Replacing Injectors FINALLY

[JSteward]

Ok, next paycheck, I should have enough saved up to finally replace the injectors on my truck. They have 160,000mi on them. I get horrible fuel mileage and I'm assuming injectors are part of the cause...? I plan to go with high flow injectors as I have a 4" exhaust, EGT guage, and plan to add a chip in the near future. Do the "high flow" injectors affect mileage positively or negatively? I'll be purchasing the injectors Friday from a sponsor of this page... don't know which one yet.

Also, I am in Rock Springs, WY and am having a very hard time finding a dedicated diesel mechanic. I found a small garage mechanic who says he can install injectors... (he also says using ether won't really hurt the engine). He installed my 4" exhaust in 1.5 hrs and charged me 2hrs of labor. I don't know if I can trust him to install the injectors if it is a fragile and difficult process. The best diesel mechanic in the area wants $1200 labor for installing the injectors and some new glow plugs.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[Iain]

You should be able to do this yourself with a weekend of work. The drivers side glow plugs and injectors are pretty easy, just watch the little clips on the rubber return lines, don't drop them!! The passenger side is a little tougher and you will need to pull the turbo and exhaust manifold (manifold bolts can be reached through the inner fender once the wheel is off and the injectors/glowplugs need to come out this way as well). Turbo and exhaust manifold can come straight up and out, leave the turbo bolted to the exhaust manifold, it makes it a bit easier.

The rubber return lines can be old and dry so when you go to pull them off, you will break them. Best advice is get some new return line so that you can just replace the old ones.

You will need a special deep socket to pull the injectors, not every deep socket will fit. I took a new injector and wandered around the industrial tool shops for a deep enough one that would work.

THis is a bit of work but it is not impossible for the average guy to change injectors, just have some patience and give yourself lots of time. If you get frusterated on the passenger side, stop and take a break - just my advice!!

Good luck!

Iain

[Shikaroka]

I did my own injectors in a couple hours, and I had never done injectors on a diesel before.
I did my glowplugs a little while before and they weren't bad either.
For the glowplugs, the only thing I removed was the inner fender on the passenger side.
For the injectors, I removed the inner fender and turbo, I did NOT remove the exhaust manifold and don't think it's neccessary.

I had a couple 30mm deep-well sockets, but found the one that worked the best for the injectors at Autozone for about $12. That and a wobble extension is the only somewhat special tools I used.

I can't imagine someone charging that kind of money to install injectors and glowplugs. For some reason people think; diesel = big money!

[chickenhunterbob]

Lots on here have done this,

I did myself last Wednesday night, the DP R&R guide is a useful read before you start, some pretty good tips in there.

As did Iain, I wandered around autoparts store until I found a socket to work, or so I thought.

I would have bought the proper injector socket with the 7/8 hex on top from NAPA for 70 bucks, but they didn't have it in stock, so I went with a 1 3/16 deep impact socket which did fit over the injector and return line fittings, but which I had to modify by grinding a bevel on the top so as to get into #4 behind the passenger side exhaust manifold. it just fit, a shorter socket that fits over the return fittings would have worked much better.

I left the exhaust manifold on, the turbo is a bit of a chore to get to the bottom nuts, I tried different combinations of sockets and universals etc and in the end I found just a flat 15mm box end wrench worked the best for the 4 nuts.

I also removed the front wheels and lowered the front end on jack stands to make it easier to reach down into the engine.

I did the turbo side first, as it is a little more difficult with the turbo on, the driver side was a piece of cake.

It took me about 7 or 8 hours I suppose, but I wasn't really keeping track, it was pretty late when I went to bed. It took me probably an hour to find a bolt that I dropped into the intake, and another hour to figure out how to get that stupid fat socket on #4, and then to grind it, then another bit cleaning all the goo out of my upper plenum.

Not necessarily a snap to do, but I'm no mechanic, and really didn't have any trouble (aside from not having a very good socket), if you take you're time I suspect you will be surprised what you might be able to do, and do something else with your 1200 bucks.

I'm cheap, I have to do stuff myself, and my knuckles are healing nicely.

