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Injectors going?

6K views 47 replies 12 participants last post by  Britishbartender 
#1 ·
Alright guys I need some info here on my truck! We ran up to the Henry Ford museum in Michigan between Christmas and New Years and ran the big truck. It ran great and I was averaging 16.5 by the lie o meter and when I got home I checked it by hand and I got around 15.9. Still not to shabby considering we were running about 72 mph in Ohio and 82 mph in Michigan. When we left I added an additive called Diesel Kleen which Tractor supply carries and the truck seemed to run smoother and have a little more power. The bottle is a grey color and it will add 6 cetane numbers to your fuel. I went a little on the lower side of the dosage and made sure it had no alhchol in it.

When we got back I went to the same fuel station (Marathon) and got my fuel outta the same pump and added the same amount of additive. But now my fuel mileage has went into the chitter! Almost filling it where the needle was on F but not topped off I have gotten a eye popping 140 miles on a half of a tank! I could usually get 440's on a full tank before! I've only been doing 70 at the most with some 45 mph the last two days coming and going to work which is a 29 mile trip one way. I let the truck warm up maybe 10 minutes before I leave cuz it has gotten into the low 30's and the truck has been plugged in and I have not used the high idle because I am trying to figure out wtf is going on!

Right before we left I changed the oil and it was black in color but only had 5000 miles on it. I didn't check the dip stick before I drained it cuz the truck don't leak so I knew it was full. May have been a slight smell of diesel in it but nothing that really caught me off gaurd.

I'm thinkin I have an injector or two going bad or maybe more? Is there any sure fire way of checking or is it a dealer thing that they can check? Also if I give ya my vin can you tell me the build date cuz I think I remember seeing something about the early '04's having bad injectors?

Thanks guys!
 
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#4 ·
how many miles you put on it since?? if its getting that bad of economy...you should be able to pick up the diesel in the fuel pretty quickly...watch your oil level very closely for the next few days...check it often. PM me your vin and ill check the build date as well.....and ill see if the injector TSB is applicable.....
 
#6 ·
lright the build date was 4/4/04 so can anyone help me out as far as when they had the problems with the injectors? 204 miles and below a half tank and I had just filled the thing!
 
#7 ·
204 on half a tank means you should may have over a gallon of diesel in the sump if the injectors are leaking down. Check your oil level and if its fuller than when you changed it, don't drive it anymore. Tow it to the dealer.
 
#8 ·
your truck does have the TSB for the injector failures open.... TSB 04-9-3...... Do as clay said...check your oil level...and smell it. If it is an injector bleeding down it will be obvious by now. Either way get it to the dealer in stock form...it will be covered under the 5/100 warranty buddy!!!
 
#9 ·
I have noticed my milage drop from 15 to 13 when running Diesel Kleen. I only run it once a year to clean the injectors. I hope you don't have an injector problem.
 
#11 ·
Clay,
Your Vege oil system had any bad wear or longevity affects on your injectors?
I would wonder if they could cope with vege-oil when designed for lubrication by diesel oil... But then now, the diesel is so clean it is almost abrasive, and the vege stuff might help????

Even in a mix it might be an advantage for top end lubrication?

Regards, Ranger in Oz...
 
#18 ·
Hey Ranger... I really don't have enough miles on the vegi system (12k miles) yet to post an educated report. However, logic tells me that vegi is WAY more lubricating that the diesel fuel is so i suspect I will have the same results as Jason Crawford (owner of Vegistroke) which he has now logged over 100k miles burning vegi (on the same PSD engine) with absolutely no engine issues. When i bought my vegistroke from him, he had 90k miles logged and that was proof enough for me. He had pulled and injector somewhere around 50k miles i think and had an injector shop take it apart and inspect the whole thing and it came back with a report that said it was in better shape that it should be at 50k miles.
I did my homework before trying the vegi on such an expensive engine and i am 100% sure it will go for the long haul.
 
#12 ·
Thanks Marc! I'll check the oil level tomorrow when I get home cuz I had to go get the kiddy's from the baby sitters this afternoon and the wife needed the truck.

So can anyone clear me up on what does this bulletin mean? Does it mean that they need to replace all the injectors? That would be awesome! Gotta try finding that bulletin I saw once before!
 
#13 ·
Hey Mike, Good luck on it, hope it works out with Ford.:)
 
#14 ·
Ya tell me about it! I shouldn't have to much of a problem cuz when the truck was in for another egr valve problem in October they replaced and flushed out the the whole fuel system cuz they thought I had gotten bad diesel somewhere. Now if I can only find that bulletin for the 6.oh's I'll be in good shape. If I find it I'll copy it and post it up here for ya!

Hey Stray cat I finally got around to lookin at your pics in your garage and they are awesome! Finally got some snow here and when I left tonight the outdoor temp was 5! Okay so I'm ready for fishing weather already!
 
