Ok, i dont get on here much anymore like i did in the old days...but thats beside the point, the truck for the most part has been running good the past few years and it is no longer my daily driver or else i would be approaching the 500k mark. My apologies for the novel, but i feel more information is always better than too little....

Anyway... this is likely to involve several issues, all probably related to one another......i think i am having injector cups issues again. Change cups and injectors in 2016 at around 350k miles, Ive got 428k on the clock now. Since its not my daily driver anymore, i tended to let some things slip that i probably wouldnt have before... a little over a year ago , all of a sudden, the truck became hard to start, especially on cold mornings. Would crank and crank and then when it tried to fire off it would cackle something fierce and belch tons of smoke. This could go on multiple times as it would die and have to repeat. It seems to help holding the glow plugs in to get it to fire off but not guaranteed (i hard wired glow plugs to switch/relay). After it would warm up things would be fine and no trouble rest of the day. If i started it every day it would crank fine, but if i let it sit for 3-4 days this whole scenario would repeat itself again. I often thought to myself its as if the fuel is siphoning down over time. Long cranks, no start, stumble/cackle/smoke until warm. Knew something was wrong, but its easier to ignore and let it go, its got 400k miles for petes sake, I dont like getting out of bed in the morning either. LOL. Well, side note, also around this same time I started noticing the smell of diesel occasionally while driving or parked. I have looked and looked for fuel leak to no avail. Changed fuel filter orings and some other checks, came up empty. Just let it be as I wasnt dependent on the truck anymore as i had another vehicle. Well, let it be has caught up to me.

I recently had my coolant bypass hose sag down and began rubbing on my power steering pulley, thus causing massive amounts of coolant to be spewed everywhere. It had a strong diesel odor. It still didnt snap to me yet. But its coming... A couple years ago I switched to the Evans waterless coolant. Expensive stuff, but ive always tried to make upgrades that last for the long haul. This seemed logical. In the course of doing this I did not remove the block drains on the lower side of each block, not for lack of trying but just couldnt get them to budge and started to strip them so i stopped. Since I was not able to completely evacuate all the water out I read on the net somewhere that guys were drilling holes in the bottle caps to "vent" off any water as it evaporates/boils away in the system. Its a waterless coolant so no pressure buildup. It seemed that during this time occasionally i would get overflow out of the drilled hole. During all this time i could get a hint of diesel smell from time to time, but figured hmmmm, this coolant smells like diesel, hmmm funny..... Still hasnt snapped yet. This went on for a long time. Back to recent events... after changing the bypass coolant filter hose before Christmas I still smell the diesel occasionally and noticing some small wet spots where i park. Fuel leak shouldnt be hard to find now. But cant find it. Anyway...so i take off to my hunting camp after Christmas hauling supplies up there. 200 miles one way. I stop along the way for a bite to eat and notice a heavy smell of diesel and look to see some wetness under the front end almost immediately after stopping. Popped the hood and found that the degas bottle has cracked along the "welded" plastic seam in the front. Can see the hole plain as day and its coming out and running and dripping to the ground. Feels oily like the waterless coolant that put in it. The hole is toward the top of the bottle, figured that better than the bottom it should not empty the system and will "level out" before long. Each time i stop at a red light or sign i can smell it as it apparently comes out of the hole. Im still amazed at how this coolant smells like diesel. Hmmmmffff..... Still hasnt snapped yet. I get further down the road and arrive at the camp, still smelling the same smells. Look at the bottle and its still at the exact same level as it was 150 miles ago. How the hell did i drive 200 miles with coolant coming out of the hole in the bottle and it still be full? And why do i keep smelling diesel? Then EUREKA!! It hit me. DOH!!! The damn cups or orings are leaking. I was thinking it cant be the cups as i just changed them less than 80k miles ago, the originals lasted 350k. They were installed by a retired Ford mech so I didnt mess up the install. Also, now its really hard to start each and every morning. Normally after having driven it so far it would have cranked up easy the next day, but not now. Go thru the whole routine of crank crank crank...stumble stumble stumble, cackle cackle cackle. SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE before she straightens out and purrs fine and no smoke. Once this occurs, she runs fine. I drove it all the way back home the 200 miles yesterday without issue other than the smell. Bottle still full. I had cut my trip short cuz i wanted to get back home before the bad weather for next few days started up and i would either be stranded or break down in bad weather. The older and wiser part of me kicked in and just cut my losses from the trip and came home.

