I may have done something really bad and damaged the injector cup taper inside the head. I was installing my injector cups followed right by the injectors and well everything was going right in but this one. I hit it maybe much harder than I should have. It was the further driver side one and after hitting it and having it about half way after the first o-ring was in I couldn't go any further. So I pulled it out and the cup taper was all screwed! I immediately quickly checked with a mirror inside the head and everything looked fine so I quickly put another one in there with lots of loctite but now I wonder if I screwed anything up. The other one went right in like butter. I am worried I really don't want to screw anything up... I am sure I am fine but still very scary.
LB7 Blown head gasket and/or injector cups Part 2 after closed thread!~
- Thread starter fishv12
- Start date
Some company machines and sells stainless steel cups for these GM junk designed ones and I saw their ad in Diesel Power magazine a while back it was also a design award from SEMA for this new product. I guess you are almost done with stock parts and know the procedure to fix this but this new product I read about said it fixes loose LB7 injectors/cups completely. The article was good but I can't tell which month of magazine it was because I gave it to a friend who had a bunch of trouble with his Ford 6.0 and needed the mag for his problems. Just thought I'd tell you about these so you might need them again if these new ones you did have more issues later. Good luck on the LB7 great engine just that cup crap issue you find with the hard radiator hose.
so the cup was messed up but not the head? any chance the cup was messed up before you tried to put it in?
No the cup was nice and straight before I put it in. I just failed to line it up properly since it was the further driver side one next to the firewall. From looking at it the tip didn't even go in as it's didn't go past the first o-ring so logically that tells me the taper should be fine... I got the hang of it after tho to make really sure I drove them straight.
I found out something else that may suck big time. My loctite is expired! I bought this thing in January and it was expired in November. So four months past it's used by date. It comes out tho not as liquid as I have seen other loctite but I never purchased 272 before so I thought it was normal :S
I guess I will reply to my own question. I googled it up and loctite can be good for much longer than it's expiry date. Basically what I have found out is that as long as it flows out of the bottle it should be fine. Now I am not sure if the stuff is 5 years over due but mine has just been expired for 4 months so it should technically be fine. Never thought about checking the bottle of something I just purchased in the store for almost 50$ for a little bottle.
Well today was the day I started my truck after so many months. I put it all back together motor wise anyways so I could just start it I still have to put a few more body parts. Once the fuel was primed the truck started right up and idled smoother than I ever remember it idling. Maybe it's just me not remembering after so many months of not driving it. I revved it a few times and all was nice and smooth. I have yet to drive it down the street as I have a pin hole in my rad but it's a good start.
As for the rad I must of hit it while I was working on truck and well when filling the coolant back up I noticed a constant stream of coolant trickling down. I was sure I screwed something up until I realized it was flowing off the shroud. I then looked at the rad and immediately pin pointed my problem. Rad was leaking! Just like a wet t-shirt the coolant was flowing down. I then took out the rad and tried welding it and no luck but I started a whole new thread with this problem on here to get some help.
Now what I have to say is that I learned a whole lot about diesel engines and engines in general. I have never tore into one nearly as far as I did. Even tho my wife is not very happy that I spent so much time in the garage I kind of enjoyed doing this. Now it doesn't mean I feel like doing it again anytime soon as I want to drive my truck too.
