Need Injectors...soon, like Friday?

[steved]

LOL, it was the bucket I emptied his fuel filter into. Look at all the purdy colors. LOL

Yep... pretty stuff. Some of that might have been in there for 40k!



steved

 

[lmills]

i would look at your pushrods first that high of milage and i dont know what youve done for maintanece but the valves should be adjusted often if you havent i bet you bent a push rod. good idea to check it better a 4 dollar part the a 4k part

All the valves were gone over before and after the injectors were pulled.

 

[Cattletrkr]

Absolutely no codes... I checked them with a scanner as soon as I parked it.

steved

I starting to sound like my dad. I hate electronics. All this crap they put on here...

My truck throws a code if there's too great of a difference between the temp sensor by the grill and the one under the battery, but if an injector goes kabluey... nada. Great system they've got going here.

 

[steved]

As an update...



Pretty scary start this AM... it was 30*F and it acted like an injector stuck... idled very rough for about 15 seconds, then smoothed out. Started fine the rest of the day... nothing else out of the normal.



Check this out... problem, solved with injector replacement: Surging Cruise (FCA was replaced last April in an attempt to cure this). I installed cruise in January... had the surging cruise since at least that point. The trip 250 miles home last night was very nice... no bucking cruise... very smooth uphill AND downhill!!!!



There is no smoke under normal acceleration now, unless I really romp into it.



Rail pressure is up 1500psi at 2150RPM... figure that one out! Cruise pressure at 2150 (65mph) was 16000psi before, I have a solid 17500 now.



steved

 

[steved]

What I am wondering is whether the separator is separate from the filter.

A water separator that has no filter appears to be lower maintenance, but on a truck, with vibration/shaking the emulsion may not be as calm as would be necessary to remove the water. (just a guess)



When fuel passes thru a filter it coalesces out the emulsion. Do the filters have water drains on them? If not, water can build up inside, and pass thru the paper (a larger quantity at once).



The other is the issue of heating. The stock filter has a self-regulating heater, that also helps at water removal.

And last, an aluminum tank can form water condensate from the air if you allow hot fuel to return to the tank. Some diesels, including the Sprinter, have a fuel cooler (like an oil cooler) on the fuel return line. Less condensation would form that way. I'm not saying to put one of those on, just wondering how you plumbed the auxiliary. May not be a good idea to circulate that fuel thru the cold tank.

The separaator uses a 144 micron screen to catch large debris and drop water out...



That heater... if you consider the fact that the heater would need to literally BOIL the water to actually do anything... do you really think that 150 watt heater does much other than prevent the filter from waxing in cold temps?



Both my tanks are plastic... and again, I go through a lot of fuel... its not like the truck sits for more than a few days at a time.



steved

 

[Cattletrkr]

The trip 250 miles home last night was very nice... no bucking cruise... very smooth uphill AND downhill!!!!

Just about every problem you're describing in this thread applies to my truck.

KNOCK IT OFF!!!!


You're starting to scare me.

 

[steved]

Just about every problem you're describing in this thread applies to my truck.



KNOCK IT OFF!!!!





You're starting to scare me.

Think of it this way... at least YOU know the WARNING signs... and you can now be prepared to shell out the $$$ when/if you have problems.



So many symptoms that I had were those of other components... FCA, rail pressure relief valve, sensors. I have been slowly replacing/testing/troubleshooting things one at a time... this one snuck up on me...



And again, with 143k on the clock, I did not expect the truck to eat a set of injectors. However, I have suspected a bad injector for about 3 months and around 6k miles... that bucking start was a dead give away, and one I won't soon forget. I looked at every other possibilty, and denied the possibilty it could be an injector, especially with LOW MILES (I don't associate 143k with high miles).



steved

 

[lmills]

Just about every problem you're describing in this thread applies to my truck.

KNOCK IT OFF!!!!


You're starting to scare me.

yeh, I've following your thread.

 

[steved]

I starting to sound like my dad. I hate electronics. All this crap they put on here...



My truck throws a code if there's too great of a difference between the temp sensor by the grill and the one under the battery, but if an injector goes kabluey... nada. Great system they've got going here.

Knowing what I know now, even though that truck would have 350k on it... I would have never traded my 99 (even with all its trans troubles). It never left me sitting in 201k... it was more reliable than this 04. 5 by a long shot.



steved

 

[Cattletrkr]

yeh, I've following your thread.

which one... :-laf

 

[lmills]

the one about your truck and the one about your fathers.

 

[HBarlow]

i would look at your pushrods first that high of milage and i dont know what youve done for maintanece but the valves should be adjusted often if you havent i bet you bent a push rod. good idea to check it better a 4 dollar part the a 4k part

Sorry but I have to disagree with this. I had a friend who was formerly a Dodge dealership mechanic "adjust" my valves a week ago. My odometer was reading almost 221,000 miles at the time. He had tried to convince me several times that valve adjustments were simply not necessary but I persisted thinking he just didn't want to bother with it and because the owner's manual suggested periodic valve adjustment. Well, I stood and watched as he checked the lash on all the valves. Only one needed the slightest bit of adjustment and it was hardly outside the specs. I bought the truck new and the valves had never been adjusted. My truck has not been routinely run against the redline but it has worked hard, pulled hard, and climbed a thousand steep grades heavily loaded with the EGT gauge reading 1400 to 1425 degrees. It has certainly not been babied.



