thoughts on injector failure, how i fixed mine

[hayjayhorses]

A few years ago my '94 7.3 PS would only run on 4 or 5 cylinders when cold but after it warm up it ran perfect. I had heard about Rosewood Diesel. I call Jim he explained the DIY rebuild kit to me and sent me the kit.

As I read the instructions, the part about poppet valve wear and the armature clearance caught my attention. So with the injectors still installed i removed the injector solenoids and check the armature plate (measurement A @ DIY-Injectors.com) clearance (with a cold engine) on the few injectors that would fire the clearance was 0.002" to 0.004", on the injectors that would not fire cold, I couldn't get my 0.0015" feeler gauge under the Armature plate.

At this time you couldn't buy shims to shim up the Armature plate (now you can from Rosewood). After no luck finding shims, I made my own. I took a 0.002" feeler (out of a $5 feeler gauge) with the use of leather punches and a brass block (I fix saddles and tack now and then) I made washer like shims. I put the shims on the armature screws, a very small amount a blue thread locked (not sure if that was a good idea). It worked great, I have ran this truck over 125,000 miles with no injector issues.

I cut the 0.002" from a feeler gauge put it on a brass block. I punched the small hole 1st (just big enough to fit over the screw), after i stuck the punch I held it there, then used a thin sharpie to go around the punch so I could line up the next punch. Then I used the big punch (5/16") next to complete my shim.

I broke a lot of shim stock and had to by new leather punches, to cut the shim stock.

It is easier to just buy the shims.

Since then I have bought a few PS and fix a few friends PS these engine have like 200k to 300 miles on the injectors. That had the same issue, not start unless plugged in or skip until hot. I have simply shimmed up the plates, to correct poppet valve wear.

Now My question. Would synthetic oil or regular oil changes, significantly slow poppet valve wear? I think so. I bought a new Powerstroke in 2001 after 10k miles I ran Amsiol full synthetic oil, an Amsiol by pass filter system, I was not until about 550,000 miles it would not start unless plugged in, even i warm weather, even with new glow plugs and relay.

I have seen many trucks with 300k to 500k+ miles on them (with original injectors) with no injector poppet valve wear symptoms. Of those trucks trucks that I was able to talk with the original owners, they were all pretty anal about, there oil quality they use and oil changes.

this is just something I wanted to put out there