Replacing the glow plugs tomorrow in my 99
bought motor craft plugs ZD11 with Beru stamped on them.
My question is , what else should I check while I’m in there ?
my truck runs like a top and pulls hard so I don’t think there’s any issues other then glow plugs themselves....but what else can I check, tighten or clean since I’ll have all that apart to avoid doing it again.
thanks Gents

 

You could hot torque your injectors...

 

^^^^^^^^^ what John said ^^^^^^^ also, while you're in there, check each injector for spouting oil while idling. Check harness wiring for wear or insulation breakdown. That's about it I believe.

 

10.4 on the way home now and I’ll get them done and check torque and wiring harnesses

thanks !

 

Pretty clean under here for 271k
but wtf happened to my turbo wheel !!???
also is this much oil in turbo intake normal?

 

Oil is normal. Damaged blades are not normal. Looks like your turbo ate a small rock/bolt or something along the way. At minimum, I would be looking into a new wheel. Presumably, whatever it was got through and went into the charge pipes and intercooler. Wouldn't hurt to pull those and see if anything is rattling around in there.

If the truck is a keeper, at 271k, I'd skip the wheel and look into a new turbo, perhaps a kc300x - very nice upgrade over stock and not too expensive. What are your EGTs like?

Hot torquing quieted my motor down noticeably. I also over-torqued about 10-20%, I forget but nothing broke and once the motor warms up it purrs like a kitten.

 

It does look clean under there. Oil in turbo inlet is typical from crankcase vent. Something got in there and put a hurting on your turbo wheel so you'll want to replace that.

 

10.4 will probably do wheel for now....may look at gtp38R after Christmas
this isn’t my DD I have another truck I drive
thanks gents will post pics of old glow plugs

 

I've had the 38R. They were great in 2007 but in 2019 unless you like noise and a useless power-band, DO NOT go that route. It's a very antiquated turbo and is also not rebuildable. The KC300x series is less money, rebuildable and beats the pants off of the 38R in every way. A lot of guys on here will talk up the T4 kits also. They deliver on power and EGT but those kits are $$$ and require a lot more parts to install. The 300x is a very good price and delivers better power, lower EGTs, journal bearings (rebuildable), less smoke, and WAY less noise than the 38R with the same ease of installation. My 300x starts building boost at 1400 RPMS and I rarely see over 1000*F EGT. On the same injectors/tune my 38R didnt build boost until 2,000+. Anything under 2k rpms and the 38R just blew clouds of smoke while EGTs raced up to 1400*F+. The 300x also has better top end... hard to believe but it's true. Garrett needs to discontinue that thing.

 

Ok thanks for that, I’ll forget the 38R and look for that model sometime after the holidays. Someone crash course me in hot torquing ...First 4 glow plugs from Driver side

 

Obviously replacing the damaged turbo wheel. Is your current turbo rebuildable? spinning at those RPM’s that out of balance may have caused bearing damage. Hopefully guys with your same turbo will chime in to send you in the right repair direction until you have the funds for a new turbo.

 

Hot torquing is pretty easy while u are already in to it that far for glowplugs. U need an inch pound torque wrench, ideally with a 0-250 range.

Take your foot pound torque wrench after you use it on your glow plugs and slap on an 8mm socket. Set to 20 foot pounds and check the torque on all your rocker bolts.

Next set your inch pound torque wrench to 60 inch# put on an 8mm socket and hit all the injector hold down bolts. If any of them give at this setting you are supposed to replace injector orings. Then start stepping up the torque. 80 inch pounds. 100. Finally the factory 120 inch pounds. Then if you are confident in your tool's quality and your wrenching skills for feeling bolts before they snap or strip out, go up to 130 inch pounds. Make sure you always check a clicker torque wrench setting on a higher torque bolt, such as the rockers you just torqued to twice the force which requires the same sized socket I checked mine on the rockers before each injector on my last higher than factory torque

To Hot Torque, at this point you get the engine ready to idle. So plug in the 42 wire connector, finish glow plugs n what not, double check the accessory belt for loose stuff. The engine will be fine on a high idle tune without the valve covers or intercooler pipes reinstalled. You can plug the block heater in too. You want the engine up to operating temp for a few minutes. So about 30-45 minutes of high idle and plugged in. Then shut it down and hop back up there and torque the injector bolts again while everything is hot. Wear gloves. Remember you want it all hot when you do this. The wrench will probably take another 1/4 to half turn to click now that all the metal is hot. Then let it all cool down while you clean your tools and intercooler pipes, maybe even simple green the valve covers while ya wait for the engine to cool.

Congrats thats it. Engine will run much quieter now. It may even prolong injector life. Don't be surprised if most your injectors are only around 80-90 inch pounds before you retorque them

 

At a minimum that turbo needs to be torn down and evaluated for a rebuild or a suitable replacement.

I am one of the fellas that talks up the T4 and Borg Warner SXE turbos, but that is because the KC turbo was no more the right choice for me as the GTP38R was or a modified stock turbo was.

I wish I had known about the T4 option years ago when I was new to this truck and replaced all of the parts that I did since the T4 kit includes those. Things like up-pipes, down-pipe, boots, clamps, etc...

KC offers a superior turbo compared to other options and so does Borg Warner. To each their own and people should do what is right for their budget, time, preventive maintenance, prevention in parts replacement and goals for their truck.

My truck is not a DD either. We have 3 other vehicles in our inventory and each of them excels at their purpose. One convertible, one AWD SUV, one 36 MPG SUV and the 7.3L PSD to haul firewood and our 5th wheel trailer cross country every couple of years.The 7.3L truck now runs stronger, cooler and better now than it did when it rolled off the factory floor 255,000 miles ago and 19 years and 11 months ago.

The link below is a summary of why I and many others decided that the T4/SXE was absolutely the right call as well as the many others that went the KC route.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ighlight=Parts

 

Aight, got the glow plugs in, torqued everything cold just because time didn’t allow for letting it get hot and going back in, so everything is good now. It’s 55* here but the other day around the same temp it took 2-3 tries to get it to fire off and blew a huge cloud of white smoke.....
today let glow plugs eat until the light went off and it fired right up. Engine is a little quieter but not a lot which I don’t care really because I like the way they sound.
thanks for the help gents onto looking for a turbo wheel!

 

Anyone try one of these el cheapo wheels off eBay ?
wicked wheels are 230$ I’m sure for good reason
but at that price I may as well just save for a new turbo all together

anyone use these ?