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Cleaned injectors, now miss, smoke, and throttle sticks!...

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Fuel Additives? How Many Use them.

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I need some help, I followed some instructions on how to remove the injectors, take them apart and clean them. I did this put truck back together, started it up, had a bit of a rough idle.



Not excessive smoke that I could tell. Not bad, but also had a bit of a knock to it.



Drove it to work, came back home, tore it apart, to double check everything.



Double checked #3 injector, feed tube torque, etc, that was the one I just started with to see what would happen. Took injector back out, back apart, cleaned reassembled, etc.



Put it back together, started up truck, smooth for a few mins, no smoke, anything. Running good, until... . Drove it around the block, was doing just fine, no knock or anything, until I hit the throttle a little to get it up to speed 55MPH, started feeling a miss, especially, when torque converter locked up. Throttle began to stick!, had to shift into neutral to slow it down. Smoking black smoke pretty thick.



Once in neutral RPM's came down normal put back in gear, hit the gas 1/2 throttle, throttle doesn't stick but get the knock still.



Hit the throttle with moderate pressure, it sticks at around 1600-1800 RPMs shift to neutral, back down to regular RPM's.



Got back into driveway, rough idle especially in gear.

Truck was running worse than previous day.

Took apart the entire top part of rest of injectors, and checked, all working good (the part under the solenoid).



Has knock almost does sound like diesel running on fumes, or starting fluid.



I have no idea what to do next, almost ran into my garage with that throttle sticking. sheesh. Take out the other injectors and try to clean them again to make sure?



**update, took two of the other injectors out tonight, did a test run, still the same. Got just a couple more to try.



Anything I am missing here, something else I should try? Dirt get somewhere maybe, making something stick? I am just frustrated, don't know what to do next.
 
you could disconnect one injector at a time - disconnect the wires under the valve cover - to find which one is giving you trouble.

-john
 
You have an injector mechanically stuck open. My 06 did the same thing after I got a bad load of fuel. I ended up replacing everything from the in tank pump to the injectors. If you run it long enough that way you will burn up a piston(s)/cylinder(s).
 
okay...

Oh man I havent run it long, just a couple miles around the block a few times. Once was uphill I have an egt gauge too, but not sure if that would tell me if one cylinder is getting too hot. I hope I haven't messed up a cylinder.

How would I know that too other than a compression test?

I am not going to run it anymore till it gets fixed, other than at an idle.

I forgot to mention, I did unhook each one individually and idled it, the number 3 one seemed to smooth the truck out a little when unhooked. I took that one out and cleaned it again. Seemed to make no difference.
 
Injectort tubes (Cross over tubes)

Each fuel injector is connected to the fuel rail by a

high-pressure fuel line with a steel connector. This

steel connector is positioned into the cylinder head

and sealed with an o-ring. The connectors are sealed

to the high-pressure fuel lines with fittings. The ferrule

on the end of the high-pressure fuel line pushes

against the steel connector when the fuel line fitting

is torqued into the cylinder head. This torquing force

provides a sealing pressure between both the fuel

line-to-connector and the fuel connector-to-fuel injector.

The fitting torque is very critical. If the fitting

is under torqued, the mating surfaces will not

seal and a high-pressure fuel leak will result. If the

fitting is over torqued, the connector and injector will

deform and also cause a high-pressure fuel leak. This

leak will be inside the cylinder head and will not be

visible. The result will be a possible fuel injector

miss-fire and low power.

(8) Connect injector solenoid wires and nuts to top

of injectors (Fig. 18). Tighten connector nuts to 1. 5

Fig. 17 TOOL #9015 AND CONNECTOR TUBE

1 - CONNECTOR TUBE

2 - LOCATING PINS

3 - RUBBER O-RING

4 - TOOL #9015

Fig. 18 FUEL INJECTORS

1 - SOLENOID CONNECTIONS

2 - ROCKER HOUSING

3 - FUEL INJECTOR

4 - PASSTHROUGH CONNECTOR

Fig. 19 FUEL INJECTOR REMOVER - #9010

Fig. 20 FUEL INJECTOR SEALING WASHER (SHIM)

LOCATION

1 - FUEL INJECTOR

2 - COPPER SEALING WASHER (SHIM)

14 - 88 FUEL INJECTION - DIESEL DR

FUEL INJECTOR (Continued)

N·m (14 in. lbs. ). Be very careful not to overtighten

these nuts as damage to fuel injector

will occur.

(9) Install exhaust rocker arm assembly.

(10) Set exhaust valve lash. Refer to Engine.

(11) Install high pressure connector and its

retainer nut. Tighten nut to 50 N·m (37 ft. lbs. )

torque.

(12) Install high pressure fuel line. Refer to Fuel

Line Installation.

(13) Install valve cover. Refer to Engine.

(14) Install breather assembly.

(15) Connect negative battery cables to both batteries.
 
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Is it wise to dismantle and "clean" an injector on your own if you don't have a clean room?

What did you clean these with? Seems to me even mild abrasives could damage them.

I guess what I'm asking is, what kind of equipment did you use for this cleaning?

