Power Stroke Injector Cup Replacement
My 2003 Ford Excursion 7.3L PSD has been one of the best vehicles I have had. But with anything that starts to get old you run into some issues. Until about 130K miles it was mostly maintenance. About the worse thing that I had to do was the Power Steering Pump Project, but other than that it's been a very good truck and driven daily since 2003.
At some point I started smelling Diesel on a long trip, after popping the hood my immediate thought was the fuel filter housing was leaking as the O-rings seem to have a tendency to go bad. But in following the trail of Diesel it seem to be coming out of the Radiator! WTF!!! So I jumped online and found out that it's not an uncommon problem where the injector cups that are pressed into the cylinder heads crack from vibration and force diesel into the cooling system. Well in my case that's what was going on and finally it overflowed the pressure cap and was leaking out all over the engine compartment.
Off to the Ford Dealer... You know this is not going to end well from a dollar perspective. After some inspection they said you need new injector cups and it would be right about $3000-3500 to do the job. Well thanks to the 'internet' I already knew what the job needed and the 'steelership' said they must remove the heads to replace the injector cups. I asked if that price included rebuilding the head (ie, surface, valve job, etc). He said no, we just pull them an press in new cups and replace. When I specifically asked if he thought that was a good idea he had no comment, then I further pushed that I know they make a tool that does NOT require removal of the heads to replace the cups and he was silent then said he would have to check with the mechanic. Well upon return call he said they have the tool (surprise) but would rather not use it as they must do the work by the 'book' and I'm guessing charge book rate. Long and short of it was I was sure they were not really going to take the heads off and soak me for the book rate which required them to actually remove the heads.
I picked up the truck unannounced and paid the $125 diagnostic fee and drained the diesel out of the radiator (in their parking lot), loaded up some supplies and drove it 350 miles with no trouble.
I ordered the Injector Cup Master Kit with the Tool and Parts from Rosewood Diesel Shop and also a set of Diesel RX glow plugs as it was likely a good time to swap them out since I was in their. All in for the parts and tools was about $550 shipped.
Having never worked on the Power Stroke 7.3L before I was a bit nervous about what I was getting into, but it's really not all that difficult. The most difficult part is removing and installing the passenger side valve cover due to the mess of A/C and heater hoses that are all over the place on that side of the engine. The next problematic area was the rear Valve Cover Bolts on each side and finally the cup replacement on the rear most cylinders are a bit difficult to work with since they are under the cowl.
Torque Specs are on the last page.
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