Good Morning,

I am helping my lil brother with his 1988 F150 XLT Lariat that has a 351 Windsor in it. We have been facing some fuel issues (rough idle, dies on deceleration, etc.) and are checking the injectors after replacing/cleaning most of the rest of the fuel system. After disassembly, I have found that the head of one of the injectors has a crack in it (see photo). Is this the kind of issue that requires an injector replacement? Are we ok to full send these injectors after cleaning them out? I do not know much about Fords so any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance. I was unsure if there was crossposting, but I also posted this on the F150 forum as well hoping to get more viewership.

 

That is just the cap and they are replacable, they will be quite brittle at this age so don't be surprised if it totally shatters when removed. But since you have them out you should at least do a simple DIY cleaning/rebuild of them, order a rebuild kit which comes with all the replacable parts including the pintle caps.
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Then setup a simple cleaning station with a 12v battery connected to momentary switch to power the injectors, a short length of rubber hose(2-3ft), an air compressor, and a bottle of injector/carb cleaner. What you do is connnect the hose to the input end of an injector, put a few CCs of cleaner in the hose, connect the other end of the hose to compreseed air source, and then connect the battery to the injector. Then momentarally pulse the injector.. about 1/2 sec on/off while pressure is applied to force cleaner through the injector. Only need 30-50psi air pressure and you don't want to power the injector continuously as that could burn it out. This should noticably improve the spray pattern and remove any partial clogs, and note you want to remove the old injector filter before doing this.

 

You can get a replacement in a fuel injector service kit and replace it yourself.

If it was me, I would send the set to rebuilder for service or replace them while you have it apart.

 

I made a little rig out of a micro switch & injector plug picked up at the JY.

Used a 9vlt which powers the injector fine & lessens the chance of frying it.

Careful with the cleaner & some of the cheaper injector kits.

The O rings will disintegrate.

I buy the kits with the baskets, ditch the o rings & get my felpro o rings local.