Good right up and pictures! Hopefully I won't need to do it anytime soon but, if I do I will do it myself. One small tip, When I did my glow plugs I used a small rubber hose to screw them in/out once they were loosened.


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Nice write up on replaceing the cups, have to do the same soon along with remaned injectors. Already have the cups and tools from Rosewood. Soon as my broken leg heals, gotta order injectors from them. Yes yes, that rear bolt on the valve covers is a *****, had to replace the cover gasket drivers side, left mine out after an hour trying, no leak so far. Also the cover breather has two bolt guides/spacers, dropped one but will replace when I do the cups/injectors, have 180K on them now. A 10MM socket for the glow plugs.

 

Sgnaz:
Nice write up on the cups. This is definitely one of those jobs were you will save over 200% by doing it yourself.
I went with a similar extractor from a guy in Florida who has an EBay store. 7.3 POWERSTROKE PARTS, 6.5 GM DIESEL PARTS items in angelofishes store on eBay!. He sells a complete kit that gives you the tool, cups, Loctite, and replacement O rings for the injectors.
Overall I wouldn’t call the job “easy” but it is doable. I think I got lucky with a few of the back cylinders since I couldn’t really see what I was doing.
In addition to draining the oil rail I also recommend pulling the most reward injectors first. This allows all fluids to drain into only 2 cylinders. This made evacuating the liquid easy preventing hydro-lock.
All in all, my job cost right about a grand. But that includes replacement ELC and a Dieselsite coolant filter which was on my bucket list and this was a good of a time as ever since the coolant was drained.
I also had to replace several hoses and the degas bottle since the diesel reacted with the rubber and plastic and damaged them.
My only recommendation to anyone trying this job is to flush the crap out of your cooling system before filling it up. Splice into a heater hose and hook up a garden hose, remove the thermostat and re-install the housing and run water through everything. Pull the block drains on each time and flush some more. Then run simple green through the engine. I used on gallon mixed with water. Many posts on here about people still seeing diesel in the coolant after this job. I think a lot of that can be contributed to not properly flushing and cleaning all the parts in the system. And with the high price of
ELC; nobody wants to have to drain that stuff and replace it 2 days after doing this job.
It did give me confidence for future jobs like injectors and anything else under the valve covers.
Thanks again for the write up.

 

Follow-up to my post. DO NOT GO WITH angelofishes' Cups!!!! They are JUNK!!

I did this job and less than 1,000 miles I was back in there again with three cracked cups.

I have a buddy that does NDI inspections for the Navy, and he confirmed all the cups had poor metal structure.

Once again. Don't go with aftermarket cups. Get them directly from Ford. Angelofishes' tool worked just fine but his cups failed prematurely.

 

One of the best write ups I've seen. Thank you sir.

 

Thanks!

I am waiting for one of the Riffraff injector cup tools as I start to work on the new motor so will have some info on how that tool works vs. the Rosewood. My initial impression is that the Rosewood tool is easier to pull the cups and the Riffraff would be easier to install due to the tight quarters in the engine compartment, the hammering in of the cups in the back cylinders was a pain!

Sandy

 

You and me both Sandy. I REALLY appreciate the detailed writeup. I plan on using it myself once you get done with the tool (hoping I'm next but who knows how long the wait is)

 

I used the Angelfish cups and have about 20k miles on them. So far so good.

 

I'm going with the riff raff cups and tool.
@navycranes... Of course the metal is bad there shipmate. Pretty much all the metal today is crap compared to the old stuff. Everything now is disposable junk and that includes the $70K trucks they're selling now. I wish they had a little better/durable design on these 7.3 cups, but it's better than the problems they're having on the newer ones.

If you look at modern design... everything seems to be designed with set fail points where the maker can rake in more money fixing it. Which is why I prefer to not give the people who originally made it the money.

 

No hammering with the Riffraff tools. Extractor worked fantastic, and the installer is great. No hitting just turn the nut and in it goes. Piece of cake. Loved it so much I bought one. I used the Alliante cups from Riffraff and the Loctite 602 sealant they recommend. Real happy with the way it went. Real easy. Never fear that job again.

 

Got halfway through my replacement today. I used the rosewood tools, simple and quick on the extract, no complaints. When yall flushed the system after all was back together, did yall use a solvent or chemical to help clean out the diesel as much as possible?

 

You can run a couple gallons if simple green through the cooling system then do a complete flush with the Prestone kit.


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simple enough, appreciate it.

 

I'm bookmarking this for future reference. Thanks

 

Just remember to vacuum out the cylinders and turn it over by hand to clean the fluids out of the bores before you have it all back together. Ask me how I know....

 

I like how the riffraff installer tool it utilized. Seems a lot better for in truck repairs. Def agree that there isn't a lot of room in there for the cylinders under the cowl.

 

I have a questions about this statement from the very helpful write up linked to on your thread starter post. I see the thread is not new but hopefully not ignored since it seems very informative.

"I picked up the truck unannounced and paid the $125 diagnostic fee and drained the diesel out of the radiator (in their parking lot), loaded up some supplies and drove it 350 miles with no trouble."

I just purchased a 250 HD 7.3 PU a month ago. I just noticed diesel in my coolant tank today after a few days of increasing crank times to start. Increasing to the point of taking a LOT of cranking to start. I'm certain the fuel was not in the coolant a week ago.
Did you dump the fuel filter bowl?
Did you siphon the fuel off the coolant in the coolant tank?
Is it likely to cause trouble if it's driven 350 miles and you got lucky?
Is it not likely a big deal to drive it some til I get parts and work on it?

I can't believe I'm the first to like this post. (I hit the "like" button I think)

Also, what causes the cups to crack? Is there likely something specific causing it?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

Awesome detailed write up !!!!
I book marked for future reference

 

I hit the "like" button as well (or think I did) I'm not completely familiar with how things work.

 

Thanks for all the kind comments!

I never checked the fuel bowl filter but expected to black like others with the problem have said. I don't think 350 miles would be a stretch if you drain the fuel (suck it out). But I guess depends on how bad you are getting fluid into the system. I drive mine a $hit load of miles, may 10k by draining it when I got like a 1/4 to 1/2" of fuel in the degassing tank. I also didn't do much but city driving, but I did do one long distance trip and was OK. The diesel will soften and mess with seals in your cooling system, I finally had to fix the motor when the pump seals went so expect stuff like that to happen, rubber hoses seemed to get soft, etc. If you do have to drive it get the Autoclub (AAA) RV/extended tow package for $150 or so and it can save you some $$ if you do have a problem ask how I know.

The Riff Raff tool is hands down better for installation, when I did the second set of heads it felt like 100% installed correctly, with the rosewood you have to hammer it. In the car the rosewood tool for install didn't work well for me. The Riff Raff tool would have done much better. The rosewood tool would be fine if heads out of the car. Also the rosewood tool has a better remove tool as you do not need to bolt it down. The Riff Raff tool does have one flaw in that the counter sink screws that bolt to the head can break if not secured just right, I think it came with a spare set just in case.

I think the cups crack as the 5lb injector ends up wobbling (Technical term) around from all the many different sources of vibration, add in heating and cooling cycles and you have it. Not an uncommon problem it seems, hope they make them thicker now a days

Hope that helps and I'm sure some of the other members have had all the same to tell!

Sandy