Tightening the injector line.

[Willie Two]

One of my injector lines is leaking at the injector, don't know if it is the injector line or the return line cap / o Rings. The top of the cap gets wet first. I don't want to over tighten the injector line but this is the line I had been cracking over the winter during some air / hard starting issues. Perhaps I damaged something ???? Should I give the nut an extra twist and see what happens ??

 

[Russ]

I would bet it's the o rings and caps before the hard line. If they are old if you look at them funny they can leak.

 

[Brutis]

/\ What he said

 

[TWeatherford]

If your caps, return lines and o rings are old or look bad may as well replace them. $30 and it'll start better and won't spring a huge leak 400 miles from home. I recommend keeping all your old caps as well, or buy a second new set, to carry with you in the event one does spring a leak or break while you're on the road. Its really frustrating when a little piece of plastic keeps you from driving on Saturday and parts stores can't get one till Monday.

Whenever I loosen injector caps to purge air, the first part to get wet seems to be at the top of the nut. So if you're getting fuel below the nut I would guess, as others have, it is your o ring or cap, or both.

Of course, it doesn't really hurt to give the nut an extra twist, just don't overdo it or you may have to buy a new injector, or hard line, or both.

 

[opusd2]

And what really makes for an interesting sight is air bubbling at the base of the injector.

 

[Willie Two]

I'll try and dry off the area and watch where it begins to get wet. Thanks to all.

 

[Diesel JD]

The only way that hard line is going to leak is if someone didn't tighten it down or crossthreaded it...or its busted. There is a torque spec for the lines, something like 35 ft-lbs, hard to apply without special attachments, you just need to be really careful if you do the return kits that you don't cross thread the injector. It's very easy to do and I have ruined more than one good injector this way. It's doubtful you'd hurt the line, they are of really much harder metal than the injectors, which is just as well, injectors are pretty easily available many places and these lines are hard to come by except from an OB brother or from a wrecking yard with a bunch of Ford Diesels. You're going to have to bend the lines some to get the old return caps off so when you reinstall be really sure that the lines are clean and will thread onto the injector by hand without having to use a lot of force, only then should you break out your 5/8 wrench and snug it down then take it about 1/4 to 1/2 turn beyond that. I bet that's pretty close to 35 ft-lbs, and I personally wouldn't want to apply more torque than that to one of these injectors.

 

[THECACKLER]

The Injector Line torque is 22 ft#. Easiest way to tell how much torque that is using a combination wrench is to torque something else like an intake manifold bolt to 22 ft# and then use a wrench the same length to loosen and tighten and loosen and re-tighten that bolt a few times to get the feel. Then set your torque wrench for 24 ft# and see if when you torque the manifold bolt to 24 ft# (spec) it turns just a few degrees more. Then you'll know how close you are to knowing what 22 ft# feels like on a hand wrench.

The injectors are the ones that torque to 35.
The last time I checked the lines were available from MWFI.

 

[THECACKLER]

The Injector Line torque is 22 ft#. Easiest way to tell how much torque that is using a combination wrench is to torque something else like an intake manifold bolt to 22 ft# and then use a wrench the same length to loosen and tighten and loosen and re-tighten that bolt a few times to get the feel. Then set your torque wrench for 24 ft# and see if when you torque the manifold bolt to 24 ft# (spec) it turns just a few degrees more. Then you'll know how close you are to knowing what 22 ft# feels like on a hand wrench.

The injectors are the ones that torque to 35.
The last time I checked the lines were available from MWFI.