My old mentor told me I was ruining injectors by not pre-lubing them

A couple years back, my old diesel mentor Dave watched me slap a set of injectors into a 6.0 Powerstroke without oiling the o-rings first. He pulled me aside and said 'you're dry firing those seals, they'll leak in 5,000 miles' - and he was right. After that, I started using a thin coat of clean 15W-40 on every injector install and seal replacement, and I haven't had a single comebacker since. Anybody else have a simple habit like that that made a huge difference in your failure rate?

3 comments

3 Comments

maryr4316d ago

I'm not sure it's really that serious. I've been putting injectors in engines for over 30 years and I've never once oiled the o-rings. Just push them in dry. If they're leaking after 5,000 miles it's usually because the bore is dirty or the seal got nicked going in, not because it was dry.

fionat5516d ago

Right there with you. I've done plenty of them dry too and never had a problem unless the bore was nasty or I messed up the install.

carr.luna16d ago

Exactly. I'm with you on that. I've put in plenty of injectors myself, maybe not 30 years worth but close to 20, and I've never lubed the o-rings either. People act like a dry o-ring is going to explode or something but that's just not how it works in my experience. If the bore is clean and you push it in straight, it seals fine. The only time I've seen problems is when someone scratches the o-ring or drops dirt in there. That's the real issue, not the lube.