"Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

[milner351]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

The plot thickens.... Just as I thought I was ready to assemble.... it's time to go even further the other way.

As I was cleaning out the injector cups and inspecting things carefully --- I saw a most horrible site.... green drops of coolant inside the injector cup --- the rear most one on the passenger side - right next to the AC box on the firewall.

NO JOY

Thankfully I have the injector cup tools thanks to a score at the columbus swap meet a few years back - what I don't have is a plan of how to get the injector cups OUT since using a slide hammer is just not possible on several of the cylinders.

I'm replacing all 8 injector cups - since I have 8 rebuilt injectors and I'm in this far - no sense in replacing one and then be back here in who knows how long to do another. $110 for all 8 shipped from the same genltleman who rebuilt the injectors.....

[milner351]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Got a grade 8 1/2 UNF bolt with nearly full shank threads, a nut, and some hardened washers.... that threaded into the back of the tap. With a 1" black pipe nipple about 3" long as the "press tool" I was able to thread the tap (using the guide in the kit to keep it straight) into the injector cups - about 2-3 turns, then tighten the nut on the bolt to push down on the guide and pull up on the tap....

worked perfect! I was able to pull out all 8 injector cups in about an hour - no sweat! I was very relieved that at 190k miles non of them fought me, broke, or was otherwise a PITA on the way out..

I was also helpful to see that the cooling jackets in the heads look quite good for an engine in an otherwise beat up truck with 190k miles on it.

Then - I was dead in the water to re - assemble -- the manual expressly calls out loctite 620 on the injector sleeves before pressing them back into the heads.... NOBODY had it on the shelf.

So - I hung it up for the weekend (we had a family wedding saturday afternoon anyway).

Today I called Grainger - a bottle of loctite 620 is waiting for me to pick up on my way home - $32.

Hopefully putting in the new sleeves will go as smoothly as getting the old ones out, then, I can put the injectors back in, roll it over a few times to make sure there's no oil / fuel trapped in the cylinders, then put in the new glow plugs, and button up the valve covers.

The loctite needs 24hrs to cure - so I'll have to wait a day before putting the coolant back in the system and trying to fire up the beast again with all these new parts.


Wish me luck - the plan is to drive this thing to chicago for memorial day weekend!

[milner351]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Well - thanks to the local Grainger - I got the elusive bottle of loctite 620 for the princely sum of $32!!

I got all 8 sleeves installed last night, and all the injectors in and torqued down.

Tonight I should be able to put it back together and hit the key..... hopefully only good sounds follow.

[Bamfster]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

What are your 1st impression of the rosewoods? I know you haven't even fired it up yet, but customer service, build quality etc?

Oh yea.....more pics please...

[milner351]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Sorry Dan - I keep forgetting to bring my camera - and the ol' crackberry photo's just don't get it.

Jim Rose runs a first class operation - he was always quick to reply to my emails - and was very informative and cooperative on the phone as well.

He even let me keep the injector tools that were part of the injector rebuilt kit I bought - but credited me the entire price of the kit against the cost of having him finish the rebuild - which included precision grinding to get the solenoid plunger clearances right - and he does NOT charge extra for the machining!

He was also one of the few suppliers that had the injector sleeves in stock - and shipped them to me quickly.

I hope to have a report on how great it runs tonight / tomorrow. ;D

[Bamfster]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Good deal....it's nice to know there is still some customer service out there.

[milner351]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

it took two sets of jumper cables, two batteries in the truck as normal, and two other batteries hooked up with two chargers hooked up to those extra batteries at 10 amps to get it to fire....

but fire it did.

Unfortunately - it still sounds like it's missing on one cylinder.

Hopefully it's just air trapped in the high pressure oil, or fuel system.

For now the auto battery charger is running to charge all four batteries, and I will get back to it tomorrow...... I sure hope there's not a mechanical issue causing the miss....

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Awesome project thread John!

I have very limited experience with diesel, and exactly 0 with a F.....FO......one like yours ;) I'm sure you will get it whipped soon!

Keep us posted great info here as always

[DanStokes]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Sometimes getting those lines purged can be a stinker. We had an ISB that we had to start and bleed each line by cracking the connection at the nut. They sprayed all over (I had to go home, shower, and change) but when I hit the right cylinder it smoothed right out when I tightened the nut. Messy but effective. So thet MIGHT be your issue - or it might just be a bad plug wire. (Or somethin' else).

Dan

[milner351]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Dan - the old low pressure injector set ups with pumps and hard lines were a total PITA to purge - they are for sure to blame for many a killed battery, starter, or flaming starter cable.... that's one reason why you never never ever never want to run one of those older diesels out of fuel..... it's hard enough on the newere ones with electric fuel pumps!


The diesel forum gurus tend to agree that to purge the air out of one of these power strokes after an injector swap takes a dozen or so miles of driving and several WOT accels.... we will see.

I sure hope it smooths out once the air is worked through the system.... I'm not sure I have the time patience or intestinal fortitude to dig into this thing any deeper if it needs it.... pulling a head, or the engine out of one of these trucks is a JOB.

[dieselgeek]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

my buddy did an injector swap in his later T444E and it took 10-15 minutes of driving to get it hitting on all 8 cylinders.


As I read all the effort (and $$) it takes toR&R powerstroke injectors, the one thing I can admire here is Ford loyalty. You guys are hardcore!

[milner351]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Scott - if it came with an inline cummins - I'd still be all over it - and I'd likely be allot happier with it too.

As you well know - there are a lot of ford superduty trucks out there with the cummins swapped under the hood, if THAT process wasn't so expensive and time consuming - I would certainly consider it.

As of now - I sure hope this thing smooths out and delivers several years of trouble free service from here on out!

[DanStokes]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Didn't know about the Cummins swaps. Do they use an ISB or one of others? Interesting thought......

Dan

[dieselgeek]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

Didn't know about the Cummins swaps. Do they use an ISB or one of others? Interesting thought......

Dan

There are quite a few swapped F series around here. I probably know 6 or 7 guys that have done it. Most of them are using the 12-valve P-pumped engines for their ease of power increase.

Personally, I am rare in that I like the ISB a lot better. Mine's even the "Dreaded 53 block" - I don't beat on it like an idiot, and the thing's treated me *great* for 355,000 miles. If it seized tomorrow, I'd have no complaints (knock on wood - need it to haul some trash this weekend though!)

[BOOOGHAR]

Re: "Lee's Limo" 2001 F350 crew cab 4x4 diesel

thats a thought, find a F series truck with a 6.0 the owner doesnt want to deal with anymore, get it on the cheap side and do a cummins swap