My injector swap...

[thrashingcows]

Well today was the day. I finally decided to swap in my NOS 9mm Bosch injectors into my motor. The truck has been progressively smoking more and more since I started driving it 18 months ago. And with the help of the DTR I was hoping it was leaking injectors.

I have never done an injector swap..diesel or any other type of motor. So I was researching, and trying to make sure I had everything I needed before I started. I made the injector removal tool from the DTR sticky last week...turned out great and worked even better!!

Here's my removal tool...into it for about $7....



I had to remove all the lines...right from the injector pump to the injectors. I tried doing it with them just pushed aside but it just wasn't working.



The 24mm nuts all came out with little to no problems. I had been soaking them in PB Blaster every night when I came home for the last week or so.

Lines and nuts removed ready for pulling....



So on went the removal tool and they popped out with no problems.



The only problem I had was with clearance. #1 injector I couldn't get the washers past the lifting hook so I had to figure out a way around that. I finally decided on using a 7/8 box end wrench on the base, then putting the removal tool on top of that. That gave me just enough clearance to get the injector out.



#4 injector was tight to get out too, but that was due to the top nut on the removal tool hitting the air horn.

[thrashingcows]

Once I got all the injectors out I could see that they were in rough shape. Every one had crud caked onto the tips, with some of the orifices plugged right up. They were all never seized so I guess someone must have had them out, or swapped at some time.



I think #4 and #5 injectors were not sealed tight. There was a lot of crud and oil in the bores. The rest were all fairly clean. So here are my new old stock injectors.



One didn't come in the original box and was missing the nut, so I had to re-use one of the originals....no biggie. The only other thing I had to go get was the O-rings to seal the nut to the injector body. I walked up to my parts store with one of the injectors and found that an o-ring, 5/8" ID x 3/4" OD x 1/8 dia were a darn near perfect fit.



Here they all are installed and ready to button it up. I never seized all the bodies, and nuts when I re-installed them. Torqued them up to 44ftlbs and called it done.



Here it is all buttoned up and ready to fire.



Took a lot of hand pumping on my piston lift pump to prime the lines, but #6 line just would not prime. SO I hooked up all the other lines and started cranking. Eventually it bleed out. I then had to crank for probably 15-20 seconds before it finally started to catch and fired.

[thrashingcows]

First thing I noticed after it fired up was the lack of smoke. I had it plugged in the whole time I was working so it was warm. I took it for a run around the block and I noticed no smoke. Let it idle for a while and it still did not start smoking, before I would have had a big blue/white cloud forming.

I re-used the little copper washers on the return lines. I forgot to mark and orient them before I removed them so I had to just throw them in any which way. So I had a few leaks from those that required a little tightening here and there.

I also had a few bubble coming up from around the nut on #1 injector. I re-torqued that one to 55ftlbs and it seems to have sealed up.

So all in all I think it was a very good day. Will drive it for a few days and post an update then.

[dpuckett]

Good write up. Your engine bay is WAY too clean for a 22 year old pickup. Wow.

[CumminsPower59]

X2!!!

[ahale2772]

very clean, props for that!

[thrashingcows]

Been working the last few days, and put on about 200 miles so far. All I can say is WOW...what a difference!!

The motor is waaaay smoother. Before the roof panels vibrated so loud that I almost had to wear ear protection. Now it's smooth like silk. Also a lot of the unknown clicks, rattle and bangs I used to hear are gone. The smoke problem is pretty much all gone...turbo upgrade will help the rest. Also the exhaust note of the motor has changed as well...sounds much better. Cruising down the Hwy I'm also running at least 100 deg cooler on my EGT's. And my turbo cool down times has decreased as well.

I loved driving my cummins crew before...now I love it even more!!