For outside I use a 3M green pad. Insides: I use my fingers and diesel. Also I never touch the needle witth dry hands- keep your finger wet with diesel and hold needle by the end as much as possible. Cleanliness is very important. always rinse parts in a big can of clean diesel and assemble wet. I actually use two cans- dip in one then redip in the second. One speck of dirt can cause problems. Once rinsed do not lay parts down, assemle right away.

 

Best way is to invest in an ultrasonic jewelery cleaner.
They can be found online for $25-50.
This what the Bosch pump shops use.
If you're going to continue to use VO it might be a wise idea to have one.

The one that you wire brushed many be pooched.

 

While you got them out, it would also ideal to get them tested. At least the one you wire brushed. Just as a note: I have wire brushed many injectors, but they are much bigger. The nozzle holes I work with can wear to maximum of 0.71 mm. Much larger than what the truck injectors are I imagine.

 

I will do this tomorrow. But just for personal edification, by 'test' do you mean have them pop test it? If so how would the pop pressure have changed just by brushing the exterior around the holes? I would think if anything my folly would cause the spray pattern to be changed, will they be able to note that during the test?

Thanks again.

 

Bill: Thanks for the tip on the ultrasonic bath, I'll have to pick one up. As far as wirebrushing I only brushed the tip of the exterior around the holes. Could you tell me why you think it may be bad? Thanks.

Relic: I understand the tight tolerances involved but why avoid touching the needle with dry hands? Debris is one thing but I don't understand the dry hands part, fill me in! Thanks.


I am going to a diesel shop tomorrow to pick up the copper washers and other sealing items. I talked with them earlier today and they want $90 a piece for stock injectors. No way I am spending that much on stock replacements.

I only planned to use the current injectors for a few more months and would like to upgrade. I really just needed to take care of this smoking problem. If I trashed the one nozzle by wirebrushing I guess I'll get a set real soon. Can someone recommend a good all around injector upgrade? I am not looking to "roll coal" or anything like that but I would like injectors that are capable of about 300-350 hp. I know marines are cheap and dirty... I want something thats clean lol.

Advice is appreciated, thanks much!

 

Several of our manuals (Deutz and MAN B&W) mention this- I think it has something to do with the salt or something from your skin that can cause corrosion. That's all I can tell ya. Just some advice, and not personal advice either. I dont know if its applicable for our injectors or not, but another check while apart is that if you pull the needle up about halfway, it should slide back down into the nozzle under its own weight. This confirms free movement and not sticking.

 

Pop testing tests two main things: First the opening pressure and secondly what your more concerned with: atomization. While doing the test for atomization you check two more things: 1. visual inpection of spray pattern- nice fine spray mist, no streams. If a nozzle hole is damaged visual inspection will find this. 2. Audible check. Nice high pitched chirping/squeaking sound is perfect. If it sounds like pppfffffttttt, this is not good. This is bad atomization which can be caused by bad nozzle holes.

 

2. Audible check. Nice high pitched chirping/squeaking sound is perfect. If it sounds like pppfffffttttt, this is not good. This is bad atomization which can be caused by bad nozzle holes.

An injector pissing is generally due to the seating area, not the holes.

You want all 6 injectors to be with in 100 PSI of POP off Pressure of each other.

Within 140 psi is totally acceptable.

Also it appears the previous owner had them out at some point. Not only were there no rubber dust seals when I took things apart but the correct sealing washers I picked up were more than double the thickness of the washers that were on there. Looks the lazy idiot went down to the hardware store and picked up any old washers.

You have 215 injectors, they come stock with the thinner sealing washers.

I still wonder though... the new copper washers I picked up are more than double the thickness of the old ones. They selected the washers based on my engine serial number so they must be correct. But now that the injector tips are higher up in the chamber, what sort of effect does this have on combustion?

You basically now cant run as high of timing because you will be spraying out of the bowl sooner.

If the proper ones are installed, it should be better. If the ones before were too thin, theres the possibility the closerness (I just made that word up) of the piston could disrupt the atomization pattern and cause incomplete/improper combustion. But honestly I don't know if the difference in thicknesses is a major concern for the overall combustion process.

You wont have any problems running thinner washers. Most injector shops just replace them with the thinnest washer available anyway.

 

the reason you dont want to touch the needle with bare hands is because of the oils and such on your fingers. It can cause the needle to fit tightly in the nozzle and can cause it to stick. Always use Fingers soaked in diesel or WD-40 is also a good thing to use.

 

POP pressures can change just by the spring getting worn, this can be fixed by adding a few shims to get the POP pressure back into spec. You want all 6 injectors to be with in 100 PSI of POP off Pressure of each other.

