Jason et al., your path forward makes sense. I will need to buy injectors regardless either with or without a new engine. So, buying them before I buy a new engine in the hope that they fix the problem and thus avoiding buying a new engine altogether, makes complete sense. Thank you.

Does Clay still own RiffRaff Diesel? If so, I am leaning towards buying a full set of new Alliant AD injectors from him:

Now here's a related prayer request. Some of my van parts necessary to put it back together with the original brackets and either with or without the second 5kw alternator are at the 90-year old family cabin on US Hwy 50 North East of Twin Bridges. If you have time to say a prayer, please pray for the firefighters' safety and for the preservation of life and cabins along the Hwy 50/S.Fork Am. River corridor:

 

Clay does still own Riffraff and is a standup guy. You may want to talk to Matthew at @Bitterroot Diesel as well if you are looking for some advice on injectors. Both Jim at Rosewood Diesel and Matthew have said that a "well built and tested remanufactured injector can be a better choice than a new injector in modern times."

The wildfires this year have been insane... Along with the dry weather and extreme temperatures... We all hope for the best for the lives of those in/around the effected areas.

 

@SkySkiJason et al.: If price were not a consideration would you go with a set of new Alliant injectors or with a set of reman injectors from Bitterroot?

 

New Alliant flow tested and matched by Bitterroot is probably the best you can get. New injectors are ‘batch tested’. Only a % of the injectors go on the bench.

As far as I know, Bitterroot is the only company who does a bench test the way they do and they are able to identify issues that would otherwise remain hidden.

There is a discussion point about a ‘seasoned’ poppet valve being able to seat better than a new one, but it’s intuitive to me that starting off with zero wear is usually better.

 

Understood. Bitterroot is out of new Alliant AD injectors right now. I will call them. I may buy new from Clay and later have them matched if it is apparent that they need to be matched.
I may drive around Lake Tahoe to the cabin to get the missing parts and a few other items and then order injectors.
Thank you to all.

 

Any update?

 

I am boxing up my injectors and sending them to Matt Bitter at Bitterroot Diesel Performance for cores. And waiting in line for seven new Alliant AD and one AE injector with free testing by Bitterroot before they send them to me.

My thinking is that if I have to buy a new engine, I will buy it from Asheville Engine without injectors, so buying new injectors now will not be a waste of money.

I ordered an oem plastic fan blade from Rockauto yesterday since mine was chipped.

I am hoping that my white smoking was due to overheated injectors due to fuel starvation due to fuel tank delamination.

I have no explanation for the low compression numbers except that the compression testing was done, obviously, on a cold engine. We shall see once it is up and running again -- hopefully not smoking.

While waiting for the injectors I will run the fuel pump and pump some diesel through the system to try to force any remaining paint flakes out into a new fuel filter.

I can also see if I can open the fuel rail galleys at the rear of the heads and see what comes out. Since it is a van, they are easy to get to.
Any other suggestions for preparation for the new injectors?

Matthew said that he can rebuild everything on the fuel side of the injector, but once the oil side of the injector wears, the injector's life is reduced. And that oil side wear is from dirty oil, lack of adequate oil and failure to use synthetic oil.

So I will be watching the oil level and cleanliness like a hawk.

What oil do you guys recommend?

 

@SkySkiJason

Oh no, you didn’t go there. Taboo subject with way too much debate on the interwebs. BTW I use synthetic Rotella T6 5w-40. 😂

 

Lol. Matthew likes his fuel additives and boutique oils. Maybe he’s right, but millions of these trucks have gone the distance on dead dinosaur oil and pump fuel - when cared for properly.

Im a Rotella T4 15w40 guy because we don’t need the lower viscosity here in the south. I only use Motorcraft 1995 oil filters. My choice is based on MY used oil analysis and experiments with different oils. At the recommended OCI, the wear was the same for my engine - but the cost of synthetic significantly higher.

Yes, this topic has been beaten to death and if you choose to, you can read about it for days.

 

Sorry Tim. SSJ and myself have been known to disagree on synthetic vs conventional oils and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to poke at him.

 

Just curious as the reasoning behind staying with the single AE? Why not 8 AD's?

 

Racin and Jason thank you for your summary of thoughts on oil. What are your respective oil change intervals? My guess is that I will do a cost comparison comparison. Between the two, I will likely go with the oil with the shortest OCI.

Dan I have been painting by numbers here. So just trying to get the van back to stock to do a good diagnosis. It came with AE so that is what I thought I would go with. I can still change it to a AD if you all believe that is best. What are your thoughts?

 

@Tim Hodgson , I have been using Rotella T6 5w40 for the past 8 years of towing heavy and traveling the country with a 5th wheel strapped to the truck.

Recently I swapped to a batch of Triax Fleet Supreme 15w40 for a 5,500 mile trip from GA to ID and back. I sent the Triax off for an UOA a week or so ago. We will see how it does...

I just put in a fresh batch of Rotella T6 5w40 and at 5,000 - 5,500 miles I will send it off for a UOA. We will see how it does...

I will then pour in TSC Travelers 15w40 oil to give it a fair shake and send it off for a UOA at 5,000 - 5,500 miles. We will see how it does... My reasoning behind trying the TSC oil is the cost/convenience vs. benefit when looking at my specific UOA. Eric recently posted a UOA he received after going from Triax Fleet Supreme to TSC. The results were not surprising to me, but the numbers don't lie. The numbers for his engine and application...

See it here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post19878106

This is good news for Eric since he recently bought 50 gallons of TSC Travelers 15w40 on sale for something like $7 a gallon. I forgot the exact amount.

When my UOA for the TSC comes back, If it is less than desirable in the UOA, I will add some StictionRx to a fresh TSC oil change and have a UOA performed on that. If that doesn't suit my application, I will go back to the Rotella T6 as a tried and true for my application. It comes down to what works well for your mental state and what works well in your engine.

Several good friends of mine swear by oil like TSC 15w40 and have been running it for well over a decade in many diesel applications. Just go with what your comfortable with and what you know works well for your application.

 

Sous good on you! You are doing great service for the Brotherhood of 7.3L PSD owners. I look forward to your research results.

Sous, et al. I drive, park overnight, and restart in snow country at elevations over 7,000 ft. with overnight temperatures ranging from +32F to -17F.

Should I use a lower viscosity oil?

 

I would definitely do the synthetic 5w-40 in that case. Much easier cold starts.

My oil change interval is 5k. Works for me. Everyone has an opinion on oil. Most of their opinions would be fine in practical use.