Well PW has told and told me so I finally got some new injectors for HiOSlvr. Now the question. Do I completely removed the upper intake and throttle body to change these out. Looks like basically the injector rail is held down by two 11mm bolts. It looks like it will take the same amount of time either way. (1) Don't remove takes longer (2) Remove takes about the same amount of time in the end. One way will also require an intake manifold gasket set. Also thinking about a tune up also but really want to see the difference the injectors make with the truck.

 

Yes, pull the upper and the tb. There is a support brace/bar below the tb on the drivers side you need to unbolt, and there's two manifold bolts that double as studs for an exhaust shield, held in place with nuts. The EGR tube needs to be unbolted at the EGR, and loosened at the manifold. The PCV hose will screw with you if you try and pull the upper and forget it's there. lol. It won't take you long at all. The bolt farthest back will require a 4" or 6" extension. What will take the longest will be removing the old gasket, especially if it's original. Took me 2 hours to get the old gasket off.

Oh yeah, you're gonna want to disconnect the negative battery cable first. Trust me. You'll be dancing around live voltage points the whole time, and those sparks, while harmless, always freak me out for a second. lol. Besides, you need to reset the ECM when you're finished anyway.

After resetting the ECM, when you're all finished,

1) Start the engine, and allow it to idle for 1 minute.
2) Shut it off, and wait 10 seconds.
3) Start the engine, and turn on the headlights on high, and your a/c, with the fan on high, and let it idle for 1 minute.
4) Turn all the accessories off, and turn the engine off, and wait 10 seconds.
5) Start the engine, and make it idle @ 2000 rpm for 1 minute.
6) Shut it off, and wait 10 seconds.
7) Start the engine, and turn on the headlights on high, and your a/c, with the fan on high, and make it idle @ 2000 rpm for 1 minute.
8) Turn all the accessories off, and turn the engine off, and wait 10 seconds.

Go for a test drive, and see how it reacts to the new injectors.

 

OK... not too bad but I didn't check here first and didn't follow the POST ECM reset steps. Should I go back and do that over again?

Man there was ALOT of carbon build up here and there in the upper intake AND around the injectors. Of course 238K miles could have something to do with that and I only drive about 16 miles each way to work. When I drove back and forth to FL I think I kept all that crap burned off.

Took me about 2-2.5hrs. Other than braking/cracking some of those damn thin plastic vacum lines ( how do I replace those frick'n things) went ok. Thank goodness for duc tape / shrink tubing. Spent the most time cleaning the upper prior to reassembly. Was a little worried after it took so much effort to get the old injectors out and that the new ones seemed to just drop in ( after prepping/cleaning the holes out some and slightly lubricating the
o-rings on the new injectors ). OK speaking of the new injectors. The old ones had I think were four holes for spray and the new ones have almost what looks like a little nozzle.

Should I be concerned that they are slightly different.

Truck ran pretty good. The morning commute is the real test. Sorry for no pics or step by step. Knew if I could get it done tonight I would not burn up my Saturday.

Anybody wanna buy some 238K mile injectors?

 

That is the best relearn procedure for the ECM, especially after swapping injectors, but your morning commute will pretty much accomplish the same results, so don't sweat it.

I have replaced most of my factory vacuum 'tubes' and hoses. I used a different vacuum block (that screws into the upper), and tapped it for AN fittings (I work on race engines, and I like steel braid and AN fittings, what can I say? lol).

Don't worry about the injector tips, you now have the improved version. What counts is that they are gray (unless someone painted them). Being "stuck" in the rail is normal, and with a dab of vasoline (or oil) on the new o-rings, they should just slide right in. Sounds like everything went normal for you.

How much trouble did you have getting the gasket between the upper and lower off?

 

Kewl on the commute part. There is a hill up from my house that most of the time I had to kick it down and on the test run I didn't but there was more traffic than normal so I was difficult to judge.

Would love to start rerouting and replacing the vacum tubes. Doesn't the size of the hose have an effect? Do they make braided that small? Man those plastic lines are really skinny.

I figured since nothing leaked and it basically ran I was OK. I actually have an extra upper intake and throttle body that I could have sent out but sorry with as many miles as I have I figured it would have been wasting $$.

The gasket between the upper and lower luckily all came right off except just a section of about 1 inch or so. Just used a razor blade to get the rest off. Throttle body gasket was even easier. Copper coated the one between upper and lower. Left the throttle body one dry.

I'll probably go ahead and replace plugs, wires, cap and rotor this weekend and change the oil.

 

While you're at it, you might want to pull apart and clean the IAC solenoid, too, but you'll have to reset the ECM again if you do.

Vacuum is the same at the end of a 1/32" hose as it is at the end of a 1/2" hose, but the larger hose provides more volume. I replaced some of them with regular rubber vacuum hose, like between the vacuum block and the fuel pressure regulator, but for others, I mostly used steel braided brake hoses. They're about the same inside diameter as the original lines. I also replaced the brake booster vac hose, and the hose between the valve cover and the FIPK with steel braid, and the line going to my fuel pressure gauge is steel braid as well. I also installed a better vacuum can, and the line going to it is aircraft steel braid for an F14. It's all high quality line, with one exception; I replaced the heater hoses when I had to put a new heater core in last year, and I bought the cheap braided hose for that. I regret it, and plan to eventually use AN fittings and some quality hose instead.

