My dmax started smoking at idle the other day, and I presume its probably injectors. It doesnt smoke until it warms up a little, and doesnt smoke driving it down the road, only at idle. My warranty ran out 9/11/2008 and I called the dealer and they said im outta warranty so it looks like im SOL.

Anyways, I'm looking for some input for testing the injectors myself. I'm looking for the best way to check the balance rates and whatever else I need to diagnose bad injectors. What is the best scanner for the money out there that will diagnose injectors, balance rates, etc.???

I have read some on here and some people have added some pics and some instructions on how to replace the injectors yourself.

My plan is to put together a few page DIY manual with pictures, specs, and part numbers, cost, etc. I would also like to post a simple walkthrough of testing the injectors before I actually rip into the 6.6L.

Any input would be great, and hints tips along the way as well. Once I get some feedback on the scanner, I will make sure it is indeed my injectors, and then I will start on a DIY manual.

How are you out of warranty??? Over the 200,000 miles?? You should have some time left on the injector special policy, i.e. 7 years.



http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=196427&highlight=04039B

If he is an 02 3500 and purchased on 9/11/2001, than he's out of warranty by the 7 year mark. I would like to see what the responses are for this thread though. I'm out of warranty in 1 month.

LA DMAX

Got ya.

Anyways, I'm looking for some input for testing the injectors myself. I'm looking for the best way to check the balance rates and whatever else I need to diagnose bad injectors. What is the best scanner for the money out there that will diagnose injectors, balance rates, etc.???


As far as scanner, I would say EfiLive. You can scan for balance rates and a lot of other stuff. You could also use later for tuning of your truck.

I would only replace the bad injectors. Just my opinion.

are you planning on trying to diag only bad injector/injectors are are you gonna do the set?

How are you out of warranty??? Over the 200,000 miles?? You should have some time left on the injector special policy, i.e. 7 years.



http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=196427&highlight=04039B


According to my VIN build sheet, my warranty start date started 9/11/2001...which 7 years is up at this point by 3weeks+.

As for the injectors, first I want to diagnose them, and if any are bad get them replaced. I havent decided yet if I want to replace all 8. My thoughts are only to replace the bad ones. According to some people on here all you need is a little bit of mechanical ability to replace an injector and ive been working on cars/trucks and messing around in the garage for over 10 years now so hopefully i can handle it.

I would like to get a list of tools put together as well.

EFILive is a good scanner? I'm good with tools, but when it comes to scanners and this electronics crap (computer stuff, ecm, etc) its very confusing. I dont want to change any other parameters at this point, so I just need a good reliable scanner that I can use. And if others need to change injectors they can pick up this thread to change injectors step by step.

Here ya go!!

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=183224

With a little searching, most stuff can be found here on a lb7.

Thanks!. Whenever I do dive into this injector replacement...I will use that thread...and create pics and stuff..

Thanks!

I know mytmouse has done multiple replacements. You might check with him regards replacing one or all at a time.

Will a Tech II be able to check balance rates and return rates? I know it can check rail pressure, and that seems what the dealer does to see if the injector is bad, but most on here suggest checking the other 2 rates. If not a Tech II, what would you need? Thanks.

LA DMAX

Will a Tech II be able to check balance rates and return rates? I know it can check rail pressure, and that seems what the dealer does to see if the injector is bad, but most on here suggest checking the other 2 rates. If not a Tech II, what would you need? Thanks.

LA DMAX


I dont know about you...but I dont have access to a $3000 Tech II:D...so I'm just trying to find an average priced scanner that will work on OBDII vehicles and be able to diagnose my LB7.

Cheapest option out there is software if you have a laptop. About $350 for software with the adapter cable to plug into the OBD2 plug under the dash. You can see live sensor data, turn injectors off/on while its running, I think you can open ABS valves to bleed brakes,...lots of things a tech2 will do. You can not reprogram the ecm. I figure a sure way to know which injector/s is causing the smoke is to turn each one off one at a time til the smoke quits. Balance rates should be a good indicator of which one to start with. Down side to replacing single injectors is many talk about the crud that falls into the injectors during removal, one piece of trash inside the injector will ruin it.

What is the name of the software you can buy for a laptop....thx

I personally am looking at autoenginuity, there's another one called obd2 I think that seems to do the same stuff and a little cheaper I believe. Google search for OBD2 or OBDII software and start reading. The tech2 is real nice but here lately they seem to run around 2k on fleabay.

put a couple of ounces of two stroke oil in your gas tank. that might free up your injectors....worked for me

The reason I'm asking is that a friend of a friend has a tech II and I was wondering what rates it's able to read or not. If I can get a look at these rates I may have some ammo to use with the dealer instead of the dealer checking rail pressure then saying everything is ok. Thanks.

LA DMAX

Thanks for the info guys, im in the same boat as my warranty expired too.

Ran across some software called HPtuners, looks real interesting, looks like you can read/write with it. Pricey but playing always is.
Peace

Here is alittle info that got thrown together in the past, might be of some help.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211069

Thanks for all the scanner input tools. I will have to look into them as well.

As for the 2-stroke oil...I'm not a diesel mechanic by any means...but wouldnt adding 2-stroke oil plug things up? Maybe a really dumb question...but just kinda skeptical.

If I do add the oil...how much are we talking....say 8oz per 34gal tank? Just want to make sure I dont screw something up...

Any suggestions as to what kind of 2 stroke oil?

