No. 4 Fuel Injector Line

[grot87]

Greetings, this is my first post here!


Unfortunately, I'm not just here to say hello.


I just finished replacing the cylinder heads on my van, and took it for a spin.



I'm getting white smoke from the No. 4. cylinder. Loosening the fuel line to that cylinder nixes the smoke, so I know it is an issue causing the problem in that cylinder specifically. I suspect the line, as it did twist slightly when removing it from the engine. The injector was very loose in the head and wanted to turn with the line nut. I understand that the lines can "flake" internally when bent, so I suspect this is the cause of my smoke. I am getting diesel spray when I loosen the line. No issue besides the smoke, no abnormal crank times or rough running/skipping.



I'm planning on doing a compression test just to be sure, but I anticipate on replacing the line and either having the injector serviced or replaced as well.


This is an '88 Van. Most of the lines I see are 89 and up. According to accuratediesel.com, their kit can be used for the 82-88 engines with slight "tweaking" as the early style lines for those engines are no longer available. I am a bit hesitant about having to tweak stuff given the tight space in a van. They are in stock but I don't have the cash to drop for a complete set.



I found the individual line from hdiesel.com, but its on back order. That one is for an 88-93 and they do mention it can work on vans specifically with some tweaking, but nothing about early 88s. I believe 88 was a switchover year?


usdieselparts.com has the lines for an 89-96 in stock but they warn it won't fit on an 82-88, nor do they mention van applications which seem to be different.



If anyone on here has any advice on where I can find the number 4 line by itself for a 1988 van application I'd be much obliged. I would also appreciate guidance on if I should worry about truck vs van applications or 88 vs 88.5/89 applications.


In the mean time, I'll be sitting in the smoking section.



Thanks in advance.

[Yukon6.2]

Try moving the injector from the cylinder that is smoking to the other side and see if the smoke follows.
You could have a bad injector,thats where i would put my money on what you are describing.I haven't read/heard of many line issues with the old 6.2/6.5 lines.

[grot87]

Thanks for the reply.

I actually tested it by swapping the number 8 and 4 injectors, since 8 would be easier to get to. No smoke with the number 4 suspect injector in the number 8 cylinder. But it starts to smoke when I hook up the fuel line to the good number 8 injector in the number 4 cylinder.

It definitely stays with the number 4 cylinder, it's not following the injector. I may just have to take a chance and try one of the fuel lines I found above. One thing I didn't think about was mixing and matching the newer style lined with the 82-88 style line. I wonder if that could mess anything up...

I could go for broke and try to untwist the injector line... Buy I suspect that won't end well at all... And it would suck if I did that and it ended up being something to do with the IP or something else. Still, it is a coincidence it's on the only fuel line that got twisted...

[grot87]

I would like to add, I am seeing less smoke than before. Still visible out that side tailpipe at idle but not the big embarrassing ploom I had before. I would like to get it back to normal but I would probably be fine with this for now.

It doesn't smoke while driving now other than the usual bit of grey when going up hill, but I do a lot of curbside idling and I don't want to smoke out my clients or their customers/pedestrians. The smoke and diesel smell is very faint now so I am not as worried but it still isn't ideal. Maybe I didn't have the injector in tight enough? I did tighten it to 55 ft/lbs instead of just 50 like I did the others. Oh yeah, I did replace all the copper washers as well.