1023 Diesel is a comprehensive diesel repair shop situated in Palmer, AK. While we maintain these videos/podcasts for archival purposes, please note that 1023 Diesel has ceased online parts sales, build support, and tuning services.
For local repairs, you can conveniently schedule an appointment through our website: 1023diesel.com.
For information related to the host, Dustin Hogate, please visit his personal website, as he is no longer affiliated with 1023 Diesel:
dustinhhogate.com
1023 Diesel is a comprehensive diesel repair shop situated in Palmer, AK. While we maintain these videos/podcasts for archival purposes, please note that 1023 Diesel has ceased online parts sales, build support, and tuning services.
For local repairs, you can conveniently schedule an appointment through our website: 1023diesel.com.
For information related to the host, Dustin Hogate, please visit his personal website, as he is no longer affiliated with 1023 Diesel:
dustinhhogate.com
Coming up on today's show like number one killer of these things is heat. Well, I'll tell you this. Your 7-3 is nothing like any of the you know the hot rods your dad drove around. Another huge issue we see is you know people buy bigger injectors. Go, oh man. They find out after they ran it for six months. Truck runs like crap. Now I need to buy all these other parts to make it work right. But right is not the way it used to run. Right is the new way it's going to run once you spent another five or six thousand dollars.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the 1023 diesel shop talk podcast. Look after helping thousands of people like you build and maintain their 7-3s. We've learned a thing or two about keeping these trucks on the road, and often it's turning them into the truck you want them to be. Sometimes it means keeping them the way that they used to be. Whatever it is, we take your calls and we give our opinion and advice from the experience we have for many years working on these trucks. If you have questions about your 7-3, we answer them. On this show you can schedule build called down below. Here's the conversations from today. I've got your form here and it looks like you're basically just starting out with the. You got a stock truck, Is that pretty accurate?
Speaker 2:There's. There's your yes and no. I I guess I thought it was stock because I've owned the truck since it was brand new, okay. But then I remembered, just after I bought it in oh too, somewhere around, oh oh for oh five, I put a banks power pack system on it and I'd forgotten about that. Okay, and then why I thought of it that well, that's modified. I better look up you know all the stuff that I did. So I found the old, looked up the owner's manual and credit it, so I have an idea of what I did. So it has a All the trends. It has a transmission, I don't know a little box I had to wire to the transmission so it would Go with the, the whole banks kit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it has banks trans trans command, I believe, is what they call it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I forgot what it's called that. That's how long ago it was. I forgot I had it on there. Yeah, you know the whole, the whole kit. Now I started realize away my replaced. You know I had to take part of the turbocharger apart and put in their new. You know, I guess it's I don't know if it's on the intake side you know a fan on the turbo and so I do have some modifications on it.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then do you?
Speaker 2:have their programmer also. I Don't know.
Speaker 1:Okay, you're getting ready to say something you're scheduled for what?
Speaker 2:I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:You were getting ready to say something. You said you're scheduled for what I.
Speaker 2:Need to replace my Injectors. Okay, so I and that's what started all this I have to do injectors. I didn't know what to get because I see there's you know like 30, 40 different types. I don't want, I don't want to make my truck a hot rod it. It was used for pulling a boat, okay. Now it has a pop-up camper on it and it'll have a Jeep on a trailer. So that's all it's gonna do now for the rest of its life.
Speaker 1:Okay, pop-up camper, so it's pretty light. Jeep is, you know. Adds another what? 6,000, 7,000 pounds with a trailer probably.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Probably the most yeah, but I just pull a boat. I had bigger boats. He raised yep of the 27 all the way up to 37 foot range. Should I pulled and I was pulling, I think the 37 football was 22,000 pounds. Yeah no, it was a lot for my truck but I didn't pull it a lot. But my 27 it was in there around 13, 14,000. Yeah, I pulled it all over Southern California and Arizona and Utah and Just to go to the Lake Powell mostly.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I guess. So what you're asking is whether. Is it whether to do a larger than stock injector, or is it just like what Brand to get? What specifically is your question?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't understand. I see you have two different brands one that has a Unlimited warranty, one that has I don't know the number right now. So my question would be between those two and then whether I should get stock or a stage, whatever their 1.5 or or it would a the php, the Hydrochip tuner. Would that be beneficial? And Just some basic stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what? What I found is that almost Almost everyone that's in your position and it may not be true for you, but almost everyone that's in your position that's owned the truck for a long time and Just is now at the point that they need to replace injectors is and they're just on the fence about whether to use any injector that's not stock. Then the answer is you probably shouldn't use any injector that's not stock. Just you replace the injectors with effect. A new factory set or a remanufactured set is what it'll be, what it'll be now and and don't I wouldn't even consider going with something that's that's a different than stock size injector, because you, it Isn't it, it wouldn't just be injectors.