One thing that was hard after re-assembly is remembering where all the parts went and even harder where to route those wires... Tips would be to label every wire with masking tape and tear off the masking tape after every connection is made on re-assembly which is what I did. This way if you don't see any more masking tape it's that all your connections are made. Patience is a virtue and you want to make sure that everything is right. One more tip I would have to mention is take off the fender liners from the get go. I didn't and removed a few things with them in which made things much harder such as the turbo hoses, etc. I only took them off near the end to remove the exhaust manifolds but re-assembling with them off was SO much easier. Bag everything and write down where the different bolts go if they aren't all the same or if it's not obvious. Write down everything in the order you take off parts and take note of things you may not remember. You don't necessarily need to put them back in the same order but it will help you not forget anything along the way. Take pictures of the things you may have difficulty with although the internet is a great tool for finding these things your own pics or vids can come in very handy. In my case I made a short vid of the fuel line routing as I found that quite overwhelming at first glance it did come in handy for the fuel lines but even more. Do your research... Read everything you can find and print the instructions found on the GM Spec section of this forum about most steps along the way they will come in useful. I also used the specs merchant automotive have on adjusting valve lash, cleaning the injectors and fuel lines. One more thing about injector fuel lines is a product called Evapo Rust but I am sure there is many others out there. Dip them in that stuff for a couple days and they will come out looking brand new. Rust will be gone and you simply need to rinse them really good. I didn't come up with this idea as I read it from some thread. When setting the cups make sure they are seated properly. I found it easier to lube the o-rings really well and them push them in and out with a finger inside the cup. You will feel it when they will be in just the right place then tap them in. A few gentle tap is all they need to go in. Oh and one more thing. For the rad if you are going to do this with the engine in the truck I would take the time to put something in front of it to protect it like a cardboard box and a 1/4" plywood. That would of saved my rad right now... Alright that's all I can think of for now but if I remember anything else that may help another person out I will write it down
As for the rad I must of hit it while I was working on truck and well when filling the coolant back up I noticed a constant stream of coolant trickling down. I was sure I screwed something up until I realized it was flowing off the shroud. I then looked at the rad and immediately pin pointed my problem. Rad was leaking! Just like a wet t-shirt the coolant was flowing down. I then took out the rad and tried welding it and no luck but I started a whole new thread with this problem on here to get some help.
Now what I have to say is that I learned a whole lot about diesel engines and engines in general. I have never tore into one nearly as far as I did. Even tho my wife is not very happy that I spent so much time in the garage I kind of enjoyed doing this. Now it doesn't mean I feel like doing it again anytime soon as I want to drive my truck too.
One thing that was hard after re-assembly is remembering where all the parts went and even harder where to route those wires... Tips would be to label every wire with masking tape and tear off the masking tape after every connection is made on re-assembly which is what I did. This way if you don't see any more masking tape it's that all your connections are made. Patience is a virtue and you want to make sure that everything is right. One more tip I would have to mention is take off the fender liners from the get go. I didn't and removed a few things with them in which made things much harder such as the turbo hoses, etc. I only took them off near the end to remove the exhaust manifolds but re-assembling with them off was SO much easier. Bag everything and write down where the different bolts go if they aren't all the same or if it's not obvious. Write down everything in the order you take off parts and take note of things you may not remember. You don't necessarily need to put them back in the same order but it will help you not forget anything along the way. Take pictures of the things you may have difficulty with although the internet is a great tool for finding these things your own pics or vids can come in very handy. In my case I made a short vid of the fuel line routing as I found that quite overwhelming at first glance it did come in handy for the fuel lines but even more. Do your research... Read everything you can find and print the instructions found on the GM Spec section of this forum about most steps along the way they will come in useful. I also used the specs merchant automotive have on adjusting valve lash, cleaning the injectors and fuel lines. One more thing about injector fuel lines is a product called Evapo Rust but I am sure there is many others out there. Dip them in that stuff for a couple days and they will come out looking brand new. Rust will be gone and you simply need to rinse them really good. I didn't come up with this idea as I read it from some thread. When setting the cups make sure they are seated properly. I found it easier to lube the o-rings really well and them push them in and out with a finger inside the cup. You will feel it when they will be in just the right place then tap them in. A few gentle tap is all they need to go in. Oh and one more thing. For the rad if you are going to do this with the engine in the truck I would take the time to put something in front of it to protect it like a cardboard box and a 1/4" plywood. That would of saved my rad right now... Alright that's all I can think of for now but if I remember anything else that may help another person out I will write it down
