anything is cracked or leaking, and would really rather go ahead and replace them, but I've got enough already staring at me with the truck, and I do not want to keep it more than another year, so I'm cautious about piling on more items and letting the list grow longer.

I KNOW, though, that a number of people have replaced cups (certainly more than the two in our poll), so we definitely have more votes to come in on this topic.

 

Pressurize your cooling system and judge from there.

 

Had to vote no never in the 451k plus category because you stopped there. Could have voted the same in the 551k plus category. I think the son in law has it between 590 and 600k now and still in the no never category.

 

I'm in the no category with 391k on my truck.

Did cups in an Excursion at work that had 252k not too long ago. One had split nearly in half, Degas was half diesel half coolant - even pitted the injector body a good bit from it.

 

^^^ If this is the case then I definitely second the vote for z31freakify's recommendation...
The list can grow real quick.

If you are not planning to keep the truck that much longer, my recommendation is to do what is needed and not much else. There's a lot of things you can replace "while you're in there" but if it's working then it's not worth the investment IMO for a year of use.

 

Dannnng, what is your secret Chris? LOL

On a side note, I really wonder what contributes to the cup issue and why few trucks have it. I am guessing it has something to do with coolant mix and maintenance.

 

I have to say I was counting on your vote in that category, Chris. I would have broken down the categories more or added additional ranges, but the existing FTE Poll format is limited to a max of 10 categories.

 

so much for cups being a preemptive maintenance item (if injectors are replaced)

 

This is the problem with online auto forums. Hype.

3 people on a message board have an issue and all of a sudden everyone has to do this one thing ASAP or die. I'm exaggerating, but not much.

Many of these pre-emptive "fixes" are nothing more than a good way to break something that isn't broken. Leave the **** alone until there is an issue. By all means, look for cracks if you pull your injectors anyway... but don't fix something that isn't broken. Most of the time, you'll never get it as good as it was from the factory assembly line and you'll only create more possible issues.

Someone else posted about changing out the rod and main bearings with the motor still in their truck... Might as well dump sand in the crankcase to "help clean it out".

 

At this point, we are at almost 90% of respondents having never changed the cups. Good trend, but still too few respondents in my opinion to draw any hard and fast conclusions. I DO, however, feel much better about ignoring the cups when I do my injectors shims and o-rings.

 

I agree. Not everything is a better mousetrap. My 16-year-old truck can only handle so much PMS before it ages beyond its years IMO.

I had no intention of doing cups when I went in. The only reason I shifted gears was because there were issues. Enough so that I just did all 8.

Sucker punch out of nowhere! . I feel like I've just been hit by a 2x4 ...


Seriously, though, I have no idea. I had one that was cracked and most of the others magically had coolant sitting in the bottom of them by the next morning (this was weeks after the truck was turned off). There was no compound around the upper edge of the cups (only the bottom) so I don't know if it degraded or it was just never there.

 

I mirror these sentiments. Same with many of the "mods".

LOL, not at all Brian. Was that what led to your issues?

I mirror this as well.

 

I knew my o-rings were going bad and needed to be replaced. I pulled my sticks and sent mine off as cores for a set of crown jewels (new AC 160cc/80% injectors). In the mean time I sucked the fluids out of the cylinders over the next few days as I did some other work in the cab.

{Fast forward three weeks} I pull my valve covers to get ready to install my 8 magic beans and low-and-behold there is fluid in the bottom of most of my cups. What's going on here??!?!!? I thought I had some residual that I didn't notice since I'd only focused on the cylinders. Sopped it up with a shop towel (smelled like coolant) and went about my business. Next day come back and the pools are back. Used my Android inspection camera and found one cup cracked. I could see the drop of moisture forming. The other cups were a mystery. Rather than take the risk and writing it off as some unexpainable phenomenon I did all 8 cups. If my cups would have been dry then the originals would still be in the head.

Even though I was down for 9 months I was pressed to get it all together and running in the end so I did not do a coolant pressure test with the new cups. In hindsight I should have made time as that would have helped me troubleshoot my current coolant leak.

While I replaced a lot of stuff while I was in there (hold-down bolts, gaskets, harnesses, etc.) I wanted to disturb as little as possible. Cups, rail plugs, and other things with a physical mechanical connection were only an as-needed item.