My thoughts are this.... its obvious that my cups are cracked again. The first time it happened 4 yrs ago I didnt have any of the other symptoms other than a failed heater hose and overflowing bottle. Could notice the diesel floating in the coolant as it was a different color and the whole oil/water dont mix routine. But not the hard starting issues. Could it be that now by having the Evans coolant in the system, no coolant system pressure, that the imbalance of the fuel pressure present in the cup area accelerated the failure? Larger pressure imbalance? Seems odd that it failed again so soon. But the coolant is something that changed that wasnt part of the equation before. Has anyone else heard/experienced this with the Evans coolant? Also, as my memory is coming back to me the diesel in the coolant is the injector cups. The hard starts and smoke could be from fuel/coolant eating away at the orings and causing other issues. But i havent had time to do much searching as i wanted to get my thoughts down while still fresh. Also, my fuel mileage has gone to @*$&%#%!!. haha

Sooo...anyone have any thoughts?

 

No apologies required sir, sometimes the message takes more than a few words to get across via a written platform.

You mentioned everything was installed by a retired Ford mechanic, but you didn't mention anything about the source for the parts. Were they Motorcraft/International/Alliant cups and o-rings? Can we assume that the proper tools and loctite were used during the installation?

 

All parts/tools for the cups were obtained from Riff Raff website. It was also at this time that I installed the 160/30 injectors new from Full Force Diesel along with new glow plugs. At the time it was all 350k mile stuff...if going thru the trouble to get that wet i figured may as well go swimming. LOL.

 

It sounds to me your on the right thinking process, Personally i would have to pull injectors and check the o'rings, and obviously check your cups, good luck!

 

Would it not be the case that if fuel was in the coolant that the cups are the only path for this? (other than head gaskets of course). So if i have fuel in the coolant, its a safe bet that cups are in my future.
I see where Riff Raff now offers stainless cups. I did a few searches thru the forum and some reading, it seems they are fairly new item. Have they been around long enough for real world results? I would think that later models were changed to ss for a reason and the differences in materials and thickness would almost seem a no brainer, but was just curious of what the community has experienced. Also, im assuming it would be a good idea to change injector orings as well, if the cups are cracked there could be cross contamination of fluids and eat away at the orings. I mean i have to pull the injector anyway, while its out, 5 min to change orings seems like smart insurance. Back to my question regarding the Evans waterless coolant, does anyone have any experience with it and does anyone think the lower coolant pressure could have contributed to the premature failure (70k miles) ?

 

Yes,cups are my bet on this one.
Of course change external orings on those 160/30 when them are out,happy with current injector size otherwise?
Never heard waterless coolant..

 

It would be rare that it would be a cup already but could happen. The newer stainless cups are amazing quality, and I have installed a couple sets now instead of the brass. It could also be the sealant had an issue or wasn't applied quite perfect as well.

I haven't ever been a fan of the Evans coolant, seems to promote leaks at hose connections. It is also crazy expensive and hard to find if you ever need it on the road.

 

Love the injectors. Would probably love them more when I change out the HPOP, still running original with 428k on the clock, I suspect it is getting tired.



Ive never had issue with any leaks until the cups started leaking again. Yes, it is pricey. But at the time I thought that with new cups and all new coolant components from my last saga 4 yrs ago....i thought that i would be buying it for the long haul and thats how i justified it in my mind. I have a few jugs extra that i bought at the time, i see now that the price has gone up even more.