#15 ·
HaHaHa, I got up this morning to go out and finish my exaust brake, and there was a good 10'' of snow on the truck. IT'S BEEN SNOWING ALL DAY HERE. I think theres about 15'' now.
 
#16 ·
I hope you enjoyed the pics, wish I could have gotten more. It was a great trip.:D
 
#17 ·
Ya from the looks of it and the pics it looks like you had fun!
 
#19 ·
Okay so I went out this afternoon and pulled the dip stick and checked the oil and it was high! Above the little plastic thingy and way above the full mark. I rechecked it 2 times just to make sure. I really couldn't smell any diesel in it but then again my sinus's are still messed up since the last cold. My dealership had already closed so I'll give them a call in the morning.

I've only put maybe 500 miles on the truck since the last oil change and I noticed it seemed kinda runny and was a dark color already. I'm guessing that is from the fuel in the oil? I'm starting to wonder if this isn't one of the problems I've been having all along? Will this cause the egr valve's to go bad? I hope that I haven't damaged the engine by running it with this problem but never had the oil came up before like it has now.

Marc pulled my build date for me and it was built on 4/4/04. There is a bulletin for it about the injectors so I found a site that posts the bulletins and I checked it and this is what it says..........

Runs Rough, Lack of Power, Oil Level Overfull/Fuel in Oil:
This may be due to fuel leaking through or around one or more fuel injectors. There is a comprehensive TSB that has step-by-step diagnostic procedures to isolate the problem to determine in which bank the leak is occuring and to identify which injector and whether it is an o-ring or an injector failure. Note: If more than four quarts of fuel is present in the oil, the turbo charger shaft end play must be inspected. If end play is greater than 0.004", or if the compressor fins have come into contact with the housing, the turbo must be replaced. After replacing any leaking injectors, the oil and filter should be replaced and the truck driven 20 miles. These steps need to be done twice more before releasing the vehicle.
TSB #04-9-3.

And just as an fyi for you guys with the 6.oh's here is the linky to all the bulletins for our trucks!
 
#20 ·
Mike, definately don't drive that truck, not only are you having poor lubrication on the internals but you also are in a situation where a "runaway" could happen....not sure how that works but I heard too many times about a runnaway caused from having leaking injectors and fuel in the oil. If it runsaway, you can't stop it without cutting off the air flow to the intake and by the time you did that, it may have already blown up.
Maybe Marc can explain this senario better.

I would definately TOW it in to the dealer, get them to replace ALL 8 injectors, change the oil twice for you and then sleep good tomorrow knowing you have better injectors in that baby.
 
#21 ·
Yup, getter towed in and get it done up right, then you'l be a happy hillbilly.:chicken:
 
#23 ·
Sorry guys I am taking her in this morning! I asked them if I should have it towed in but I am less then 5 miles from the dealership so they said to just drive it in.

Wish me luck cuz I am going to try to have all 8 injectors replaced no matter how many bad ones they find. I would just hate to have 3 or 4 replaced then later on this year have to take it back in and have the rest replaced. Just sucks that I will be without her for a day or two!
 
#27 ·
Wish me luck cuz I am going to try to have all 8 injectors replaced no matter how many bad ones they find. I would just hate to have 3 or 4 replaced then later on this year have to take it back in and have the rest replaced. Just sucks that I will be without her for a day or two!
Mike, they SHOULD replace all 8, no questions asked because there is that TSB out on this truck. Make sure they do! I think as a rule, if 4 on one side are leaking, they will go ahead and do all 8.
 
#24 ·
Looks like Mike's gonna be rideing the 52 window coup for a few days, Good luck with Ford Mike. :D
 
#25 ·
i work for cat in aussie and you would be well advised to sample your oil for analysis by cat as i dont think ford have thought that much out of the square i do mine every 5000 kilometers and it is no good doing a one off because a trend of contaminents in your oil is what you are after to achieve an accurate wear index of your engine cheers andrew awesome site every one .
 
#26 ·
Yes, I agree with Andrew, after you get the truck back, first of all only go about 1000 miles and change the oil again, when you do that, get a sample of oil and send it to Blackstone for test. Then follow there reccommended oil change follow up schedule.
Go to the Blackstone website and you can request some free sample containers that are ready to fill and mail.
 
#28 ·
Okay guys the truck is in the shop and I will know more tomorrow morning! As of right now they said yes there definately is a major leak but had not drained the oil yet and did the rest of the tests! I talked to them around 4:00 and they were draining the oil and had ordered 8 injectors for the truck. I will know more tomorrow morning hopefully!

Just goes to show you guys how important it is to keep checking your oil and knowing your truck! If it wasn't for me knowing my fuel mileage average and checking my oil level this could have gotten really ugly!

Thanks Clay and Andrew! I'll definately be sending them a sample to see what kinds of results it shows!
 
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