Took me 3 years to figure out I was killing my injectors with bad fuel filters

Honestly, I kept having this issue with a 6.7 Powerstroke where the injectors would start chattering after about 6 months. I thought it was just cheap fuel or bad luck. Then last month at a shop in Reno, an old timer watched me change a filter and pointed out I was letting air into the system because I wasn't priming it right. He showed me the correct way to fill the filter housing before installing it. Has anyone else here been doing it wrong for years without realizing?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesm489d ago

80k miles ago I had a similar issue with my Duramax, kept swapping injectors till a guy at a diesel shop in Billings told me I was torquing the hold-downs wrong. @avery_lopez that overnight soak thing is a classic, but the ticking was probably the injector not seating right cause the o-rings expanded uneven. I started lubing them with a thin coat of assembly lube instead of diesel and never had a repeat problem. Priming right and proper torque on the lines made the biggest difference for me.

avery_lopez17d ago

Man, that Reno old timer story triggered something for me! I had a buddy years ago who swore by letting his injectors soak in a cup of diesel overnight before installing them. He claimed it kept them from sticking on startup. I tried it once and ended up with a puddle on the garage floor and a weird ticking noise for like two days. Never did figure out if it was the soaking or just my bad luck with that engine.

the_holly17d ago

Ha @avery_lopez, I gotta say the soaking part actually makes sense for the o-rings, not the injector itself. Fresh diesel helps the rubber seals swell up a bit before you cram them in, but just dunking the whole thing overnight is asking for trouble. That ticking noise you heard was probably air trapped in the fuel gallery or a nozzle dribble from the fuel sitting wrong. Next time just dip the o-rings in a little bit of clean oil right before install, saves you the mess and the headache.