Ford 7.3 Injectors question

Anyone ever did injectors on a Ford 7.3 diesel? The owner whom I met yesterday outside a bank as we'd been talking about a light bar he had as after watching scannerdanner's video awhile back about installing one I've been considering it. Anyways a 5 min question turned into an hour talk and the guy asked me if I'd be willing to replace the injectors for him as he knows he needs to get them done.

I told him I knee someone for him but turns out that person is to busy. The friend ld mine suggested I get my feet wet doing them as this is something I've always had interest in as well (diesel's).

I went online, did some searching, saw videos but also found a PDF regarding the procedures. My only downside is the lack of experience of inspecting the injector cups makes me cautious, still optimistic about doing it though even though I've never did them. I've spent plenty of time around watching assisting others doing them back oh probably 20 yrs ago when I worked at Freightliner and Kenworth before heading off and trucking for 13 1/2 yrs before having back surgery in late 2009 which left me on disability after going back to work trucking in early 2010 but then issues, complications from the surgery arose which turned into a serious life threatening infection for a 3 month period which after it was cleared and the leak stopped the damage was done thus preventing me from going back to work.

I do a little work for friends acquaintances with the understanding that I probably won't do more than 1-2 hrs of repair before taking a 1-2 hr rest period and other laying down to rest the back.

Anyways I found a PDF regarding the procedure and looking at the repair steps it looks pretty straight forward. My only concern would be I'd need the year model. He'd go with or go to Ford and get the proper injectors from their parts dept. The other concern would be any technical issues, updates, TSB'S , revisions to procedure and such that have occurred for the vehicle since it was bought.

BY my guess from talking with the guy yesterday while at the truck standing outside is that the truck is probably a 06-10 model based on rust I saw, things he said had been replaced, etc. He uses it for plowing in the winter though as well as pulling a handyman trailer in the summer months.

I will add the PDF to the post for our diesel techs to take a perk at and get their opinion.

I've always been told about 80% of it is confidence in doing something and the other 20% is common sense but it very well could be 90% and 10% respectively as well.

IS there a reason it don't display the PDF file in the post opened when I attach it or is there a button I'm missing or just that type of function isn't available? Curious...

I have done injectors on a couple of 7.3L Power Strokes, here are some important steps/tips you want to follow.



Use only factory (from the dealer) injectors , I have used aftermarket reman injectors and had a bad one out of the box. You will save yourself a big headache if you get them from the dealer.


The passenger side valve cover can be a PITA, you will need a little patience to get to the bolts near the hvac box.


Make sure you drain the oil out of the oil rails before you remove the injectors, you can (will) hydro lock the engine.


you can remove the injectors with out draining the fuel out of the heads but I would suggest you bar the engine over by hand after you have completed installation of the injectors. If for some reason the engine gets hydro locked. You can get the engine to turn over if you bar the engine over and when it hits a spot where it is locked up, just rotate the engine back and forth until it frees up (ask me how I know :ohmy: )

clean out the injector bores with some compressed air. Make sure there is nothing in the cups.


It's not that difficult of a Job, you can find a few youtube videos to help guide you.


oh, and there is an option for a different #8 injector, it will be labeled different than the others.

Ro-longo's tips are excellent. Like most jobs, as long as you take your time and stay focused, you'll be fine.

Did the owner of this 7.3 say why he wanted the injectors replaced? I usually find injector failure related to either poor quality fuel (duh) or lack of oil changes, so it may be worth covering those subjects after the repair to give the new injectors a fair chance at lasting.

While the valve covers are off, consider doing glow plugs? Again, this would go back to the owner and any symptoms they stated. I had a former boss describe these engines as, "Coldblooded as hell." And he was right! :lol: They'll struggle to start if the ambient temp goes below 70 degrees if there's a glow plug system problem. SMA has an excellent video about this if you're interested:

Dtnel wrote: IS there a reason it don't display the PDF file in the post opened when I attach it or is there a button I'm missing or just that type of function isn't available? Curious...

It looks like you did it right to me? It won't actually display the PDF in your post, just link to a different page.

Agreed with rest it's pretty straight forward also should mention the glow plug harness can be worn/ broken under valve cover so inspect it while it's off and as Tyler mentioned change the glow plugs while it's apart . Also the 7.3 was phased out in 03 to make way for the 6.0 powerstroke so assuming it's not the old body it falls between a 99 and 03

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