Injector hard line will not seal at injector

[crew84]

I have been pleased with the 6.5L injectors I put in. I just can not get two of the hard lines to seal at the nut. I bought a special Snap-on socket which I used to tighten them more and then tighten the #@% out of it. Thus they still leak very little. They get wet at the opening where the line comes thru the nut. It does not seem to drip but I can tell by the way it runs when I start it up that air is sometimes in the lines. It also causes more knocking noises which clear up after running awhile. I was going to try using fine emery cloth on the sealing area of the lines hoping that a new surface would seal. Of course knowing my luck the lines have cracks that are too small to see. Anyone else ever have this problem?

[CleviteKid]

Bad Luck ! ! Doesn't it just hack you off when stuff doesn't work the way it is supposed to? My Father attributed this to "The innate cussedness of inanimate objects."

Let's review: I suspect your injection lines were working great before you changed injectors. And I further suspect that you did NOT need an excessive amount of torque to get them off. Thus they probably are NOT cracked.

Your idea of smoothing the sealing surface is OK in theory, but I worry about getting the smallest amount of fine grit into the injector. If I were going to try this, I would try to plug the injector inlet with parrafin wax or something similar, then polish the sealing surface with 1200 grit silicon carbide paper (look in the paint section of your auto parts store) then melt out the parrafin. Any residue will dissolve in diesel fuel and pass thru without any harm. I would also be concerned about not polishing evenly to maintain or create a true conical surface. If you create a small flat or a little bit of ovalization, you're scr*w*d.

If your fuel injection lines are bent just a little bit it can be almost impossible to make them seal. Were you able to run the nuts down onto the injectors by hand, more than 90% of the travel? If not, the lines may be sprung. You can try to bend them JUST A LITTLE BIT by hand to make them line up better.

Other ideas, boys and girls ??

Dr. Lee :cool:

[crew84]

By chance they were sprung. Number 5 & 7 were real hard to get in line when I replaced all of them. I tried taking number 5 off and bending it to get a better alignment on it. It did not help to stop the leak. I think that the time spent trying to salvage them might be better used replacing them. I am lucky that they are the two that are attached to each other. A few hours and one intake gasket set. Thank g*d for air tools!

[CleviteKid]

Thank g*d for air tools! I will second that motion. I put in a new garage door a couple of years ago, one that is hurricane-resistant per the revised South Florida Building Code. I wanted to put it in myself since I testify on behalf of the major door manufacturers in product liability injury cases, and wanted the practical experience. I would have worn my arm out putting in all the fasteners (mostly 3/8" self-tapping metal screws) if it were not for the air impact wrench and air rachet.

Dr. Lee :cool:

PS: You can never have too many tools.

[C.K. Piquup]

Amen!It is virtually impossible to have too many tools since you can never have enough tools.

[jcomp]

Penninsular sold me a set of 6.5 lines for $18.75 each. I was pretty happy; they looked new and came with all the rubber isolators and the brackets that bolt to the valve cover.

Just my (\$\.02)

[crew84]

Installed the injector lines today. Starts nice and no smoke. Runs smoother with barely any diesel rattle. I went ahead and advanced the timing 2 degrees BTDC more and still barely any rattle. I will still wait and see how the cold start rattle is before I keep it there.
I thought it could have been the cause of my engine trying to die at idle in drive with the A/C on when the temperature gets over 90 degrees. If I put the automatic in neutral it will idle but not strong. This has been happening to me off and on since I did the restore to the drive train. I can turn the A/C off and sometimes it will help and most of the time it will not. It will really do it when I start it hot after sitting about 10 minutes if it is over 90 outside. Reminds me of vapor lock.