Yep, it's head gaskets (possible head gaskets pt. 2)

[shortcircut65]

well, im finally down to the block on the pass. side. would the head gasket be bad if there is no black, only steel showing on most of the back side? (sarcasm) i was very supprised at how easy the head bolts came out for me. i had to put all of my ass behind it to get them off, but came out quite nicely. i was suprised at the 4 on the outside of the valve covers. the best part was when it was on the bench, and i tried like hell to get the intake manifold off, i then realized that there was a bolt in the intake that was covered up by a shop towel. :mad2: but i got it off, rockers off, return lines off, injectors out, just waiting for tomorrow to get the other side.

1) what would make my injectors so friggen sooty, that it looks like the fuel cant even get out of the nozzles? there was soot just caked on the damn things! there is only 16,xxx miles on them.

2) the injector cups, unfortunatley, i left the camera at the garage, so i dont have pics, but is it the "sleeve" that the injector slide in in the head? the machine shop said that i needed to take them out, cause some of them stick a little too far down, and they get hit by the cutter. how would i go about removing them? do i just tap on them lightly with a screwdriver or something?

3) with the heads off, i know see the pistons! never actually seen them before inside of the motor. they look fine, just full of soot is all. i found the leopard spots on the top of the walls, but found something else too. cross-hatching if you will down the walls. kinda bugs me a bit, ya know? is there anything i can do about this? to clean it up or something?

4) looking at all the parts off the truck, i was peering into my intercooler tubes, and boy are they dirty!!! what is a good cleaner to remove all the dirt and crap that i cant wipe out?

thanks for any help and ideas guys!!! i really do appreciate it, very much!

 

[stacks04]

okay i will start at the top,

1:Edge Juice with Attitude
2:the injector cups are the cylindrical looking deals that the injector sits in. they are held in place with lock tight and orings. could be a pain to remove without the tools. try using a brass punch and tapping from the bottom. they ahould pop out. make sure you dont have any on the injectors, and make sure you get an oring kit for them going back in. lube em good.
3: cross hatching is good, do not tough it! if is wasnt there you would have issues. soot is okay, take a vacuum and suck out the loose stuff if you want.
4:use brake parts cleaner. it cleans well, and evaporates after a few minutes. if you have the heads off, why not take the intercooler out and get it flushed good. then you can clean all your tubes nicey nice. reroute your pcv and eliminate most of the oil in your tubes.


any more just ask.

 

[shortcircut65]

oh, man, thanks a bunch! unfortunatly, i didnt have time to read this before i headed to the shop to finish the job. but i got the cups out with a 1/4" extension, and tapping ever so slightly. 2 gave me an issue, but nothing major. should the loctite just scrape off them? i got 16 o-rings for em, so im set on that.

brake cleaner sounds good. what do i flush the intercooler with? a water/something mix? again, thanks alot.

 

[stacks04]

if you have a radiator shop around it would be best to pay em to do it. i know when we get them back here they are spotless. not sure how they do it. but if you so choose, water/degreaser mix i guess would work. let it soak in for a bit, then rinse like crazy.

the loctite should just come off, if you have a scour pad like a 3m green kitchen pad, use it to clean them off.

 

[shortcircut65]

cool. thanks again

 

[jcool]

Do you run an additive in your fuel?

 

[shortcircut65]

power service in the winter. i had tried a diesel kleen/marvel mystery mix for a while to try to calm my FPR issue. i just changed that out, so that is good.

what would be the best way to clean the crud soot off of my injectors? are those something that i could put in a parts washer?

 

[jcool]

power service in the winter. i had tried a diesel kleen/marvel mystery mix for a while to try to calm my FPR issue. i just changed that out, so that is good.

what would be the best way to clean the crud soot off of my injectors? are those something that i could put in a parts washer?

I wouldnt see why not. you can get the gallon canned stuff at advance auto and just drop them in there for a while. did that with a carb that was so gunked up with that ethanol crap in our gas that the carb cleaner in the spray can wouldnt even touch it.... now it runs like a champ. at least till that crap in our gas gets back to gunking it up...

