Buy a new injector solenoid they are not expensive.

 

If you worry about it too much, Riffraff has em for $60. I'd honestly look into some decent epoxy to fill the gap if you're not too worried about it.

 

 

how hard were you "tapping"..?? are they that brittle in that location?

 

 

Mind throw'n down your procedure on cups? What all steps you take, cups used and from where, tool/s..etc. What led you to cup replacement, how many miles on rig..

 

Well, the truck has 294k miles. I just bought it and had no clue that its injector cups were leaking. I talked to a friend of the guy I bought it from and he was the one who told me they were leaking. Upon closer examination, I had a serious problem because my coolant would overflow with diesel when the truck got warmed up, it also didn't run very smooth either. I got the cups and o-rings from direct diesel.com for about $100. Before taking off the valve covers, I took it around the block a few times and got it warmed up and then drained all the coolant. I pulled the drain plug on the radiator, both hoses that go into the bottom and the block plugs on both sides. The driver side is easy to get to, but the passenger side is a pain. Its right behind the starter and there is no room for hands and wrenches, (I also had even more of a time because someone put loctite on the plugs so they didn't want to come out). What i ended up doing was taking a couple extensions with a u-joint extension and came in from the fender, there was a hole in the frame that i put the extensions through to get to plug. That seemed to work pretty well. So then I obviously took everything out (intercooler pipes, air intake, wiring harnesses, valve covers, etc.). On the valve covers, I found using a u-joint extension makes it easier for the ones in the back. I pulled #7&8 first and let all the oil and fuel drain in them so i only had to clean out those two cylinders. Then i proceeded to take out the injectors. I used a small pry bar to gently pry them out. Once i got the injectors out, I used the injector cup removal tool from riffraf to get the cups out. That was super easy thanks to the tool, i would not recommend doing the job without it and the install tool. After i got all the cups out, i found that they all had reseated and were all leaking. To clean up the area before installing the new cups i used a small wire brush for cleaning fittings and a small wire wheel attachment for my Dremel that i found out harbor freight for like $5. I would get the major stuff out with the fitting brush and then finish with the Dremel (to be able toe reach all the way into the hole i had to remove the rocker arms) . When i got all the old loctite cleaned up, i installed the new cups, I couldn't find the loctite 620 but i found the permatex equivalent so i used that. You have to be quick with that stuff because it does dry fast.I used the install tool to tap them in. You can tell when you are fully seated by the sound. So after i installed all the new ones, i replaced my o-rings and then put all the injectors back in and torqued them to 120 in/lbs ( I oiled the o-rings with some new motor oil before installing them back in the engine). I went ahead and replaced my glow plugs while i was right there. To get the oil out of my cylinders i pulled all the glow pugs, put the valve covers on with a few bolts and bump cranked it about 15-20 times. When i took the valve cover back off, you could tell the majority of the oil was in #7&8 cylinders. I reinstalled the glow plugs and valve covers and plugged in the injectors and glow plugs. Then i went ahead and started it, it took about ten minutes of cranking with periodic breaks to let the starter cool down. When it did finally start it blew some blue smoke from the oil left in the cylinders, but it cleared up pretty quick. It seems to be running really well now so i guess i did everything right. Now i just need to put all intercooler pipes and intake back in and start flushing the system. I'm going to use cascade dishwashing detergent mixed with water to help get the oil and diesel out. Probably going to do that two or three time to be sure I get everything. But that's about the whole job, i might have left a few things. It was my first time to do it but it wasn't like that bad of a job.

 

Nice write-up, forgot to mention installing new crush washers on injector tips, thats what seals them from the cylinder pressure.

 

Oh yeah! I used a small socket to and lightly tapped them since they are a pretty snug fit. I read some guys putting oil behind them so that they would stay on the tip when you drop it down in the cup, but mine were snug enough that I didn't need to do that.

 

The only thing I would do differently is run the engine long enough to let it warm up and them go back and re-torque the injectors. You will be surprised at how loose they are. The vibration and thermal expansion removes a fair amount of torque from the hold-down bolt. Other than that, good job & nice writeup.

 

That's good to know. I definitely will do that. I only put in about half the valve cover bolts back in before starting just in case something didn't work right so it will be no big deal to go back and recheck that.