99 & up 7.3L Power Stroke Engine and DrivetrainDiscussion of the 99 & up 7.3L Power Stroke diesel engine and drivetrain in the 1999-Up Super Duty trucks and Excursions. No gas engine discussion allowed except on transmissions and drivetrain that pertain to all models. Please confine discussion of topics in this forum to those items that are specific to the 7.3L Power Stroke engine.
OK guys. Ive had the pleasure of working on a few ambulances in our fleet, trying to save money on labor, ect. Plus its a great learning experience for me. I started out with the ambulance consuming massive amounts of oil. The first recommendation was that the seals had blown in the turbo. When I pulled the turbo, I did notice oil in the turbo where it shouldn't be. I replaced the turbo and allowed the ambulance to idle for a few hours before heading down the road. It ran like a scalded dog, didn't smoke much. I then parked it and checked the oil. It had already dropped almost a gallon. So the next recommendation was to pull the injectors. It took me a day, but I was able to pull all the injectors. I carefully laid them out and numbered every piece removed and which cylinder they were pulled from. Out of eight injectors, 4 of the orings ( the pink one ) is almost burned in half. Also on the tip of one of the injectors you can see where the brass washer was not seated properly and the combustion had made a little burn mark on the side of the injector. Here is my question. With the 4 orings nearly burned in half and the brass washer not seated properly on the end, could this be the culprit of that much oil being lost? Keep in mind that is having longer than usual crank times, and was smoking severely before I replaced the turbo. Now it just smokes a little less. I am replacing all the orings tomorrow, but is there anything else I need to look for before reinstalling the injectors? I did look inside and inspected the injector sleeves and none of them were cracked. Thanks for your time in reading the situation and any input will be greatly appreciated.
Sorry , forgot to mention there is oil in the diesel. Checked the tank and the pulled the fuel filter.
If there is oil in the diesel, you've got an injector o-ring leak. It sounds like you are on the right track. Don't forget to pull th glow plugs and rotate the engine over by hand twice, then with the starter to clear all the oil that you couldn't vacuum out of the cylinders. After that, when its fully buttoned up and you get it started - fully expect to smoke out the neighborhood until all the spilled oil is burned off.
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2003 F-250 XLT Crew Cab 7.3L, Chrome BigTex Grille Guard, Quad pillar - 3 ISSPRO gauges (trans, pyro, boost) and DP-Tuner F6; Roush fuel pressure / temperature / oil pressure gauges, Ford Severe Duty AIS, 31 row 6.0 transmission cooler, ScanGauge II, Marinco mod, Walker BTM
"IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU’VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM"
Thank you for your input RT. I have also thought about the rear main seal, but there is no oil under the vehicle. There is some blow by under there, but no where near what the truck is consuming. Do you think with the orings burnt like that it would consume that much oil? On another note, if I am able to suction all the oil and fuel out of the cylinders, would it still be necessary to pull the glow plugs? I have a battery operated suction unit that we used for medical purposes, and Im sure Ill be able to get it all out. I stuck my finger in the very back cylinders and they are about half full of oil. This is an E350 van Im working on and there is hardly any room to work.. I had to take an injector apart just to get it out of the cylinder.
Last edited by alsatropine; 12-07-2012 at 10:25 AM.
The oil rails are pressurized up to 3000 psi, so you can pump a lot of oil through a bad o-ring really fast. These motors will run on 100% oil with very little smoke, so it all fits.
You should be able to get all the oil out, just make sure the catheter is at the lowest part of the cylinder. I was an EMT (volunteer fire department / rescue) ages ago. The suction equipment is going to work a lot better thin fluids than on oil so it will take a while, but don't stop until you can't get another drop. I use a Mityvac on this same job, and it works extremely well. It comes with different size suction hoses so you can start big, and use the smaller ones to get into the corner to finish the job.
It would be an ideal time to check and replace bad glowplugs now, while it's apart
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__________________ Tom
99.5 PS CC 4x4 SRW ZF-6
Triple Pillar Gauges; Fuel pres, Pyro, Boost
AE, Alldatadiy, and half a clue
- AKA "The Big White Truck"
Thank you for your input RT. I have also thought about the rear main seal, but there is no oil under the vehicle. There is some blow by under there, but no where near what the truck is consuming. Do you think with the orings burnt like that it would consume that much oil? On another note, if I am able to suction all the oil and fuel out of the cylinders, would it still be necessary to pull the glow plugs? I have a battery operated suction unit that we used for medical purposes, and Im sure Ill be able to get it all out. I stuck my finger in the very back cylinders and they are about half full of oil. This is an E350 van Im working on and there is hardly any room to work.. I had to take an injector apart just to get it out of the cylinder.
Alsatropine, I'm going to be doing the same job on a 2003 E350 next weekend. I'd like to know any tips you can give and if you were able to replace the #3 without having to jack up the engine. That's the one you took apart. I've got a gumpy, smokey van and it's time for some new injectors. Thanks
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2003 E350 SUper Duty 15pass Van 7.3
1997 E450 Super Duty Shuttle Bus
On a van if you remove the fuel gallery plugs at the rear of the heads and the oil gallery plugs under the VCs before removing the injectors it won't be necessary to purge the cylinders through the GP holes.
On a van if you remove the fuel gallery plugs at the rear of the heads and the oil gallery plugs under the VCs before removing the injectors it won't be necessary to purge the cylinders through the GP holes.
Evel, I know the fuel gallery plugs. I've had to open those to purge air out of the system. Are the oil gallery plugs an allen/hex bolt? I'm pretty sure I know which ones. My last van were stripped. I hoping not on this one.
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2003 E350 SUper Duty 15pass Van 7.3
1997 E450 Super Duty Shuttle Bus
Vandiesel, In order for me to get number that injector out, I had to take the rocker arm off, the disassemble the top of the fuel injector with a special took from auto zone. Cost about five bucks. Be care ful not to strip out the heads or you'll have bigger issues. Once I was able to get the top two screws out, I had to rotate the injector in the sleeve to get the other two screws due to clearance issues.
Vandiesel, In order for me to get number that injector out, I had to take the rocker arm off, the disassemble the top of the fuel injector with a special took from auto zone. Cost about five bucks. Be care ful not to strip out the heads or you'll have bigger issues. Once I was able to get the top two screws out, I had to rotate the injector in the sleeve to get the other two screws due to clearance issues.
Thanks for the tip.Did you get it back in the same way?
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2003 E350 SUper Duty 15pass Van 7.3
1997 E450 Super Duty Shuttle Bus
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