Had a Cat C15 with a stuck injector that took me 2 days to get out

Last month I was working on a 2006 Peterbilt 379 at my shop in Tulsa. The owner said it was running rough and smoking white. I ran a compression test and everything pointed to a stuck injector on cylinder 4. I tried every trick I knew, heat, penetrating oil, even a slide hammer. After 8 hours day one I was ready to pull the head. The next morning I gave it one more shot with a different puller tool I borrowed from a buddy. It finally broke free with a loud crack. The injector bore had some serious carbon buildup I had to clean out with a honing brush. Has anyone else dealt with a stuck injector on a HEUI system where nothing seems to work the first time?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jessica24d ago

Man, that sounds like a nightmare. I had a buddy up in Oklahoma City with a 2000 International 4700 that had a stuck injector on the HEUI system. He spent a whole Saturday soaking it in Kroil and tapping it with a brass punch, then finally had to use a pneumatic puller and it came out like a cannon shot. He said the bore was so caked with carbon he had to run a brake hone in there just to smooth it out.

seanjackson24d ago

That 4700 HEUI system is a beast when it comes to carbon buildup. I've had to do the same trick on a 7.3 Powerstroke injector before, and a brass punch and some heat from a propane torch are usually the first step before you go for the puller. If the bore's that bad, I'd also flush it out with brake cleaner and compressed air before putting a new injector in, otherwise you'll be fighting the same problem in six months. The real trick is to oil the new o-rings good with clean engine oil, not just leave them dry.

ellis.susan24d ago

Pneumatic puller sounding like a cannon shot is exactly the kind of dramatic exit a stuck injector deserves. I swear those things get more carbon buildup than a chimney sweep's worst nightmare. Bet that brake hone felt like the only way to convince the bore to play nice again. Just hope your buddy didn't have to use the hone on the new injector too, that would be a whole different kind of Saturday.