Tolli...thanks for the thread..it will be quite useful.

For injectors...do you suggest replacing all 8 or just the bad ones?

I know that most of the injectors are reman's....does it matter where to buy them...for example...ebay is pretty cheap.

ive been using 1 oz per gallen...so i have a 26 gallon tank so i put 24 oz in cuz i dont run my tank dry...some ppl say use 16 oz per tank put u have a bigger tank so i would put in 22 oz or so...it wont hurt anything it just adds lube back into the ULSD...if your already digging in to replace some id replace them all

I had No. 1 and 4 at 4.8 and 3.7 respectively. I then had the fuel in oil issue.
I could have replaced 1 and 4, done the leaky test and then replaced the leaky/faulty injector/injectors. Spent the next 4 hours buttoning everything up only for another one or two to fail in a month of two. I had 3 complete injectors sets onboard anyway, but when I spoke to Eric at Merchant and he said to replace all 8 there and then. Yes its cost me a couple of thousand dollars and yes one of the new ones could fail in a couple of months, but that's a risk I have to take. But knowing how anal I'm being about the rebuild and maintenance I'm confident I will not have another problem(in the near future at least)
One more thing to add is that I quizzed Eric about how often he saw the same trucks that he'd worked on injector wise and he said "yes two or three, but these ones had 700,000 miles" on them not the 50,000 that I had.
Salesman hard sell, don't think so.
I would do all 8 and be done with it.

My opinion is replace them all when you do it. Take your time, maybe count on an extra day to pull fuel rails too and clean all the fuel lines. I keep reading about debris falling in the injectors during tear down which is sure to have you back in there soon, then debris falls in your new injector while replacing the bad one and so on. I bought a used set of injector lines and rails from a member here knowing they are dirty and will need cleaning. They indeed have lots of gunk and goo inside them. I can only imagine what mine will look like when I get the money saved up for injectors and tear into it. I want to clean it all, keep the filter changed, keep lubrication in the fuel and hope I get many years out of a new set of injectors.

First post here but long time reader.
I would talk to the dealer again.
They just replaced all 8 injectors on my 2001 dually - 134000 mi, my cost $500. The truck was 25 days out of the 7 year warranty for injectors.
I was on the road to the Carlisle Fall car show and i had code 0093. I had diesel all over my truck. I took it to theGM dealer Lawrence Chevrolet in Mechanicsburg, PA. They looked at it and decided all 8 injectors had to be replaced. The service manager called his GM rep and the rep said if the customer pays $500 GM will take care of the rest. They handled the situation very professional and to my full satisfaction.
Good look.

Thanks for all the scanner input tools. I will have to look into them as well.

As for the 2-stroke oil...I'm not a diesel mechanic by any means...but wouldnt adding 2-stroke oil plug things up? Maybe a really dumb question...but just kinda skeptical.

If I do add the oil...how much are we talking....say 8oz per 34gal tank? Just want to make sure I dont screw something up...

Any suggestions as to what kind of 2 stroke oil?

I USE 1 OZ PER GALLON EVERY 3-4 TANK FILLS.

Tolli...thanks for the thread..it will be quite useful.

For injectors...do you suggest replacing all 8 or just the bad ones?

I know that most of the injectors are reman's....does it matter where to buy them...for example...ebay is pretty cheap.


I would shop with the vendors on here, and be careful about the Ebay injectors, I would go with GM remans or New GM's if you could find them, the Ebay ones are remans, but who knows who remaned them.

And I would do all on the same side, but if you have one bad on both sides, do all 8.

Tolliwacker just touched on my approach....open a bank and do all 4 regardless.

I am out of the "special policy" (i.e 200k/7yr extended warranty) by 11 months on my 02 LB7. The dealer here in Winchester VA looked at it yesterday and said he can't tell what injectors are bad, nor could he tell me what bank has the problem.

I only half believed his story. This is my logic: it might be possible that you can't pin point the injector that is putting 3 quarts of fuel in my oil every 75 miles due to its likely to be a crack in the injector above the head (no smoke) and below the valve cover -- hense the fuel finds it way to the oil pan and not out the tail pipe.

But I tend to believe that a person that knows how to run and read a scanner should be able to tell which bank is consuming more fuel. But the dealer's tech told me they couldn't tell anything and said there was no charge for the service. Well heck I was glad to pay $60 to determine injector number and or bank.

My thought now is to scan it myself, determine the bank and change all 4 in the bank. Pay for the hit half at a time.

I could just flip a coin, heads right, tails left and take my chances -- I would know in 75 miles if I got the right bank. Heck if I got the wrong bank I know I just removed 4 good injectors -- head to the other side of the motor, pull the original 4 on that side knowing that I just reduced or deduced the failure to that side and I could put all four of the known to be good original from the first bank into the second bank and I'm good to roll at the cost of four injectors and the possible labor to due just the four if I'm lucky, or the labor for all 8 if my coin toss was bad.

Point being is that I believe I could determine the correct bank with a scanning tool. I'm a professional computer geek and a weekend wrench turnner.

Thoughts anyone?

I think you can get a software program for a laptop and hook it to your truck that will let you turn off 1 injector at a time so you can nail which one/s are causing you grief. For what they cost and looking back a year later, I'd only replace the broke one/s at this point. When you start getting fuel in your oil though, its hard to say which one is causing that and your oil is your life in your motor. 6k for an engine or 2k for injectors?