Yeah I would say run the max recommended solution and who knows it may end up helping, I don't think it could hurt anything

 

I'm with Bryan. I don't see how it could hurt.

 

UPDATE

This morning the thought came to me that my buddy rents his body shop from a guy who has his diesel shop in the front. I went buy this morning and met him and we talked for a while. He came out to my truck and immediately after starting said it sounded like it was missing. He hooked up his snap on scanner and ran a "buzz" test and all injectors came back good. I found the buzz test neat as it litterally buzzed each injector with the truck off one at a time and took readings on them. Then he ran a cylinder test and found low fuel pressure on cylinder 2. So all the electrical for the injectors is fine, but the cyl 2 injector is clogged. He told me that for him to do it it would be about 150 for the labor and that would include him adjusting everything while hes in there. I think I am going to get him to do it since Im scared to try it and he didnt charge me to scan it.

Will I be okay just replacing the one injector? Should I worry about anything that may still be in the line going to that injector? Is there anyway to clean out the line?

 

If you're scared to do this yourself, then no, I don't think $150 is a bad price for labor. I would recommend a new injector instead of a rebuilt one. Replacing one injector won't hurt anything, as long as thats the only one that is bad. There is a plug on the back side of the fuel rail you could have him remove to flush the fuel line in the head out.

The buzz test actually tests the oil side of the injector (as well as the solenoids ability to receive and process the command on the electrical side). I'm glad to hear that only one injector came up bad. I'd consider myself lucky after reading about what all you've found in your fuel system.

A cold 6 pack might also be in order for the mechanic in return for your free scan. There's also nothing wrong with mentioning the mechanics name here if he treats you well and does good work. A good diesel mechanic is hard to find, and someone else may go through your area some day and need a name.

Have him go ahead and re-torque the rocker arm pedestal bolts to 20 lb-ft and the rest of the injector hold down bolts (lower ones only) to 120 lb-in while he's under the drivers side valve cover. They've been known to loosen up a little over time. You might also pick up a set of retainer clips from International and have him put one on the connector on that side while he's got the valve cover off as a preventative measure.

 

I just met the guy this morning and I dont know his last name or the name of the shop. Ive been up there quite a few times to see my buddy at his shop, but today was the first time I talked to anybody in the front shop. I will def. get his name and post it up though.

 

FINAL Update

I got to the shop at 9am today so we could change the injector(well, so HE could). I stayed for the entire process and helped. We got the truck back on the road at about 7:30. After we got the bad injector out it was obvious what the problem was. One of the O-rings on the injector was pretty much shot, almost in half. After seeing that we both agreed that it would be better to do something with all of the injectors. We bought 7 O-ring kits from two separate ford dealers and did all of the 7 remaining injectors. There were three total injectors with bad Orings but none were as bad as the original. After getting it all back together it took a few to get it started but we got it running. After about 20 min of test driving all of the air and oil made it out of the fuel and its running great. The bed side above the exhaust is coverd in oil now, haha. Anywho, thanks for all the help guys.
He also told me that because the O-rings were bad it could have been allowing soot to get back into the fuel tank via the return fuel line. he said after a few tanks that should all be out.

 

Good for you.

This has been an interesting thread to follow and I am impressed with your devotion to getting things done the right way.

 

Wow...
I wish you had solved your problem about 5 days earlier...since i had the same symptoms and then turned out my #2 inj was not firing...
I didnt have access to a scanner, but With the help of Chris and Robinm i was able to diagnose the problem and get it fixed as easy as i could hope...
I then had to take it to the tranny shop that rebuilt my trans a few weeks ago for a checkup and they came running into the waiting area and told me they had to show me something...pointed to the muffler and the area around it and said that I had a pretty serious engine problem cus that is a lot of oil
Had to explain my injectors to them as well...i guess i better give her a good bath this weekend.
Anyways, glad to hear that you got it all worked out
Piet

 

I am really surprised that no one told me to re-do the O rings as long as I had the engine open. After today, I would NEVER replace an injector and not atleast do the O rings on the rest of them.

 

Now to wonder if all that crud in the fuel filter was from the diesel fuel from the drums or soot from the engine???

 

I know my tank did have alot of crap from the drums, but I dont know how much of it could have gotten past the screen in the tank. Now that I think back on it most of it was probably from the soot.