Injector life

[ThomG]

My 04 3500 was purchased in 07 with 110K on in. We are now at 220K I am planning another trip to Alasks and other areas of the US,May or June. We'll be pulling our 36TK3 Mobile Suites GCVW is just above 29000# Should I be concerned about my injectors and replace now??? I've used fuel additive regularly while owning this truck. I'd much rather not gamble if other's experience has been to need " new " injectors by or before 250,000K.

 

[Crunch]

My 04 3500 was purchased in 07 with 110K on in. We are now at 220K I am planning another trip to Alasks and other areas of the US,May or June. We'll be pulling our 36TK3 Mobile Suites GCVW is just above 29000# Should I be concerned about my injectors and replace now??? I've used fuel additive regularly while owning this truck. I'd much rather not gamble if other's experience has been to need " new " injectors by or before 250,000K.

I've got 259K on mine, and have never experienced any injector problems. Others have had trouble at 100K, or even less. I'd say that if your engine is running smoothly and your fuel economy is consistent, you're in good shape. Never having had any problems, I can't say this with certainty but I would venture that injectors don't generally all fail at the same time. You would notice one or two starting to slobber before the whole thing goes down the toilet.

 

[mfurrh55]

My 04 3500 was purchased in 07 with 110K on in. We are now at 220K I am planning another trip to Alasks and other areas of the US,May or June. We'll be pulling our 36TK3 Mobile Suites GCVW is just above 29000# I believe you'll be a few pounds overweight there

 

[p-Bar]

Just be sure you aren't making oil. Do you do oil analysis? rev the engine in park and let off , how smooth does it idle down? Mine is a bit bumpy I am about 160k so I will be replacing mine. I am quite amazed without extra fuel filtration you have gone this long.

 

[p-Bar]

I've got 259K on mine, and have never experienced any injector problems. Others have had trouble at 100K, or even less. I'd say that if your engine is running smoothly and your fuel economy is consistent, you're in good shape. Never having had any problems, I can't say this with certainty but I would venture that injectors don't generally all fail at the same time. You would notice one or two starting to slobber before the whole thing goes down the toilet.

If one or 2 are slobbering it's really time to replace the whole set as the others will be right behind.

 

[Crunch]

If one or 2 are slobbering it's really time to replace the whole set as the others will be right behind.

I agree with that. I'd also replace them as a set. My point was just that if you have never had any problems with them, and don't have any problems with any of them now you probably won't have any problems over the next 20,000 miles or so. But even if you only had 100,000 miles on the truck, the chance is always present that injectors can fail. Based on my experiences, I'd definitely take at least one fuel and oil filter along, two if you can plus the oil and the tools to do a roadside change. And based on a recent experience of mine, you should definitely take at least one replacement serpentine belt with you--and the ratchet or wrench with the 1/2" drive, of course. It's one of the easiest roadside repairs there is, and you're dead in the water without it.

 

[jhenderson]

I'd bring a few filters and a Mr Funnel. They're available on EBay. Buying fuel on the road always makes me nervous. Filtering fuel before it goes in the tank can't hurt.

 

[cerberusiam]

At 220k you have definitely got the goody out of them, especially if you have no extra filtration. Going into the back country with that many miles with a known issue is just asking for trouble. If you want to enjoy the trip you need to do some maintenance. Injectors, a 3 um filter in front of the CP-3, and since fuel quality is always paramount. An in-bed tank, fill it thne filter thru a good filter and WS to the main tank.

 

[Killgore]

Thom, we got 218,000 before we lost one. I elected to bite the bullet and replaced the whole set. As you can probably tell from my frequent posts and comments concerning filters, fuel pressure gauges, fuel additives, etc, I have become paranoid not wishing to go through that experience again.

I remember your story about losing your clutch up there and then losing several days waiting on a replacement and the additional cost and aggravation of it all. I suppose I would ere on the side of caution.

Good luck to you and Janet! I wish we were able to make the trip at this time.

- Ed

 

[AllianceDiesel]

I have 224,000 on mine but they are getting replaced this week so I dont have to worry about one going bad and takkng a motor out. Also installing a 3 micron filter. The bad thing about injectors is you never know when they will go out

 

[Boaring1961]

I installed a Glacier Diesel 2 micron filter at 80k miles and hope it allows me to get past 300k miles before I need injectors. Although since I work from home and I only put on 10-12k miles a year it's going to take me a while to get to 200k miles.

http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/product.aspx?pf_id=MK20307-CHMB

 

[sluper]

My third gen had a n injector go out @ 35-K+ around 2-1/2 years of ownership. After that one was replaced under warranty I began using an additive and did not have any problems as long as I owned the truck (10 years and 10 months). Also agree with the above, you have a lot of miles on injectors that cycle several more times with each cycle than those in the earlier 1st and 2nd gen trucks.

 

[Crunch]

One question that has yet to be answered is what is the official duty cycle of the OEM injectors? There has to be one, whether it is measured in time, fuel moved, number of injector events, event pattern or some other metric, given a fixed fuel quality standard. The 35K miles mentioned above is about the lowest I've heard of. And I'm sure that others have run the full duty cycle of the engine (350K miles) on the original injectors. I've got 259K on my truck with no injector problems whatsoever. If this trend continues I doubt that I will change out the injectors until I hit the duty cycle of the engine. If I notice trouble I'll change them all out at the same time. But without knowing the manufacturer's suggested duty cycle for the injectors I see no reason to switch them out on a hunch, given that people have experienced injector failure across such a wide range of both time and miles. Any one of us could change out our injectors today, with however many miles we have on our truck and experience failure on the new set within a year with however many miles we put on the truck in that time.