 

[shortcircut65]

so i have the heads back to me now. what a friggen difference a little machine work and a wash makes! they look brandy new! so i have one gasket, waiting on the other, friday hopefully, i now have the studs in the block on the right side, the gasket over them, and the head with the intake manifold over that. the directions from ARP say to torque the fasteners to 120 ft/lbs, and to cycle them 3 times, and on the 4th time, tighten to 120 ft/lbs and leave it, following factory torquing specs. what would they consider the fasteners? the studs, or the nuts, or both? if both, i would assume studs, then nuts, cycle, then again, and again.

also, anybody now the sequence of which to torque these "fasteners"? thanks guys

 

[jcool]

so i have the heads back to me now. what a friggen difference a little machine work and a wash makes! they look brandy new! so i have one gasket, waiting on the other, friday hopefully, i now have the studs in the block on the right side, the gasket over them, and the head with the intake manifold over that. the directions from ARP say to torque the fasteners to 120 ft/lbs, and to cycle them 3 times, and on the 4th time, tighten to 120 ft/lbs and leave it, following factory torquing specs. what would they consider the fasteners? the studs, or the nuts, or both? if both, i would assume studs, then nuts, cycle, then again, and again.

also, anybody now the sequence of which to torque these "fasteners"? thanks guys

Cant help you there. but will give you a pat on the back for actually reading the directions... so many mechanics I know think they know it all and do a worse job than DIY'ers whom follow the directions..:mad2:

 

[shortcircut65]

ok. job done!!!!!!!!artay:

the fasteners that ARP refers to, is the nuts. just leave the studs hand tight, and tighten the nuts to 120 ft-lbs.

Joe, when you answered number 4 for me, yous said rerout my PCV. if i have no EGR and no vaccum pump, would it still be there? i noticed when i took the right side accesory hanger off the front, that there was a plate with a few bolts in it that said PCV on it. does it do anything? or was it something that the factory put on there, in case there was an EGR and/or vaccum pump?

to clean my injectors, i just wiped the loose crud off, and kinda scraped the hard stuff off with my fingernail, but left the nozzle alone. i had bought a jug of Howes, and when i filled up this morning, i dumped in half of it. mainly because i let the tank run just about empty when i brought it into the garage, so i wanted to clean any of the crap that was in there, and to try to clean the injector tips.

---------------------

so putting the motor back together was pretty uneventful. the hardest and most time consuming part, that wasnt my fault, was torquing the heads. other than that, everything just bolted right on. the one issue that i had was when i put the hard coolant line from the water pump to the t-stat housing, and that housing that connects to both heads on. i didnt take the fan off, so i couldnt just slide it right on over the studs in the heads. i dont know why i couldnt figure out how i got it off so easily, but was having that hard of a time putting it back on. (close your eyes if you are squemish) so i put the hard line on first, then attempted to put the housing on over it. didnt work out so well. i ended up angling the two pieces, then using a rubber mallett, hit the housing over the hard line, completly ruining the o-ring. i said screw it, and continued on. everything is back on, it just needs coolant. fill up, and i had niagra falls in the garage! by this time i have been working on 5 hours of sleep, and its 10:30 at night. i get the sleep-deprived idea that screw it! use epoxy! that stoped it, but then the bottom started leaking. Epoxy! then the top started leaking again, more epoxy! then some marine sealant. top is good. more sealant on the bottom, bottom is good, top leaks again. it is now 2:30am. i drain more coolant out, and call it a night. back in the garage at 8, looking at it, wondering what the fluck i did last night. screwd around in the shop for what seemed like an hour, but it was 11:30. time to leave and meet the guys at the steak loft to have luch, and sign the can. do that, come back, tear it back down to the lines, and take them off, carfull to remember how i did it, so it goes back on easier. new o-rings top and bottom, a little RTV, and all is happy. fill with coolant, put front back together, prime fuel, turn over for a minute, then it starts!!!!!!!!artay: it dies 20 seconds later, i prime again, then go get 5 gallons of fuel, put it in, and havent looked back. once my truck was out of there, the 40x70 garage looked huge! mine was stuck in the middle, so it broke it up.

so the truck lost its fuel knock, quieted down, and is so much smoother, it aint funny. now, on to the tranny!....................................

 

[Sparky8370]

I wish I saw this earlier. You didn't need to remove the cups. Just the injectors. Sounds like the exact same job I did just over a year ago. The o-ring that you rippped, was it on the pipe that goes between the water pump and the crossover tube? If it was, than it was the exact same job LOL.
I had originally way over torqued my ARP head studs, like almost double. Everybody said to get new studs and gaskets. Still fine to this day. And I've also had EFI almost since I did the studs.

 

[stacks04]

i havent seen a federal truck in a while if there is no hoses going to the spots on the valve covers than no rerouting needed. i dont remember if they vent to atmosphere. i would assume you have them, they bolt into the middle of the valve cover. if so definately reroute them as you see what happens to the internal parts of the turbo system.

 

[shortcircut65]

i feel better replacing the seals, even though, all were good. just feels better to have new. the o-ring was that one, on the top of the pipe.

no hoses into the valve covers, except for fuel lines, so im guess im set on that

thanks guys!!!