Pulling injectors on a 673

[Craig N]

Hi all. I just picked up a nice b42 but the motor is stuck from sitting about 6 years. Supposedly ran fine when it was parked.   I’m going to pull the injectors on  the 673 and put some mystery oil/on blaster in the cylinders and let it sit about a week. Then I’ll jack it up, put it in high gear and rock the wheels back and forth to try and free it. So, my question is, can I make a slide hammer out of a long 3/8x24 bolt and thread it in to where the banjo bolt holds the return lines on top of the injector and use that to get the injectors out?  Is that too much on the threads maybe?  There looks to be about a half inch of threads in the top of the injector for the bolt to grab to. I don’t wanna wreck the injectors. Might try to find a puller that will go under the ears but figured I’d ask here first. Thanks for a great forum filled with tons of great info, everyone. 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Craig N
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[theakerstwo]

I have used a heel bar for years.With a slide hammer you would pull the threads and it would be easy to do.

[Craig N]

2 minutes ago, theakerstwo said:

I have used a heel bar for years.With a slide hammer you would pull the threads and it would be easy to do.

Yeah, I had a feeling I’d wreck the threads in no time doing it that way.  I’ve got heel bars, I’ll get under the ears and work them out that way I guess. Thanks for the help!

Edited November 9, 2022 by Craig N

[mechohaulic]

if  heel bar doesn't work ( most times it should ;; for me anyhow ) the actual injector puller screws on the top of the injector AFTER  unscrewing the top where the return line fastens to.  with a spare junk injector take the top outer housing off  you can weld an adapter to it (style your preference )  use it as a puller by threading it on to the struck injector. or if your brave ;; loosen the two hold down nuts ;; leaving a full thread on the nuts of the stuck cyl;; spin the engine over. have lucked out and had injector push up enough to use a heel bar. 

[mechohaulic]

based on the picture, you have ALL the hold down inj nuts off. if you pull any inj that is free then put two nuts back on loose of the stuck one, the engine  will spin over easier to possibly push the stuck ones lose. that's if the heel trick doesn't do it of course 

[Craig N]

1 minute ago, mechohaulic said:

based on the picture, you have ALL the hold down inj nuts off. if you pull any inj that is free then put two nuts back on loose of the stuck one, the engine  will spin over easier to possibly push the stuck ones lose. that's if the heel trick doesn't do it of course 

Engine is stuck, that’s why I’m pulling the injectors. Hoping to free it up with a nice mystery oil soaking and some persuasion with the wheels off the ground 

[mechohaulic]

guess that kills the idea of spinning it over to free an injector. 

[theakerstwo]

With a stuck injector i have used a punch and hammer and tap on the injector to twist it one way and then tap on it the other way to twist it and some times it will break loose.The right size heel bar will pull ever one i have pulled.

[Onyx610]

Indexing pry bars are good for this kind of stuff as well. 

[Joey Mack]

I get it...  I took a stuck END 673 apart and it took hours and a ton of patience..  I worked slow and deliberate, Just Like a Mack Engine...  I also had to be carefull with 2 John Deere 3179's for the same issue...  On all of those,  I had the heads off, but it took a lot of PB Blaster and very slow 'working back and forth' to get them to move then a slow twist to pull them out..  Be patient, and good luck... jojo

[Craig N]

1 hour ago, theakerstwo said:

With a stuck injector i have used a punch and hammer and tap on the injector to twist it one way and then tap on it the other way to twist it and some times it will break loose.The right size heel bar will pull ever one i have pulled.

I’m gonna have at it with the heel bars tomorrow.  I bet they’ll come out with some work. I haven’t taken anything else off the motor besides the fuel return and feed lines to the injectors.  If the water manifold was off it would sure be easier but I’ll try and fiddle them out with everything in place still

[Craig N]

1 hour ago, Joey Mack said:

I get it...  I took a stuck END 673 apart and it took hours and a ton of patience..  I worked slow and deliberate, Just Like a Mack Engine...  I also had to be carefull with 2 John Deere 3179's for the same issue...  On all of those,  I had the heads off, but it took a lot of PB Blaster and very slow 'working back and forth' to get them to move then a slow twist to pull them out..  Be patient, and good luck... jojo

Thanks, patience and persistence. 