I bought a set of new Delphi injectors for 200.00 (bought new by someone else who sold his truck before changing) 20 bucks for a less than perfect socket, and 50.00 for a return line kit from Western Turbo which comes with 8 new return lines (just push on, only 2 clips for the short caps for 7 and 8), 8 copper seals for the injectors and two caps for the back two injectors and a new gasket for the upper plenum.

If you decide to tackle this yourself, you should be able to get lots of good advice on here, or just search and read past posts, Dieselpage R&R guide is helpful and I think gives reassurance that this can be done.

Now, I really don't notice a huge difference since changing mine. My truck started and ran good before, but with 294,100 km on the original ones they were due for replacement, based on popular opinion on the topic.

I was getting a little more grey smoke on hard accel, which seems to have cleared up.

Possibly the combustion clatter is a little "crisper", no way to measure (but geez, you want to think you have improved something). Too soon to tell if my fuel mileage has improved, I've filled twice since Wednesday, but been fishing since then, driving through a foot of hard snow pulling a shack across a frozen lake in 4wd is not the best time to assess fuel mileage.

[Dvldog8793]

Howdy
-The heat shield on the Pass side requires LOTS of patience
-in fact the whole pass side requires lots of patience...
BUT the job is pretty much remove and replace. some bleeding is nessasary to keep the Diesel gods happy.
- Get the new style push on return lines.
- I made a socket, I think it cost me about an hour and $20.00. Worked GREAT. The article is in last years publication on TDP
- Remove the turbo
- clean all the goop out of your upper intake.
- replace the oil return hose on the bottom of the turbo with NEW, TIGHTEN the clamps, tighten the clamps, tighten the clamps, they all leak but at least it will be tight.
- Be carefull when removeing/installing the turbo-to-downpipe flange clamp. It is Stainless and will strip/gall very easily.
- If it looks like it would be eisier to remove something, remove it.
- Be carefull with your injector lines
-Inspect your Glow plug wiring harness and clean all the connections. This harness can get brittle with age and then will not allow proper current/voltage to the glows
- Use masking tape to cover all the holes that you dont want to drop things into. ie: intake

Thats about all I can think of....
I am running JK's HIGH POP injectors. They MAYBE increased my mileage a tiny bit. Mainly they gave me crisper throttle response and a little more power. I am not familiar with HIGH FLOW injectors. My next set is a set of local rebuilds to Bosch Marine Diesel spec.
Hope this helps!
L8r
Conley

[JSteward]

Thanks for all the tips guys. I think I'll pass them on to the local mechanic I met. Its just too damn cold to tear down my truck and work in the wind and snow hoping I can finish it so that I don't loose mega bucks the next day if I can't finish it. The $1200 was the price of a diesel repair shop and was similar to the price at the dealership.

I'd be willing to pay a couple hundred for the reasurance I'll have my truck running the next day and not have to do the crap in the cold. Besides, I got in a scrap about a month ago and still have a broken thumb :rolleyes:

[65TD]

New injectors are going to sound a bit louder than the old ones.

You may want to use some lucas fuel additive or other diesel fuel lubricant.

[jerry598]

Have to add my 2 cents worth on this subject. Just finished installing new passenger side injectors on my 95 6.5 turbo yesterday, without pulling the exhaust manifold. I also used those lousy pinch type clips (I bought new ones) to attach the return lines. Those clips can't be pinched open and slipped along the fuel line to put them in place. That's the miserable way to do it, and unless you have some kind of a special tool, it just don't work. Instead, lube the nipple with diesel fuel. (Probably I missed this tip elsewhere in the diesel page, but who knows). Then place the clip exactly on the end of the line where it is supposed to be. Using pliers, hold the line just behind the clip and push both the line and the clip over the nipple at the same time. The clip will spread open and stay in place on the fuel line until you get it right where you want it, behind the nipple. The diesel fuel lets them both slide into place easily, and then you're done! I would recommend pulling the manifold to make it easier all around, I'll sure do that next time. Thanks for all the good info. I couldn't have done this job without the diesel page.