[a/s] 7.3 l International Tip

["Tripp, George" <GTripp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Last weekend I had an experience that may prove useful to all of you Ford Super Duty owners. In a parking lot a Ford owner was staring at the puddle of fuel under his truck. When I went to ask whether I could help, he told me that he had just returned from the dealer who had used the computer to diagnose a faulty number 1 injector, and he had set up an appointment to have the repair made under warranty the following week. Since he obviously couldn't drive the vehicle with gallons of fuel pouring onto the ground, he was facing having the truck towed to his house to unload the tools and then to the Ford dealer in a nearby city. I decided to take a look.

 

What I found was this: the supply line to the number 1 injector had been vibrating against the left cylinder head and had worn through, causing the leak. Probably the initial leak was also the cause of the miss and the injector diagnosis. I cut the steel line and replaced it with a piece of fuel hose as an emergency repair to get the fellow home and to the dealer on Monday.

So, what Ford owners should do:

• look behind the black plastic cover at the front centre of the engine
• on the left side, (facing the truck) you should see two steel lines that head toward the rear of the engine and then cross over to the right bank
• these lines wiggle freely, and thus the vibration and abrasion problem
• IMHO, you should slit a short length of high temperature fuel line so that it will slip over each of these lines, and then work the tubing along until the tubing rides against the head/intake horn.
• Use a hose clamp or a cable tie to secure the hose
• check that the rubber, and not the steel, contacts the head when you now wiggle the line.

   It might be possible simply to gently bend the lines up from the head, but I think that the vibration would soon cause them to rub against the head again (they are flimsy steel and the fittings are rubber sealed.)

 

I suggest that all Ford/International owners make this preventive alteration, and if your truck is diagnosed with a faulty injector, has a miss, or demonstrates hard starting in the morning, have a look at this situation.

Happy shade tree!

 

George Tripp

Coordinator

General Studies

Technology