The pressure from the leaf blower should greatly exceed the exhaust pressure downstream of the turbo. Probably something like 5 psi. The amount of leak you're feeling with the blower may be very small under normal engine operation.

I always use anti-seize on those fitting surfaces so they mate more easily.

 

Unless you have major rust or pitting on the turbine seal face and the down pipe has a minor imperfection (warp).

All the leaks I've had were the stupid up pipes, never at the down pipe.

 

Thanks, guys. Got a meeting tonight, so quick update.

Took the drivers side back apart to check the other injectors. They all look good, no torn o-rings. I'm going to put it back together tomorrow and see how it runs. I expect it will be the same. Will see if I made any progress on the exhaust leak. If not, I'll use my laser thermometer again to see if I can get a better read, and focus on the passenger side.

Anyone know where to get crush washers? The dealer only sells them as part of a kit with o-rings at $17 each. grrr

 

Attached is what RockAuto sells. It shows the part numbers for the Dorman kit (2 injectors), Mahle and Felpro are for all 8. While local prices may not be as good, it would be less than Ford's. I might not want to use the Dorman o-rings, but the crush washers should be fine.

 

Would be a huge PITA to do, but you could do exactly that and see if you could mildly sand down and square up the connection. Maybe stick a machinist edge on the flange while in the truck to see if it's visibly warped?

 

I've been working a little on this truck in between rainy days. Kinda combining both my threads here, on the injector/losing power thread and the exhaust leak....

After replacing that #1 injector that didn't seem to get as hot as the others, and questioning that decision since the old injector's o-rings looked good, and y'all confirming that it didn't look bad, I backtracked and pulled all the injectors on that side. All the o-rings looked good. So, put it all back together and just cranked it up today.

Fired up pretty easily, maybe 4-5 10-second cranks. Never heard it miss like it had air in the lines after the first small hiccup. It idled fine. Recall that it's always kinda done that though. It would only start messing up after a few minutes of driving around in circles - it would slowly lose pedal and start missing badly. That's what it originally did, when I had the loaded trailer on it - it lost pedal and then died. I never let it run that long afterwards - just idled around the truck stop parking lot after replacing the filters, and then again after replacing the fuel pump. Always the same, seemed OK for a few minutes, then missing badly and no pedal.

So today, I let it idle a long time, at least 10 minutes, probably got to operating temps, although I didn't have my scantool with me. Temp gauge needle was in the middle, but the thermostat hadn't opened. I gave it pedal a couple of times, revving up to 2000rpm, no missing, seemed just fine. But, I never drove it because I still have the wheel well liners hanging down and need to tighten up some miscellaneous bolts/nuts.

Sprayed that downpipe connection and still get a little bubble, but yeah, not as big of a leak as I was getting with the weed blower in the tail pipe.

Questions: should I get any boost at idle? Needle never moves even as I revved to 2000k. IIRC, that's normal; don't I need to have a load on it for the turbo to kick in?

If it had that issue with a bad injector pushing combustion gas into the fuel lines, wouldn't it do that while just idling? I was losing the pedal when driving the parking lot after no more than 10 minutes, and then it was still missing when I stopped and just idled. But, I didn't ever just let it only idle for 10 minutes. Could this be another case, like the turbo boost, of needing a load on the engine to trigger the missing/loss of power?

Some might be cautiously optimistic that it idled up to WOT and revved today without an issue. But, they're not Bonehead - I never bet on myself, lol. I'd like to button it all back up and drive it around to confirm, but wondering if there's anything I can check before I waste all that effort just to see it start missing again and losing power? I'm taking my OBDII connector when I go back. Is there any PIDs I should be looking at? I don't have the fuel pressure set-up.

#1 still seems to lag behind the others on exhaust port temp, but I'm not sure if I'm measuring accurately. #s 5 and 7 are very easy to aim at and get close to with the laser. #s 1 and 3 have some clutter in the way so I'm a few inches further away. From reading on the laser, its beam spreads out the farther away you aim, so I might be catching some of that clutter even though the aimer dot is clearly on the port. Kinda the same on the passenger side - back two ports are easy to access, front two are harder and they show a little lower temps.

The crank is smooth, no blowback.

New topic - it's a little low on coolant, and I'm not sure what kind I have in it now (senile). It's red, and I recall buying something at a Cat dealership, but it might have been a flush cleaner. I also might have bought it at a Tractor Supply. It's been several years ago now. Am I just looking for a red diesel coolant without the ELC (or whatever that acronym?). I do know that's what's in it now, just not sure the brand. If so, it's ok to mix them? It's sat so long, I'm not sure why I've lost coolant. Maybe not a problem. Want to top it up and drive to see if I lose it again.

 

OK, got everything put back together except I broke the CCV hose. Drove it around my storage lot until it reached WOT and it never lost power/pedal or misfired. My lot is on a deadend off the tollway service road, so if I leave it's about a 4m round about to get back. Didn't want to chance that, so never got over 20mph, but the amount I drove it would have caused all the issues before, so I think I made progress. I did see the turbo needle move a little. Still leery though.

The truck just seems loud. Might be because I had my hearing aids in - I've never driven this truck with hearing aids before. However, I also see some daylight around the heater core box under the dash. I had to swap in another one after it came back from the thieves with a big hole melted in the side of the original. Obviously didn't get it in right, so maybe that's the reason it's noisy. That's probably where the smoke is entering the cab as well. I forget - is there a rubber gasket around that hole in the firewall?