[Craig N]

1 hour ago, Onyx610 said:

Indexing pry bars are good for this kind of stuff as well. 

Yeah, I’ll wedge something under the ears and get them out. Hoping the heel bars I have will work

[fjh]

10 hours ago, Craig N said:

Yeah, I’ll wedge something under the ears and get them out. Hoping the heel bars I have will work

Certain Tire bars work well  for this as well Glenn has the ticket on this!  mentioned tapping them back and forth to get them to turn first its only a little but there is a enough movement on the studs there to get them broke free!

[Craig N]

Well, I’ve got 4 out of the 6 injectors out and they came out relatively easy with the heel bars. There are two (2&6) that are being super stubborn. I’ve been fighting with them for a bit now and can’t get them to budge at all. I’m gonna wrestle with them more today and I’ll spray them down once again before I leave tonight and fight with them again tomorrow.  Thanks for all the advice on here. 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Craig N

[Craig N]

23 hours ago, theakerstwo said:

With a stuck injector i have used a punch and hammer and tap on the injector to twist it one way and then tap on it the other way to twist it and some times it will break loose.The right size heel bar will pull ever one i have pulled.

So, do you think there’s any chance of breaking the ears off using the heel bars? I can get some leverage on them if I add some wrenches too. I’m using 18” (give or take) heel bars so could probably double the leverage.  The others came out with minimal effort with the bars (one 12” even) but these last two are real stubborn.  I’m trying to avoid taking the air intake and coolant manifold off to even think about getting a hammer and punch in there. These injectors are sitting on studs so not sure how much I could really get them to move with a hammer and punch anyway, but it might be just enough to break them loose.  
 

I was reading another thread about oil filters that you helped on about 10 years ago. Thanks a lot for helping spread the knowledge around. A hobbyist like me really appreciates the help from guys like you who don’t mind helping. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Craig N
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[Onyx610]

Try some map gas on the head around the injector?

[Craig N]

2 minutes ago, Onyx610 said:

Try some map gas on the head around the injector?

I was wondering about heat. Might have to try. I’m worried about ruining the valve cover gasket but I can probably repair with some RTV if I had to take off the valve cover. Thanks for the help!

[Joey Mack]

you can get a sheet of gray gasket paper from NAPA and trace the old one if it stays in one piece.   

[Onyx610]

10 minutes ago, Craig N said:

I was wondering about heat. Might have to try. I’m worried about ruining the valve cover gasket but I can probably repair with some RTV if I had to take off the valve cover. Thanks for the help!

Maybe just try keeping the flame on the backside of the injector. 

[Craig N]

12 minutes ago, Onyx610 said:

Maybe just try keeping the flame on the backside of the injector. 

Yeah, I can go easy with it and see. I can’t believe how stuck they are. The others all came out with very little persuasion, but I’ve been prying these with all my might

[Onyx610]

Seems to be that most things at the rear of an engine are the worst to deal with. Probably due to the fact it gets the most heat. 

[theakerstwo]

Dont use any heat and dont take any manifolds off.You can remove a couple head bolt nuts to give you some more room there and you dont know any one that has pulled as many of these as me so i can tell you your not going to break the ears off.

[fjh]

5 minutes ago, theakerstwo said:

Dont use any heat and dont take any manifolds off.You can remove a couple head bolt nuts to give you some more room there and you dont know any one that has pulled as many of these as me so i can tell you your not going to break the ears off.

I’m not far behind you Glenn!

its way worse to do on a 285 the aftercooler adds some extra excitement to the job ! You’ll get them ! Do you have an air hammer? That would get it moving!

[theakerstwo]

I dont need to sound like i know it all but have seen them pulled different ways and there is no  easy way if the seal at the top of the injector has leaked water down into the tube and that happens when the rubber seal gets old.