Working on a farm truck in Nebraska last month showed me something about old diesel injectors

The owner said it had a rough idle for years, and three shops told him it was just 'character'. I pulled the injectors and found the pintle caps were completely gone on two of them, just metal dust in the ports. I had a set of rebuilt Bosch units in my truck, swapped them in, and it idled smooth as glass. How often do you guys see that kind of wear being missed because the engine still runs?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_martinez5h ago

My uncle's 7.3 Powerstroke had the same "character" for a decade before a fuel wash killed it. The real cost isn't the injectors, it's the unburned fuel diluting the oil and wrecking the bottom end over thousands of miles. Most shops just don't connect those long term dots.

blairtaylor6h ago

How many shops just don't want to do the actual work? That's pure laziness. Calling a major mechanical fault "character" is a joke. It happens all the time because the diag stops at a scan tool. If it runs and makes money, some guys just kick the can down the road. The customer pays for that later when it finally lets go. Good on you for actually fixing it right.

wright.lisa4h ago

Yeah the "kick the can down the road" thing is so real. My old shop was like that, they'd clear codes and call it good. I got tired of it and just started doing the full diag myself, even if it took longer. Found a bad injector driver on a truck everyone else said was "fine" last week. It sucks but you gotta be the one to actually look.