Still have some smoke, but definitely coming from the missing CCV hose now. I think it was coming from that down pipe leak before, and it may still be.

Of course, the Motorcraft CCV hose is pricey - $70 at OReilley's. I'll check the distributors, but doesn't that seem like a part that could be OK to go with Dorman or something off Ebay? Maybe it's a good time to switch over to a catch-can? Any good vids on how to do that?

I don't have the fan shroud on, does that make the engine louder?

I need the wire loom over the turbo. I recall a guy here 3d printing a replacement. Is it hard to find an exact replacement, or are they just expensive? IIRC, mine broke on one end.

Still need some coolant. No recommendations? If not, I'll get some at Tractor Supply and mix it with what's in it now.

 

There probably is a rubber gasket for the heater box, but I've never taken that out.

Anyone CCV hose will do. Check RockAuto, as they often show closeouts.

Shroud won't change noise.

Loom over turbo or shield?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256990645134


Rotella ELC if Tractor Supply still carries it. Last time I got it from Amazon

 

Thank you, sir. Thanks to your help and the other guys here, I think I'm making progress.

 

Great deal on the wire loom, thank you!

 

What's the injector that offsets #1? Is there a chance the FICM is compensating for a problem on the other stick? I think you said you shot both manifolds with the IR but not sure.

Don't think you'll build boost just with revving, maybe a psi or two are the vanes swing.

Not that I advocate transmission abuse, but maybe power brake it to see if you can load it with the transmission without having to get out on the highway?

 

Great idea, Rusty. I did IR both sides, and both #1 and #2 were seemingly cooler. The original symptom was it started missing, got worse over the next mile until losing any pedal response and finally sputtering to a stop. I towed it a truck stop a hundred yards away and replaced first fuel filters, then fuel pump after finding the regulator bowl empty. Both times, the truck would start up after a longish crank, idle fine for a minute, and I'd drive it slowly around the parking lot, when it would again repeat the missing, sputtering. I didn't let it die, pulled it back into a parking spot.

So, after replacing #1, it doesn't do that. Drove it about a mile around my storage lot and up/down the deadend street. No missing, no sputter, seemingly fine. So, I think I've fixed something, just leery because #1 didn't look bad when I took it out.

I wonder, though, whether my problem was always just bad battery connections. All during the original issues, and prior, I'd been having problems with my power/starter cutting out. Dash would light, try to start, and then black out. The bolts on my positive clamps were stripped and I was using extra washers to move the nut back to find good threads. I was only using the truck once a month or so to take construction debris to the dump, and I was able to get it to start every time by giggling the clamps. Same in the truck stop parking lot. Pulled it to the storage lot, and then couldn't get it to start at all. Finally got better bolts at a PuP yard and it now starts good/dash stays lit.

However, pretty sure the dash didn't go dark when it first died, nor was it dark when I would idle around the truck stop until it started missing. I.e., not sure exactly what I fixed, lol.

I'm going to try the power brake trick. Going about 20mph on the deadend street, the needle does move a little. I still got a leak out of the downpipe connection. Not as bad as when I used the weedeater to blow up the tail pipe, and the truck is also running now, so that pipe is hot - not sure the soap bubbles could get big with the heat. But I still see a smaller bubble at the bottom lip. IIRC, I'm not supposed to crank down real hard on that Marmon clamp. But what felt real hard 5 years ago is different than my weaker arms now, I've noticed. Wonder what a good torque spec would be? Maybe I just need to tighten it more.

BTW, your Red Raiders be ballin'. They're going to surprised some people in the tournament. Maybe get to the Elite Eight.

 

OK, what a difference hearing aids make, lol. Took them off today and the truck is lots quieter. It was scary yesterday, soooo loud and meshing metal/gears sounding, that I didn't want to give it pedal. Punched it a little today, still on the short deadend street about a 1/4m long, and I saw 10lbs of boost at around 25mph. Bonehead luck and with y'all's great advice, I think I fixed it.

Still got the smoke, but nowhere like it was. Just the CCV hose now. I ended up finding one on Ebay for $25/free shipping. So should have that fixed in a few days.

Next up is getting the AC working. I replaced all the parts except the condenser last year, but did something wrong/missed something and it didn't work. I think it might have blown the coupling apart where the orifice tube is. I immediately turned it off and haven't tried it since.

I think the thieves tried to steal the flatbed. They did cut some of the tool boxes off. Now, it clunks loudly when I hit a bump. and I see that one of the big round bushings holding it and the cab to the frame are gone. I should have taken a pic - do those have a nut on the bottom? I see the bolt sticking through the bushing with an aluminum washer, but no nut.

 

Sounds like you need a new set of cab mounts. Not sure how a flat bed attaches, but a pickup bed has bolts that go through the bed into the mounts on the frame. Cab mount bolts are in the floor under the carpet. The cab mount bushings are an integral system between the cab and the frame mounts. They are not cheap.

 

Both my 250s have/had rotten cab mounts. I fixed one, the other still clunks. Made a huge difference in ride quality when I finally fixed them on the first truck though.

Wasn't a bad job with a lift, pulled the bolts and lifted the whole cab a bit and slid the new ones in. Doing them one at a time would be tedious but probably doable. At least to replace the one that's entirely gone. The cab flexes a lot, especially my Super cab.


All that West Texas oil money is finally paying off for Tech, and not just UT and TAMU finally!