OK, hoping someone can ease my concerns - or at least point me in the right direction.

Working on a E99; so not sure if that will make any significant difference in the whole scheme of things.

Here's what I've done to this thing so far (working on weekends, so it's been a long slow process - customer isn't needing the truck right away, thankfully):
- New injector cups on all 8 cylinders (had fuel in coolant) - used kit from Riffraff
- New injector O-rings (because it would be stupid not to)
- New glowplugs (Motorcraft/Beru)
- HPOP lines with crossover - check valves removed - hoses from CNC Fab
- New bearings and seals inside the turbo (see my previous thread) - shaft spins smoothly and freely; no axial play
- PHP Hydra - but I currently have it removed for troubleshooting purposes
- Bellowed up pipes - again, Riffraff
- New fuel filter

Other non-related work shouldn't impact this, but I'll throw it out there as well:
- Water pump
- Valve cover gaskets
- Gauges
- New batteries (Motorcraft)

So, with all that - I got it fired up this afternoon; eventually - long crank time, won't fire until the dash oil pressure gauge indicates positive. I expected this due to everything draining out during the cup replacement.

Let it idle for abour 15 minutes, started to smooth out after a couple of minutes. Tried to run it down the road, and this thing can't get out of its own way? Can bury the throttle, and it just thinks about it, then slowly accelerates. It's doing good if I can get it up to around 30 MPH. It also doesn't want to shift worth a poop, not sure if it's just a coincidence?

This is the first time I've torn into one of these this far, so I'm using the ****-retentive method for doing everything, following directions wherever possible. After pulling all the cups, used a vacuum pump to make sure cylinders were clear. Sealer has been able to set up for almost 2 weeks, so not too worried about the 12 hour need.
I do have some discoloration in the degas bottle, but I'm not seeing a volume difference yet - so I think it may be just residue. Running just water to flush everything out for right now.

Did I manage to screw something up royally, or am I just being impatient? Is there some other info I should be looking at to determine what's going on?

I won't be able to get back to this truck until March 9th due to work travel, so will likely spend the next 4 weeks going down too many internet rabbit holes in search of answers - so any insight you guys can offer may help me out once I can get back to it.
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You need to put like 50 to 100 miles on it to get the air out of the HPOP system.

 

After it idled for 15 minutes and smoothed out, was it able to rev readily when parked? When you tried to go for a test drive, what symptoms were you seeing besides the lack of power? Did it feel like a cylinder was missing?

 

It never totally smoothed out; but did improve. It doesn't rev that well when in park - slowly builds, but won't go much past 2k. If I were to floor the throttle, it would slowly work its way up to around 2500 RPM.
On the test drive, I don't know if I'd call it a miss, but it just felt like there was nothing there - almost like it was struggling to move against a locked up parking brake, if that makes sense?
If I laid into the throttle, it will gradually get up to around 20 MPH, then I have to let off to get it to upshift - and then I'm pretty well maxed out.

The issue of not firing until I see positive oil pressure indication leads me to believe that the entire HPOP system is airbound - but I'm not sure the best method to get past that; since the "drive it 50 miles" would take a while....

 

Yeah, the PCM doesn't command the injectors to fire until it sees 500psi ICP so what you are experiencing is expected. There's probably air in the fuel galleries also. Is the fuel system stock? The factory deadhead design takes awhile to work air out.

 

Something sounds off to me. I completed similar work on mine two almost two years ago and while it took some cranking to get it started, it had plenty of power on the first drive.

What procedure did you use to torque the injectors?

 

Maybe check to see what your HPOP pressure is...perhaps an o-ring rolled during assembly.

 

Something else just occurred to me. Did you do a compression test after you finished the job?

 

Fuel system is dead stock.
Injectors were installed with all new O-rings, lubed with motor oil and torqued to 10 ft lb. All bolt holes were cleaned with brake cleaner and then blown out with compressed air.

Is HPOP pressure something I'll be able to see with a decent OBD tool (I have a Bosch 1250), or will I have to get a cable for Forscan?

Thanks for all the help, guys - giving me a good list of things to tackle...

 

Injector control pressure (ICP) you can read with a scanner regardless of whether you have a cord, bluetooth or WIFI setup.

 

Torqued to.... you mean 120in/lbs correct? I know the 10ft/lbs equals 120in/lbs...but you used a in/lb torque wrench right?

 

I hope you didn't see the spec of 120 in-lbs and figure 10 lb-ft was close enough. If so, you may be pulling the injectors again and replacing the o-rings one more time.

There is also a hot-torque procedure that's pretty well-documented here and other places. If you just did it cold and hoped for the best, the injectors aren't going to have the proper torque holding them down, and that goes double if you used a ft-lb wrench.

 

I used the 10 ft lb, as that's what is listed in the procedure I was using - and probably was a little light on it, as I didn't want to damage anything, In the event it was over-torqued, what should I be looking for if I pull an injector out - is there one seal that it damages in particular, or does it screw up all of them like a football bat?

I haven't done the hot torque, simply because I just got it running for more than what's been mentioned - that was on the list to do, but given the other issues, I wanted to take a step back and see what was going on.

Did not perform a compression test; will have to get a tester for that (darn, have to buy more tools...)

Also did not replace the ICP sensor - made the assumption that it would be fine (I know, assuming and all that)

 

Torque wrenches that measure in lb-ft aren't accurate enough to measure in-lbs. Mistake #1.
If a spec calls for X amount of torque, that's what you do. You don't go "light" because you're afraid of breaking something. Mistake #2.
The hot-torque procedure is not something you should skip. The injector o-rings seat themselves from the heat and vibration. Skipping this means your injectors are under-torqued. Mistake #3, but that one isn't completely your fault as the factory manual doesn't call for it. When I installed mine, I cold-torqued to 120 in-lbs and then ran the engine for an hour. Each bolt required at least a 1/4 turn - some almost a full turn.

If it were my truck, I'd pull the injectors and re-install with new o-rings and do it the right way. Alliant says that if they are under-torqued, it ruins the o-rings.

The ICP is probably fine unless it has oil in the connector or it doesn't read correctly.

 

Kinda siding differently on the progression. Get it up to temp and do the hot torque as mentioned and see what you have before you remove the sticks. It's just a very good check of your work to see what you see. Record the initial torque, that will tell you if your running in the right direction.

Use an Incher. Tolerance on a ft lb, is like taking a foot pound of boot up your butt for something that is crucial. Anything inch pound must be spot on. The old days of holding your mouth right went out the window with small block chevys and 390 Big Blocks.

While you have the VC's off and get done with the hot torque, run it and exam your oil flow from your inj's. Should be a pretty lateral flow from each.

Denny