[jmargerum]

I am at 155,000 miles on a 2007.
Stock tune, CAI, AirDog 150, home made intake elbow.

Started to white smoke bad and shutoff on me.
Did the cap test and injector 5 was dead, ordered a set of 6.
I have installed 6 reman injectors, followed the proper torque procedure.
Still working with the supplier so no names right now.
Truck started up and ran really nice - sounded great... for about 5 minutes and it shut off, then no start.
See the damaged injector in the picture.
What causes this?

 

[jmargerum]

Update...
After installing all 6 injectors - the initial start up and 5 minute run - injector #5 popped the solenoid
Got a replacement injector, installed and again 5 minute run - injector #3 popped the solenoid

The vendor is being very supportive and replacing the injectors

I need some ideas on where to start looking...

If it is a pressure spike at idle (stock tune) - I would think that I would see more than one solenoid pop as it is a common rail, so spike pressure would hit all the injectors.

Someone mentioned Fuel Return
The truck did run for about 5 minutes the first time before injector #5 let go, so injector #3 has at least 5 min of run time on it at idle - if return was clogged - it would have seen a spike then.

With injector #3 fuel line capped off, truck starts and runs fine, this is the same as when injector #5 let go - capped 5 and truck started and ran fine.

So in both cases #5 and #3 truck runs just fine on 5 injectors. To me kind of eliminates rail pressure spikes and Fuel Return clogs.

I am not a Diesel Mechanic, I am fair with a wrench, but seriously stumped on this one.

Could it just be two bad reman injectors - or is there something I need to deep dive into my truck?
Almost afraid to install the replacement and start it - expecting to chase the popping solenoids

At this point I am considering to reinstall the original injectors, all 6 and see if any of them pop the solenoid...

Suggestions are welcome.

 

[rghavana]

what is rail pressure??
check return on your engine
bad injectors if return checks out, unfortunatley not uncommon.

 

[jmargerum]

I don't have a gauge to check my rail pressure
Truck does start immediately and run on 5 injectors - so I assume rail pressure is within tolerance.
Truck was running perfectly (except for the failing injector) when parked, and I was meticulous about dirt/contamination.
I'll check the return.

 

[jmargerum]

Vendor has requested all 6 to be returned - will bench test repair/replace.
Will keep you guys informed.

 

[steelhead1]

Assuming RP with a HPCR Cummins is like believing a Chinese condom manufacturer and assuming they test their products. He NO pay for unwanted surprise baby.

Easy to measure on a 2007, OBD CAN bus Blue Tooth adapter and several apps will display Measured and ECU Commanded RP.
Measuring RP is the most basic test on your motor. Learn how.

 

[jmargerum]

As in my original post - What causes that type of damage to the solenoid?

Telling me how stupid I am for buying something from a reputable seller did not really answer the question I asked.

I want to understand the failure, so if you have that knowledge - please share.

Thank you

 

[rayvin433]

Sometimes Steelhead1 can come across smooth as 80 grit sand paper, but his knowledge is effective as dumping iodine on an open cut. Painful but effective.
Simply put, the HPCR operates at extremely high pressures. From 7000psi at idle to 26000psi at WOT. Tolerance has to be exacting. Very few remans out there have a good track record. This is why they only recommend NEW or BBI for remans.
The cause of your injector failures are piss poor manufacturing of the reman injectors having an internal leak to the solenoid body that is not designed to see the 7000+ psi that they are encountering blowing the top of the solenoid off.
Hopefully the reputable dealer will refund you all your money OR will credit you & supply NEW Bosch injectors & new feed tubes.
This is one area that can’t be cheeped out on.
PM jkidd on here as he is a vendor & reputable dealer for BBI & has other choices available. He is very knowledgeable & will set you on the right path.

 

[jmargerum]

rayvin443
Thank you Sir.
The vendor has requested all 6 back and actually admitting they may have had a bad batch - what ever that means.
- I assume the American employee had a hang over from hell when assembling the injectors that I received.
I would not have expected that roll crimp at the bottom of the plastic/top of the injector to be subjected to 6k - 26K psi, but I don't really know enough about the injectors.
jkidd and I have been chatting via PM, so if I can't get this vendor to make things right - I will look in his direction.

The vendor states that they only use Bosch parts to reman their injectors - so I guess I took the bait. There are folks on this forum who praise this vendor and there are folks here who bash the hell out of this vendor - and that pattern goes for most of the big vendors out there - so much so that almost all reviews need to be viewed with a gain of salt, as the perspective of the reviewer is never truly known.
As far as cheeping out- not an issue - if I had know that this was going to happen I would have paid another $1000 with out hesitation - my truck has been in my shop now 4 weeks, and with the injectors going back to the vendor I bet I don't get my truck back for another 3 weeks. Hell I may just put the originals back in just to make sure I did not screw up the install. But it does run well on 5, so guessing it is not my torque routine.