Harvey

 

[JHardwick]

OK, got a call back from Mid Atlantic... so the truck is heading there. I will be setting up a towing service for tomorrow, give this storm time to pass.



All is well...



Will be Don M Flux 1s...



steved

I think you'll be happy. I have the Flux 1's and don't even run a box right now. The first hing you'll notice is how smooth it idles and how much quieter it sounds. Since the fuel mapping has not been tweaked, you won't even really notice the 40hp until you put a load on it. Towing almost 100% of the time, they work awsome for me. No peaky torque curves or EGT issues.



They really shined with my Quad, but alas, I never could get it to work with my radio ... ... ... ... ... . it'll be a Smarty for me next time around, but for now, I'm satisfied as is.





edit:I should have read on, LOL, didn;t realize that this was a 20 page thread =)

 

[JHardwick]

I just got done reading an older TDR article on the compatibility of fuel additives with additized ULSD... I think I'm going to do two things... change to Stanadyne (they are noted to be ULSD compatible) and cut the dosage rate by about half (to prevent getting too much additive in the mixture).

steved

I run some Howes Meener Kleener from time/time, but I've never been religious about it ... ... ... . I got 280,00 miles from my stockers.



You bring up a good point on additives, and I've often thought about posting this ... ... ... ...



If a guy calculates his dosage on 40 gallons of fuel, and adds that dosage to every fillup ... ... ... ... ... . at what point will he be running 1:4 additive:fuel?



The only way to remain safe levels would be to run the tank close to dry everytime, or to run a tank or 2 with no additive.

 

[Cattletrkr]

The guy who does some of my repair work for me has been working on diesels for 20+ (?) years. I konw this was in the days prior to CR injectors but he said he had seen a lot more damage cause by overuse of additives than by a lack of use.

How that applies to current fuel and injectors I dunno.

 

[JHardwick]

The guy who guy some of my repair work for me has been working on diesels for 20+ (?) years. I konw this was in the days prior to CR injectors but he said he had seen a lot more damage cause by overuse of additives than by a lack of use.



How that applies to current fuel and injectors I dunno.

I can't see how it would be a good thing. And the guy doping every fillup thinking he is doing the right thing just keeps getting a richer and richer mixture ... ... ... ..... or am I looking at this wrong?

 

[SBeretz]

Glad you were able to get it resolved and now you have a little extra HP, plus you have done your first BOMB. . Scotty

 

[steved]

Sorry but I have to disagree with this. I had a friend who was formerly a Dodge dealership mechanic "adjust" my valves a week ago. My odometer was reading almost 221,000 miles at the time. He had tried to convince me several times that valve adjustments were simply not necessary but I persisted thinking he just didn't want to bother with it and because the owner's manual suggested periodic valve adjustment. Well, I stood and watched as he checked the lash on all the valves. Only one needed the slightest bit of adjustment and it was hardly outside the specs. I bought the truck new and the valves had never been adjusted. My truck has not been routinely run against the redline but it has worked hard, pulled hard, and climbed a thousand steep grades heavily loaded with the EGT gauge reading 1400 to 1425 degrees. It has certainly not been babied.



Harvey

The first time I ran the valves, I found an intake valve set to exhaust valve specs... there were very few that were still in spec... and that was around 75k miles. I rechecked them at 100k, and all were fine. I think the initial adjustment is pretty much required early on...



I put another 200 miles on them today... mostly lugging hard in the woods in 6-inch slush/snow. Didn't miss a beat, although it did start funky this again AM (acts like its running on a 5 cylinders, then smooths out)...



Calculated 20mpg on the last tank (no additives)... this tank will be screwy because 75% of the miles were in 3rd under a pretty good load.



So far I like these injectors (although its not like I have ran a lot of injectors)... just going to take a few miles to get my confidence in the truck.



steved

 

[steved]

I can't see how it would be a good thing. And the guy doping every fillup thinking he is doing the right thing just keeps getting a richer and richer mixture ... ... ... ..... or am I looking at this wrong?

I'm guilty of this mysef... I added 8 ounces (the amount for 22-gallons) regardless of whether that tank took 22 gallons, 30 gallons, or 10 gallons. I might skip a tank if I remembered about the previous tank was short.



The more I'm thinking about additives, the more I'm leaning against running them...



steved

 

[JCasper]

With all this injector talk and the truck being quieter after having the injectors replaced and all I am thinking I should pull mine out and send them to Don M.



What is the approximate cost if I were to send mine in and have some Flux 1's sent back to me or mine turned in to them, however that works?