Taking off valve covers

[RRRDAD]

To make a long story short after replacing the cps , still having problems chuggn etc when ever it wants...I bought the harness wedges.....The harness looks good... The driver side harness wasnt tight but yet it didn't seem to be so loose that I could see the problem........but the issue now is.. the passenger side valve cover is a devil to get out... Does anyone have any secrets to getting it out of the truck? I have till tommorrow to get the truck done and test drive it.........What are the symptoms of a fuel pump going out..??? do they slowly go out or work fine then peter out intermittantly...thx

[grabowskimech]

The pass side valve cover isn't as bad to get off as it looks. Getting on the bolts is the biggest concern but it isn'ttoo bad with a set of stubby wrenches and a swivel socket. The valve cover just pops off once the bolts are off, no need to worry about it getting caught up on the rocker arms. If your fuel pump is bad the engine will react like it has a plugged fuel filter, low power, rough running, hard starting, etc. The pumps can go out slowly or fail completely out of the blue. I'd get the engine tested with a scan tool before you go through the trouble of removing the valve covers, with a cylinder contribution test and injector buzz test you can identify if your problem might be under the valve covers. You could very well have injector issues causing your problem.

[jfines@cox.net]

Originally Posted by grabowskimech

with a cylinder contribution test and injector buzz test you can identify if your problem might be under the valve covers. You could very well have injector issues causing your problem.

I did this and my number 8 failed the contribution test, but passed the buzz test.

So which side is the number 8 ,and do you think it would be the harness, or injector?

Thanks for any input.

[RRRDAD]

Thx all... I didn't get the passenger side out of the engine area ,but it was out of the way enough to put in the wedge and look at the wiring......Everything looks good on both sides.....If an injector is bad how much are they........????? What about the fuel pump, how much are they.??? I have 222000 miles on the truck.. What is the life expectancy of a fuel pump? Where is it located and how hard is it to install? thx for the help

[jfines@cox.net]

What year is your truck, that will help on pricing. For my 97 a single injector costs about &3-400 each, but you can get a whole set cheaper then buying one at a time. Call Tony at Total Diesel Performance and he can give you more info.

As for the fuel pump, I think, again according to year, mine is a mechanical pump, but the newer trucks are electric, so cost and install will be different between the two.

[RRRDAD]

ok thx for the info

[vitalidle]

Before you throw more parts at the truck get your truck scanned for codes and post them up and one of us or the techs will point you in the right direction

[RRRDAD]

Thats the crudder of the deal.......I've had the truck scanned at auto zone and oreilly.. and no codes stored.......any ideas? thx M

[RRRDAD]

I took the truck on a 40 mile interstate journey today with no problems... but we shall see tomorrow when I tow the dragster trailer 140 miles...................

[grabowskimech]

#8 cylinder is the drivers side rear cylinder. It could very well be either the injector or the harness. I had a 7.3 recently come in and failed contribution on #1 and #8, pulled the valve covers and found the uvc connector loose on #8 and ended up having to replace an injector on #1. Could be either, funny thing is that the the darn thing passed the buzz test.