 

[ThomG]

Thanks to all with your answers and other comments regarding my inquiry. I haven't gotten around to an upgraded filter system, yes I've read the reasons why. I guess if it aint broke don't fix it applies more often then not,shame on me.
Boaring 1961: how long does your 2 mic filter last in miles. Yep, I recon it all depends on the fuel, and you always carry a spare or two,just a general average please.
Cerberusiam: I am guessing ws is water seperator, correct?
mfurrh55: Yep, it's a mite heavy,but I've seen other signatures here and seen on the road a whole lot of others as heavy or more. I know this could open me up for a lot of a__ chewing, but it doesn't feel any different than the 25000 GCVW I did in 2012 going to Alaska. Several hundred pounds of that is a booney box, a couple of extra filters, oil, anti-freeze,tools etc. in hopes if I do have a problem I can help myself out of it. As a last resort, there is Good Sam roadside assistance good for towing from anywhere to the nearest repair station. I don't generally recommend products or services, and this is a little pricier than your run of the mill towing Insurance, but I used it 3 times in 30,000 miles of driving for probably around $1750 of towing and roadside assistance, and all I had to do was sign my name.
Kilgore: Here's hop[ng you get the chance to make that trip It is indescribable!
I did have a scare with the 04 this fall.I was less than a mile and a half from home pulling the 5ver when it suddenly started to knock { for lack of a better description} I immediately pulled over and before shutting it down noticed an unusual amount of dark grey smoke from the exhaust. The end result was either injector 5 or 6 had stuck open. The diesel shop I towed it to, ended up filling the filter housing with additive and after turning on and of the injectors electrically numerous times, it began to run well again. Immediately upon getting it home I changed the oil and sent a sample in. THe sample was good essentially the same as the last oil change and sample no problems. This episode scared me, hence this request for TDR members input. I think I'll at least order up a new set of injectors to carry with me. What can any one suggest about a slight upgrade to 50 or 75 hp more injectors. Am I asking for more problems than it's worth or???? Thanks for all of your suggestions it's make this site so worthwhile.

 

[AllianceDiesel]

Make sure your new injectors are bosch remans not reman bosch. They are more expensive but not worth an engine. I looked at doing don m's mileage nozzles and couldnt justify the extra $900.

 

[sfritts]

i had an injector stick open on #1 cylinder and it galled the cylinder wall and trashed the piston and damaged the head. This happened at 90,000 mi. I had always used power service in it year around. took it to a Cummins shop. talked to service manager and he said that he had only seen an injector stick wide open a couple of times. my advice is to have (new) injectors put in, it is cheaper than a remanufactured engine that I had to put in.

 

[cerberusiam]

There is no official duty cylce for a CR injector. That is totally dependent on fuel quality for the most part and to a lesser degree operation. Long trips at constant rpms and less heat\cool cycles will always be better than a DD grocery getter. It is not unsual to see +500k on a truck that is treating and filtering the fuel adequately, and, run at constant rpm for long periods. Functiuonal operation of the injector is just one aspect, there is also the quality of the operation. Hours of usage will degrade efficacy due to wear internal and the orfices in the nozzle. While the engien may run "fine" from an SOP point of view, it may not be running as efficiently as possible. Too many variables to define a standard life expectancy.

Cerberusiam: I am guessing ws is water seperator, correct?
I did have a scare with the 04 this fall.I was less than a mile and a half from home pulling the 5ver when it suddenly started to knock { for lack of a better description} I immediately pulled over and before shutting it down noticed an unusual amount of dark grey smoke from the exhaust. The end result was either injector 5 or 6 had stuck open.

Yes, WS is water separation. This is probably more important than solids filtration to a CR fuel system given the ULSD we have to run. ULSD is terrible about holding and drawing water, on a par with bio fuels. Dodge finalyl learned this and with the adoption of the fuel quality standard they had to step up the filtration to meet a minimum. You need both free and entrained water separation as high as possible and if that takes 2 filters, do it. Same with the solids, remove as much as possible with as many sreps as needed.

Given you already have had an incident, a new set of injectors is a forgone conclusion. They are already telling you problems exist. The additive cleaned them to where they aren't sticking now which indicates you need an additive regimen, but, the damage is already done. The clearances are very tight in these inejctors and once they start mis-firing it is only a matter of time until they fail catastrophically no matter what is done.

 

[DannyW]

"Make sure your new injectors are bosch remans not reman bosch."

Could you please elaborate there? What's the difference between those two?

 

[cerberusiam]

"Make sure your new injectors are bosch remans not reman bosch."

Could you please elaborate there? What's the difference between those two?

All these injectors are made by Bosch, there is no 3rd party manufacturer of CR injectors. New is always Bosch.

Remans do not ALWAYS have to come from Bosch. Bosch does reman injectors, in 3 levels of quality, and they have the best equipment and tightest specs and most experience. Remans OTHER than a Bosch source are prolific and have proven to be less than ideal. There are a few that get it right but consistency in the volume is just not there when compared to a genuine Bosch reman.

Even more disurbing are the instances where a genuine Bosch reman box actually contains something OTHER than a genuine Bosch reman. Not only do you have to trust the reman process you have to implicitly trust the vendor and their supply chain.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Lemme tell ya something. In 2011, I was in Cody, Wy pulling a 36' 5th wheel with the wife and kids on board. I wanted to swap in fresh injectors before we left but my wife talked me out of it. Well guess what? The injectors crapped and ended up costing us $1500 more than if I had changed them in the first place and......I was stuck with buying junky re-man injectors.

I felt very fortunate though because I got to pay the overnight shipping fees of $100, another $75 per night camping fee and my wife/kids wanted take out dinner that night that cost me $130.

I'm to embarrassed to say what I payed for the injectors but in the end, my procrastination left me paying roughly $1800 over the injector cost. Do yourself a favor ahead of time.