Thanks again for the correct verbiage "internal leak to the solenoid body" - helps me when talking to the vendor.

 

[rayvin433]

Glad that I can assist you.
Problem is a “bad batch” means their QC is crap. Even if they have a 99% success ratio, it still means the consumer is taking a risk of 1 bad out of 99 good. Warranty doesn’t do you much good when they only replace the faulty injector. They probably won’t pay shop rates for diagnosis, replacement of crap injectors & a $15K engine when that 1% sticks open cooking that cylinder (or worse)
I remember the pain when I purchased & installed BBI new injectors. $4200 CAD after paying shipping/duty charges. This was before they had a band wagon of supporters or even had reman’s available. They are still currently operating good with probably over 300k KM’s on them.
Don’t forget to add extra fuel filtration to protect your expensive investment

 

[jmargerum]

Sorry folks kind of dropped off the world for a bit. All 6 injectors went back to the rebuild. Should get them back tomorrow, will u stall this weekend and hope for the best.

Buying reman injectors feels more like a timeshare than a replacement part. My truck has now been down 6 weeks.

From all the thousands of posts... I have zero confidence in the re man's I feel I am time shared into. I am ready to go find a Cummins shop and buy direct stock replacements no matter the cost.

I will reinstall these if they pop, I will return all 6 dispute it on my card and figure out what to do next. I need my truck, and yea I messed up by not doing g enough research prior to pulling the trigger on re mans...

 

[Rep732]

Speaking first hand for working for a place that did reman injectors I highly suggest buying new injectors due to the fact that reman is basically replacing whats necessary and sending them back out. Sorry to hear your issues but I can't say im surprised

 

[AdamRRT]

Not even Cummins shop. Only BBI for me from now on after my JL Machine rebuilds lasted only 30k miles.

 

[sdowney717]

I suppose your experiencing what can happen when you dont go with a really good injector rebuilder.
Other thing I would be worried about, let's say you do get backing working injectors, how do you know they wont poop out on you, or worse flood the motor with diesel and destroy the engine. From what your seeing it seems that is much greater than going with new injectors. Very unfortunate that these diesel injectors are so pricey even generally.

 

[jmargerum]

Update...

The reman vendor sent me a set of 6 that were supposed to be pressure tested. So I installed them today, ran beautiful for about 5 min. Then developed a P2149 code and shut off. None of the injector tops were popped all looked good, so I rechecked connectors cleared codes, and tried to start, all she did was spin,and the pop the top of an injector while cranking.


So, I am done. Tomorrow I will remove the remans and reinstall my factory injectors.guess I need to start the fight with the credit card company, see if I can get my money back.

I must agree with all you who said any reman are junk, I just added a chapter to that story.

I don't care about performance injectors, I just need a truck that runs. Sucks that so many crap companies are out there selling this chit.

 

[sdowney717]

Update...

The reman vendor sent me a set of 6 that were supposed to be pressure tested. So I installed them today, ran beautiful for about 5 min. Then developed a P2149 code and shut off. None of the injector tops were popped all looked good, so I rechecked connectors cleared codes, and tried to start, all she did was spin,and the pop the top of an injector while cranking.


So, I am done. Tomorrow I will remove the remans and reinstall my factory injectors.guess I need to start the fight with the credit card company, see if I can get my money back.

I must agree with all you who said any reman are junk, I just added a chapter to that story.

I don't care about performance injectors, I just need a truck that runs. Sucks that so many crap companies are out there selling this chit.

People have disabled the high pressure cutoff and did not pop the injectors. Got to be a sure sign those injectors were not built properly. I have read on here, rebuilders may use inferior parts, they do not use authorized parts.

 

[AdamRRT]

If you go reman, go BBI.
And remember, unless you go with some really STUPID big nozzles, there is no “performance injector”. Any small to mid size injector nozzles are easily tuned for daily driving.

 

[sdowney717]

If you go reman, go BBI.
And remember, unless you go with some really STUPID big nozzles, there is no “performance injector”. Any small to mid size injector nozzles are easily tuned for daily driving.

True. If you have a tuner and can still do it. Is Biden's EPA cracking down against tuners and tunes?

 

[AdamRRT]

True. If you have a tuner and can still do it. Is Biden's EPA cracking down against tuners and tunes?

On a 3rd gen without emissions equipment?

 

[rghavana]

To OP, you should still figure out why you had original problem.
and now are your cylinders okay?