Ryan
 
This is the first I have even heard of someone cleaning the inside of their own injectors. I'm curious were you having a problem or just doing preventative maintainence?
 
update...

Okay guys, I have an update, and some clarifications, what I meant by taking the injectors apart, is taking the nozzle apart and cleaning it. I did this in the most clean sterile environment that I could. As in I used brake clean compressed air, no-lint rags,etc inside of my house, on the clean table. I did take the top part off of one injector, saw all the parts in there said forget that and put it right back together, and yes the little tiny ball in there was in its correct spot and so was the little cap that goes on it, all shims, springs, etc.





Anyhow, I talked to a well-known diesel guy who has his own shop around here, and who knows these trucks well, explained it all to him. He reassure me that as little as I drove it, I should not have messed up a cylinder/piston. His exact words were, "there is no way you did. " So I felt a little better.



His advice was to take the other ones that I have not taken apart and cleaned a second time out again and get them clean, put back together, then try running the truck again, see if that helps. If not he says he will hook up his scanner and we will figure out which one it is.



Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far. I will update this.
 
I read on here somewhere that a likely-to-fail part is that little ball in there. Make sure it has no pitting or cracks. You may need a magnifying glass. Same for the seat where it rests on the body.



I wonder if Bosch sells those balls, or if anyone has a source for those.
 
His advice was to take the other ones that I have not taken apart and cleaned a second time out again and get them clean



I think another good bit of advice is, "don't take apart your injectors unless diagnosing and repairing a specific problem".



I wonder if Bosch sells those balls, or if anyone has a source for those.



If we can get someone to specify a diameter, I bet we can find them...



Ryan
 
Well I got the truck all buttoned up, but I gotta bleed my fuel system, as I changed the fuel filter while I was in there, and I have a FUEL BOSS pump, took the factory pump right out, in place I have a 2 micron filter mounted. Anyhow, gotta do that then we will see, I just really hope I do not have a melted/cracked/scored piston or cylinder.



I hadn't heard the ball failure thing yet, but good to know, would be nice to be able to get them, you could technically replace that without removing the entire injector from the head.



Yes the advice to anyone is that if it isn't broke, don't fix it. The problem can be that you could open these injectors up to more contaminants by exposing them to just air. If anyone has a spare surgery room to do this in then you would be fine.



I originally had a problem in the mornings with surging and running a bit rough, that is why I took mine apart. Plus I have a straight vegetable oil conversion on the truck, and I also leave it idling for more than 5 minutes at a time sometimes, so I wanted to see what my nozzles were looking like anyhow.
 
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a bit of an update...

Well, here is a bit of an update, I have 6 new injectors on the way with connector tubes as well. I also have a set of copper gasket/washers. This is because I have had the injectors in and out so many times, even though I replaced them all once already the first time, I feel that they may have crushed down enough that they are causing me troubles...

... Because, I got it all together, torqued everything correctly, can only get 400psi max in the rail (on my quadzilla commander). Should be much more than that cranking (5000 at least) I know that something is leaking somewhere, either an injector, or my thought is possibly a connector tube. I am thinking that maybe the copper washers are causing the injectors to not sit quite right, and making the connector tubes leak. I know that I am getting a high return flow to the tank.



I am not sure how I can narrow which ones down without the Miller/OTC tool (9011?) that plugs an injector line to help find a bad injector. I tried looking for this tool, but nobody has really been able to help me find it.



Anyone have another way? Anyone have any comments on this recent development. Thanks in advance.
 
Test Fittings

Quote/

I am not sure how I can narrow which ones down without the Miller/OTC tool (9011?) that plugs an injector line to help find a bad injector. I tried looking for this tool, but nobody has really been able to help me find it.

Unquote/

--------------------------------

For test fittings see:



Glacier Diesel Power - Product List



larry
 
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Why are you buying 6 new injector bodies? If you got a great deal on some working used bodies disregard the rest of this post.



Send the ones you have to Don M. at F1, buy a set of flux 1's and let him fix the ones you have. At most your looking at $1800 -vs- $2,500+ for brand new bodies. Even if you have a few unfixable bodies you will probably come out ahead AND have the finest tips/nozzles available.
 
updated...

Thanks for that link, nobody locally could find that fitting. Anyhow, I got the truck back together, and it is running much better, I found one injector with a piece on the top inside out of place. Got that fixed and back together, truck runs much better, but has a slight miss to it still.





Anyhow, how much does Don charge to redo, or at least check your stock injectors? I went to the website the other day, and found that there is no contact info other than dealers that sell their products.



I got a great deal on a set of injectors that are brand new, so I can use them, then have my OEM ones tested/rebuilt and just sell them hopefully.
 
thanks...

Thanks everyone, just wanted to update this, took to mechanic, did individual injector shutoff, mechanic said #3, changed #3 cleaned nozzle on #3 truck runs perfect again. No other damage done, thanks for all the help. Don't try cleaning your injectors, I don't care what you read. Thats all I can say, and if you change nozzles, do it in a super clean workspace.



Cummins forum has a writeup about cleaning injectors, I would strongly recommend against it.
 
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