 

Well it runs muuuch smoother now. No hesitation like before. It's so much smoother I keep looking down to see how fast I'm going Yeah right, 238K mile 4.9 it's no rocket. Gas mileage is still suffering some, hopefully the tune-up will help. The devil is always in the details.

I'll pick up a couple of lengths of vacum line and start swapping the old stuff out. Got the plugs and oil. Still gotta get the rotor, cap, filter and thinking about changing the coil. Who was it that had the red cap with the brass inserts? I can't remember.

Also notice that both battery cables were all messed up ( really need to save up for the sealed top battery ) fixed the ground will tackle the positive with the rest of the tune-up.

Thanks for all the help PW!

 

I had a red cap with brass inserts, but I don't remember where i bought it. Last time I changed the cap, neither Advance or Pep Boys had a cap in stock with brass, but Napa did. Save some gas and call ahead.

 

Scott-

I was working on my truck the other day, and took a pic of the vacuum tree the way it is now, to give you a better idea...

 

Wow... PRKWUD that is impressive!

OK.. well here we are...last 20 gallons or so got me around 376 miles. So that is around what 18 miles per gallon. So I guess thats pretty darn good. I switched the IAC from my "spare" throttle body ( which actually looks better than mine and I'm thinking about cleaning it out and installing it ) which makes it seem to idle too high immediately at start but otherwise everything is pretty good. I do seem to have a miss every so often but with as much carbon as I found changing out the injectors who knows. I really just never noticed my gas gauge moving so fast but it seems maybe I just drive more than I think I do.
Also the upper intake was so easy to do I'm thinking about taking my spare having the broken EGR bolt issue fixed and having it boiled out and installing it. It's great to be this crazy about a beat up old truck. I'd really like to be an A$$ and have a little saying put on my tailgate that says
" Yeah this truck is beat up, has no power windows, seats, mirrors, butt warmers, DVD navigation, leather or all the creature comforts in YOUR $38K pickup is "equipped with". However, MY over 200K mile truck has character personal style and ACTUALLY has been used in a way that would make Henry Ford and all the other REAL truck builders proud and will still be on the road when yours has been crushed and recycled into aluminum foil. Plus it's been paid for for years. Which more than likely is something that you and your Pretty Truck will never experience. Have a great day. "

OK.. I feel better now.

I just also need to thank PKRWUD for all the advice hopefully some day I can repay him for all the advice I get from him and others here.

Have a great Easter folks!

 

You're getting 18 mpg?!?!?!


Screw you.



Yeah, that would look cool and all, but then people would have to tailgate you bigtime just to read it...

 

hmmm.. had this feeling about the response after doing the math... sorry
I completely filled up yesterday. Here I make mad at me again... $2.50 a gallon so we'll see just what kind of mileage I can repeatedly post. I just don't remember being able to watch the gauge move. My better half says it due to commuting twice as far and not have a county vehicle assigned to me to drive to lunch. She's so nice sometimes.

Hey cool tailgate! I would so love that! The guys at work felt it completely stated my personality!

Hey another idea about vacum lines and such. Why couldn't you use the quick disconnects like on an air line. If air doesn't leak why would vacum.
Man my Dad used to work for the number one manufact. of those things we
had the on everything around out house as a kid. The washing machine. All the sprinklers and stuff. I guess it was much cooler than I ever thought.

 

I'm lucky to get 13 mpg, and gas is right around $3 a gallon right now (paradise ain't cheap. lol). Then again, I do mostly city driving, and have 3.55's, whereas you do mostly highway driving, and have 3.08's. My truck weighs between 5500 and 6000 pounds, too, depending on the job. Still pisses me off. 18 mpg. Man, you suck, Scott. lol.

If you're talking about the kind of couplers you use with air tools, they do leak. You can't always hear them leaking, but my compressor goes off at least once a day, even when I'm not using it.

If you're talking about the quick disconnects that are used for fluids, that could be cool if you had really small ones. They do make aluminum ones for fuel lines, but otherwise they are actually fairly heavy.

Still, for vacuum lines, I prefer a solid fitting at both ends. If you look at this pic again, the line that the green arrows are pointing to is not part of the vacuum set up. That is the line for my fuel pressure gauge. The black part of the line is a high pressure rubber line that goes to the schrader valve, and the steel braid goes to the gauge. The "T" fitting that connects them has a blue AN cap on the extra port (blue arrow), which is where I attach a gauge when I need to test the fuel pressure under the hood. That would be a great place for a quick disconnect, instead of the cap!



Now you've got me thinking...

BTW, I'm just kidding, Scott, you don't suck. You're pretty cool, for a white guy. lol.