 

exacly how do u clean injectors? (the whole taking them apart and all that i dont understand the process) ..... i hav an 01 5.9 with stock injectors and 193xxx on it and reading this makes me wonder if a cleaning is due

 

I work for a very well known pump and injector company and cleaning injectors are easy and pretty safe but I would send them in and have someone that has the right equipment test and clean them. You can touch the pintle all day long just make sure your clean. We use PB Blaster or a test stand fluid when we rebuild injectors but like I said send them in so you know they are good. Theres a lot of things that can go wrong after you take an injector apart. 12 and 24v injectors are very easy and nothing to them but FYI don't even think about taking a common rail injector apart LOL..

 

heres how> 2nd Generation Dodge Cummins - How to Clean Your 12V Fuel Injectors

 

Good news, I went to the diesel shop and they tested the one in question free of charge. The guy said everything looked totally fine with it, so I lucked out!

Also it appears the previous owner had them out at some point. Not only were there no rubber dust seals when I took things apart but the correct sealing washers I picked up were more than double the thickness of the washers that were on there. Looks the lazy idiot went down to the hardware store and picked up any old washers.

Glad I went through all this trouble, hope everything works great when its back together!

Ill let you all know the results, thanks again.

 

Good to hear. Best of luck.

 

thanks...... thats why they call me the rookie lol

 

oh and how do u post a thread? .... iv looked all over this forum

 

Look at top of page (not this page, but say the powertrain page for example) for a "New Thread" button. Click that and then, voila, your ready to go!

 

:banana2:

:thanks2: :thanks2: :thanks2:


Excellent! Just finished everything and it runs great! First off feels like it just got a fresh fuel filter... odd because that is tomorrows task, to replace the 18k old filter! The engine sounds noticeably different and there is zero smoke at idle or under light load.... like it should be.

The job wasn't too bad except that I temporarily lost one of the return line banjo bolts which set me into a fit of rage. But after finding it and my blood pressure lowering I finished the job quickly.

At least this was the problem, I learned some things and it will buy me time to decide on an upgrade set of injectors.

Thanks again.

 

Another satisfied customer! Time for the happy dance.

 

I still wonder though... the new copper washers I picked up are more than double the thickness of the old ones. They selected the washers based on my engine serial number so they must be correct. But now that the injector tips are higher up in the chamber, what sort of effect does this have on combustion?

 

If the proper ones are installed, it should be better. If the ones before were too thin, theres the possibility the closerness (I just made that word up) of the piston could disrupt the atomization pattern and cause incomplete/improper combustion. But honestly I don't know if the difference in thicknesses is a major concern for the overall combustion process.

 

Thanks boss ...much appreciated

 

It is possible the previous owner put in a marine injector with requires thinner washers to keep the spray pattern in the bowl where it belongs. Any reason to believe they have been changed?

 

I don't know the whole situation is a little confusing because I did end up noticing that the rubber dust seals were on there. I am a little bummed that I did not write down the numbers all over the injectors either.

I took the old washers in to the diesel shop and they were a bit surprised at how thin they were. They had never seen such thin sealing washers...

Anyways they were 5 hole nozzles I don't know the diameters but are stockers at least 5 holes?

Thanks.

 

Great post JTraik, I will be doing the same soon enough.

Quick question though... Did you use the ultrasonic method or fingers and scotchbrite?

and

What temp are you pre heating your svo or wvo....160?

Thanks

 

This is just one thing after another...

I know a couple of folks who said the same thing when running VO and finally gave up and started making their own BD instead.

 

Well the only thing so far that I can actually blame on IMPROPER burning of VO is these dirtied injectors. This should not happen again anytime soon with the corrected heating system. And so far this whole debacle has only cost me $14 (fourteen) in repairs and a few hours of my time. That is far outweighed by the thousands I have saved and will continue to save. Making BD is far more tedious and requires much more equipment as opposed to processing straight oils.

All that said any idea what this pulsing noise is? It could be totally normal but I have no engine to reference it to.

Before I go to do it... I want to know if I can drive the truck with the turbo disconnected from the intake. I almost just went and did it but I was concerned that it may over spool with no back pressure... Will it? Reason I want to do this is to rule out a turbo issue or not.

Thanks!

 

Bad idea. I wouldn't do it.

 

Its fine to run your truck with the intake disconnected. BUT be careful and don't go on any dirt roads that would suck dirt in your turbo/engine. Its not gonna hurt your turbo though. Most drag racers that run a street truck unhook there intake when going down the strip.

I dont plan on going far and I was going to put some fine cloth over the open hole. I just was worried about over spool since there would be no back pressure to the turbo.

Just for clarification I mean to disconnect at the intake manifold...

Relic why do you think this is not such a good idea?

 

Its fine to run your truck with the intake disconnected. BUT be careful and don't go on any dirt roads that would suck dirt in your turbo/engine. Its not gonna hurt your turbo though. Most drag racers that run a street truck unhook there intake when going down the strip.