Ford fuel injectors loosening

bc

Well-known Member
Hello guys. Had the fuel injectors rebuilt on my ford 1500 tractor not to long ago (prior thread). 2 cyl. Shibaura Diesel. I put the bottom seals in and tightened the bottom nuts as tite as I could. Been running it every 2 or 3 days since and when I recheck them before starting they always tighten up another 1/10th of a turn more or less.

Yesterday after putting new fuel hoses on both sides of the filter I was cranking on it to vent the lines. Then I noticed fuel around the base of the nuts and I hadn't loosened the compression fittings on the fuel lines to bleed those lines yet. I tightened the nuts back up and had to loosen the banjo nuts to rotate the vent lines back around and bled the lines off. Ran it a few minutes and looked at them. Noticed that it looked like one was showing a little fuel coming up from around the nut on one cylinder. Put the wrench back on it and got it a hair tighter.

Ran it for an hour and took a tour of the creek bottom and it was ok then.

So I'm wondering why I need to keep tightening these down and if something else is going on with the seals which are a copper type washer. Thanks. Will check them again today.
 
Im no help, my TW20 got rebuilt and the injectors loosen up enough to spray fluid, scared me as it hits the manifold..... think I got thrm tightened up, but its happened a
couple times.

Paul
 

Yes they give me new copper washers to go with them. I thought they were kinda thick compared to a spark plug washer. Diesel shop had torqued in the nozzles into the nuts and said not to touch them. They also had me run down to the parts store and get wire brushes that fit on the drill to clean up the threads and hole bottom. They did say to use a little antiseize which may or may not be part of the problem.

I didn't run it today but stopped by with a foot long 1 1/16" end wrench and got them to move a couple hairs. Then I put a two foot cheater on it and they didn't budge. So I will see tomorrow. They told me to torque the nuts down about 45 foot pounds but I don't have a deep enough deep socket in that size to use a torque but using my armstrong torque meter I'm sure there is more than 45 on them. They act more like they loosen after running.
 


There is a reason that they had you get a wire brush. When the new engine is assembled the injector will easily slip in to the correct depth with the totally clean surfaces. Any roughness will make them drag so that more torque is needed to pull the injector down onto the washer. A wire brush will smooth rust down a lot before removing it. I would go back to cleaning.
 
Sounds like you are putting way too much torque on them, if you continue eventually your washers are going to mush out sideways until they are jammed tight in the bore.

If they are not leaking then leave them be, if they are leaking you may need to disassemble and check for any foreign material or burrs on the sealing surfaces.

Copper expands more than steel when it warms up and contracts accordingly which makes it an ideal material when properly torqued for your application.
 

OK. Think I understand. The copper seal will heat up and cool down different than the cast iron which is why it leaks upon starting and quits as soon as the engine warms up. Guess I've been worried about combustion gas leaking by and chewing up the nuts and nozzles like it had before I had them rebuilt.

I'll keep an eye on them, and if I still get some leakage while starting then I'll pull them and reclean the holes. May get 2 more new seals if it does that.

Still takes 45 to 90 seconds to start after glow plugging for 30 seconds. I got a compression tester so I can check that too. Just got my 2606 engine back from the machine shop yesterday so I got to get it hooked back up again.
 

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