2006 F250, King Ranch cc-srw 4x4 120,000 new turbo under warranty @ 99k. ID custom tuned SCT set on kill, turbo back stainless MBRP, Sinister delete, K&N open element cai. Occasional light towing but mostly rompin' passenger truck. Near Indiana/Michigan line for point of reference about winter startup.

OK guys, about me. I own a used auto dealership, am a very capable self-taught mechanic and do most of our repairs in our shop. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Ford guy, racer and restorer.

My personal truck was starting hard back in the fall when the temperatures hit about 40 deg. overnight. I plugged it in for about two weeks until I had time to get it in the shop and work on it (figuring it needed glow plugs). It still started a bit rough but better. After some research I decided to put a full set of glow plugs in it and ordered new harnesses for both sides too. I don't know that this will correct my problem but it seems like a logical first step.

Even with the correct removal tool we are breaking off the groove without getting the harness out. I have tried every trick in my book to get the plugs out intact and most have broken into bits. I have heavily researched, looking for posts/threads about this problem today and have found surprisingly little. My biggest concern is the possible loss of some small plastic bits into the top of the head/rocker box area. I think it is likely that any small debris would work it's way into the drain back holes and probably into the pan. In an ideal world I would not relish having ANY kind of debris floating around. It is just not practical for me to do a big teardown right now. I have gotten the majority of the plugs out in a very painstaking process of plucking small pieces and would guess we might have lost a couple of 3/16" chunks per side.

Beyond the debris concern, does anybody use grease/lube/neverseize around the new harness/o rings going back in?

After I get the glow plugs and harness back in, my next step will be to test the ficm. I'm strongly considering the 58v mod and refurbish from swamps. It seems like the price has risen quite a bit in the last couple of years for this service but might be worthwhile.

Sorry for the long winded first post but I was hoping to give all the info.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

OH MAN! I love doing injector harness's Best thing to do when removing them prior to removing them before you manage to break them, shoot brake clean at them load them up it will dry the o ring out and crack it. make them easy to come out.

Now that you broke them, next step is to drill the outer edge and use a bent radiator pick and you can wiggle them out. Unfortunatley the rocker arms are in the way, UNLESS you bent up your own tool to take the valve covers off and pry them out from UNDER the rocker box. Very easy. As for the shavings ending up in the oil drain holes, the valve covers come off easy and you use a small pneumatic vac. just suck em out.

the tool i use to get them out and how i normally do them is remove the fender wells 5.5 mm 8mm and i have a snap on trim panel tool the opening is perfect for them. pry them out 1 by 1 while tugging slightly upwards on the top of the plastic caps. Usually pop out especially with brake clean.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS put grease on any rubber part, all the gaskets and o rings that are rubber put a good grease on them, like Valvoline red synthetic grease.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I currently have the drivers side cover off and cant really see the area by the drain holes. Are you talking about reaching through the holes that the plugs go through or just around the rocker assemblies with a vacuum? I actually doubt I can use a vac and get any debris picked up from what I can see. I got mostly bigger chunks to come out by using a small bent screwdriver and a couple of dental picks. I have some red high-temp grease and that is what I had in mind to use on the new harness going back in.

 

so you stuff a small vacuum hose into the end of the vac. thats all i ever do. never had any catastrophic failures to date because theres no way your going to get every little tiny piece out. and ive done tons of them. Other guys cringe and refuse doing them i dont. beats doing V8/V10 manifolds or anything 6.4 wise...

 

FWIW... the glow plug systems on these trucks rarely goes bad. These are far less problematic than 7.3 glow plug setups. My guess is this really wont change your starting issues.

Any time I've had to do all 8 glow plugs or remove the harness, we just yank the rocker box out with them in, and push them out from the backside with a socket, works like a charm.

Test that FICM.