Finally tried my buddy's way of bleeding injectors instead of the book method

I was fighting a bad miss on a 2002 7.3 Powerstroke last Tuesday and spent like 3 hours following the service manual step by step. My buddy Dave stopped by and showed me his trick of cracking the lines at the injector while having someone crank it over instead of using the Schrader valve method. He had that thing running smooth in under 20 minutes, no joke. Now I'm wondering if I've been wasting time on every single diesel I've worked on for the past 5 years. Anyone else ditch the manual way for something a veteran taught you that just flat out works better?

2 comments

2 Comments

alicecooper19d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I mean cracking the lines on a 7.3 is basically the same as the Schrader method, just messier and easier to burn yourself on hot exhaust manifolds. I've been doing it the book way for over ten years on Powerstrokes and never had a miss come back after 30 seconds like he's talking about, maybe I'm just lucky. Dave's trick sounds fine if you're in a hurry but I don't see how it saves more than five minutes once you factor in wiping diesel off everything and watching for air bubbles. Seems like a lot of hype for something that's basically just cranking the starter a few extra seconds.

the_joel19d ago

You ever try that on a 7.3 with the fuel bowl already full of air? lol Dave's method is solid because you're forcing the air out at the actual injector instead of playing games with the Schrader valve on the bowl. I learned a similar trick from an old timer on a Cummins 5.9 where you crack all six lines at the injector, crank it till you see fuel dribble, then tighten them while it's still running rough. It saves you from that stupid back-and-forth bleeding cycle where you think you're done but the miss comes back after 30 seconds. The manual way works but it's designed for a clean shop with all the time in the world, not real world driveway repairs. Just watch your fingers around those high pressure lines, that diesel will burn like acid if it sprays on your skin.