bad injectors or bad fuel

[mtheo]

I just got back from a short to the mountan camping about 150 miles, less than a tank of fuel, started with full tank. Truck has started to smoke a little at first and now is worse. Took it to the dealermand they said I have 4 bad injectors. I expected maybe one, but 4.
Now it seems funny to me that 4 would go bad all at once, just wondering if it could just be bad fuel.
Has this happened to anybody else and should it wait and run a fresh tank of fuel through it.

[bncinwv]

I think before I sprang for injector replacement, I would get an additive for the fuel to clean the injectors (STP, Diesel Kleen, etc.) and run it through the truck for a couple of tanks. It may be a cheap fix and at the worst, you will only be out a few bucks if it does not work. I seem to recall that the early 2000 era Chevy diesels did have some injector problems, a Google search may yield more info.
Bingo

[2007dura]

LB7 engines were known for the injector issue. GM went to 7 year 200K miles waranty to help. If this is your first issue with them, you have had good luck. Might as well replace all of them and not just the 4. Where you sitting down when they told you the cost to replace? Might want to check around for a good repair shop that could do it a little cheaper, also think there are some good aftermarket injectors made for this reason.

[mtheo]

I'm familiar with this, as I had them change under warrenty 4 years ,and 40,000 miles ago. didn't have the exact same symptoms. just strange it happen so quick with 4 injectors.

[PapaBeav]

Mark, my truck started smoking two years ago and I wound up replacing all of the injectors even though I was using an additive. It sounds like you will have to replace the bad ones to resolve the problem. You can try an additive, but I don't think that will make a difference. The early Duramax engines were known for bad injectors, good luck.

[maximo]

I had a 1986 Ford F250 diesel that started smoking real bad and it was a blown head gasket. What looked like smoke was steam.

Frank

[bigskyjimmy]

I have a 2003 Duramax and have been lucky with the injectors, what you HAVE to do is go to WWW.dieselplace.com and go to the LB7 section and it is a BIG topic on there and they have solutions you might want to try..One of them is pouring a bottle of low ash 2 stroke oil into the tank and that helps sometimes, but anyway go there and read up

[Hooker]

Change the fuel filter too.

[lasater]

Injectors going bad is not limited to GM vehicles. I had an F-350 with the 6.0L engine that blew at 58,000 miles. Replaced that engine with a rebuilt one.

At 52,000 on the new engine I started to see smoke. Ford dealer told me that 7 of 8 injectors were out of tolerance and that 2 of the 7 had failed.

Let's see...7 injectors @ $750+/- = Ouch!

And I was just out of the time limit for warranty

So, I had them replace the 2 failures, drove the truck across the street, and traded it for a new Dodge Big Horn Ram.

I loved that truck, but since Ford refused to fix it under warranty, I decided that it was time for a change. The Dodge 6 cylinder Cummins has performed well beyond my expectations. Too bad that Ford put that 6.0L engine on the road.

[millerwr]

Might have them check the EGR valve. I have a 2005 Silverado 2500HD with the Duramax and mine started smoking suddenly. Also thought it might be a bad injector, but it turned out to be the EGR valve. Valve was about $400 and installation was about $400 at the Chevrolet dealer.

[Art-n-Marge]

I've started adding Cetane booster with every fill up since I read this is supposed to help. I don't know if this is doing any good or not.

I have the Ford 6.0 and no major problems yet. I'm at 93,000 miles of a 125,000 miles engine warranty, so I supposed they'll explode at 126,000.

[Flymutt]

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

I've started adding Cetane booster with every fill up since I read this is supposed to help. I don't know if this is doing any good or not.

I have the Ford 6.0 and no major problems yet. I'm at 93,000 miles of a 125,000 miles engine warranty, so I supposed they'll explode at 126,000.

Murphy's Law (who is that Murph guy anyhow?)

[mtheo]

Well the dealer wanted $5,500.00 to change the all 8 injectors. For that much I had to try it myself. Just got done this morning, 3 1/2 days, and it is running like new again.
I did rebilled the filter pump and installed a adapter to start using a CAT filter, supose to be the best.

[bigskyjimmy]

Good job my man! replacing injectors in a 01-04 lb7 is a PAIN IN THE BUM! but it sure beats the cost of the dealer doing it

[Gkerlin]

3 1/2 days @ $5,500 That's about $1,600 a day for your labor.. Good Job.

As far as additives... Cetane boosters are not going to solve all of your problems but a proper additive makes a huge difference.

I've got several million logged miles in Semis running Cummins 350's and always used additives and never had fuel related problems. I think that says a lot about the value of conditioning your fuel. Used Mostly Power Service in those days and depending on the season the weather determined which one to use.

I will still use PS now and then when I'm out of my regular Diesel Juice, but these days I've been using Opti-Lube XPD. You can google it and see several articles agreeing that it's pretty much the best stuff around for increasing the Lubricity of your fuel. I also get about 3/4 mpg better mileage when using it so that offsets the cost a bit. The big reason for me though is that the ULSD - with the removal of the sulphur has much less lubricating properties than the old fuel. An additive will go a long way to helping prolong the life of fuel system related parts. FWIW.