Speaker 1:If you wanted to put bigger injectors in it, you know stage one and a half or whatever it would be replace injectors, you know, make some changes to your fuel system and high pressure will pump, and a whole new turbo and Probably some transmission modifications if you're going to be towing with it and it. It is a long list of things that goes along with the injectors. And on top of that, if, if the Like my assumption is, maybe I'm wrong here, my assumption is part of the reason you've kept this truck so long and still intend to keep the truck is that it's been pretty Reliable and it's worked this long and you would like to just continue doing what it's always done and well, this is the first set of injectors I've ever put in it.
Speaker 2:I've got two hundred and eighty five thousand miles on, yeah, and that's perfect.
Speaker 2:I mean that's, I'm putting them in because everybody says well, that a hundred thousand are worn out, you got a replacement. Well, my truck still runs pretty good and it's two eighty five. Yeah, you know I get different thoughts from different people and sometimes I just don't know what, what to think. I'm on the original transmission. I'm gonna knock on wood with that because it's Still stock, but I'm pretty good at my maintenance. I change oils and do the stuff I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not weird to make it to between 200 to 300,000 miles. If it's well maintained, that's. That's pretty normal and that's usually a well maintained truck. Between 200 and 300,000 is where we start to Expect that the injectors get worn. So are you? Are you getting them replaced Because there's a problem or just because of the mileage? Like, is it preventative or is it? It's actually like having some issues now.
Speaker 2:I'm really not having any issues of my mileage. I'm still happy with it. It gets around 16. You know, with the the it's a pop-up camper so it doesn't have a lot of wind resistance, but it's never gotten more than 18 since that I can ever remember. So I'm not unhappy with the performance. I just I listen to people to say, well, your injectors are worn out. If you've got over, like I said, people saying it 100,000 miles, they're worn out. Okay, I thought, well, gosh, I don't know, it starts good, it idle smooth, it's you. It still pulls strong and and I live, it doesn't matter because I have the turbo, I live with altitude and it still does all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so so you said you had scheduled. Is the truck? The truck was already set up to go into a shop set, correct, like you already have a time set up for it? No, I'm gonna do it myself. You're gonna do it yourself, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:I built hot rods for hobbies and I Don't I don't have any fear. I replaced blow plugs in this so I've had valve covers off, so I'm not I'm not too afraid to get into the injectors.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I guess let me let me answer the simple question, that's, if you're gonna replace them and you're gonna replace them with us with a stock set or a new, new or remanufactured stock set, meaning stock size. I Probably the best experience we've had with like longevity and the fewest problems and the smoothest running trucks has been with unlimited diesel as the brand. There's other brands that are great too, but that's unlimited diesel is the one we choose to work with and and I've had the best luck with I don't say luck's probably the wrong word they had a great experience with them. We used hundreds and hundreds of sets from them over the years and they've been fantastic. And so if it was up to me, that's what I would put in the truck and it would just be a new ad set, just a new, a New set of remanufactured, which is a really dumb way of saying that. But yeah, that'd be the route I'd go.
Speaker 1:I Guess there's no part of like anything you've said so far that makes me think that that using a A larger than stock set is a good idea. Okay, if you're happy with the trailer way the truck runs and you know you, you would like it to keep doing what it's always done and not introduce More problems, especially once you do get to you know, around 300,000 miles. I Would highly recommend not putting more stress on the engine. If longevity is what you're looking for and if you're perfectly happy with the Way it performs now, then I personally wouldn't change it.
Speaker 2:The. Yeah, I don't need to go fast anymore. I built pro street hot rods that went really fast. I'm old now, I'm content. Set in a cruise control with speed limit, maybe four over and and just let everybody flip me off. I don't care, I just go. I'm retired, got no time frame, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally understand that and I Guess the everything about what you're saying makes me think that it's just a new, a new set of the reman. Like I'm a mated ad's, call it a day, I wouldn't do anything else and just keep you see you so long.
Speaker 2:Obviously, you said, you did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's one of the brands we we sell, you know. Second to that would be like full-force diesel. They're a little bit cheaper. They have less warranty. They have a 18 month warranty versus a lifetime warranty. The unlimited has and and still a fine injector, very good for a reman company. But we don't see the same kind of quality controls we do from unlimited.
Speaker 3:So so specifically the unlimited these is what you'd recommend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the unlimited or the ones you have listed for 1480 First out. Yeah, I believe they're 14. Yeah, yeah, I have your website up, so Yep yeah, and I don't because I'm a oh, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got a little bit of a delay here. I don't is there any other can like any other issues concerns stuff You're wondering about, or is it just trying to decide on injectors, if they need to be replaced and what to replace them with if you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, mostly injectors, and I thought if I was gonna replace them anyway, if I bumped up, if I had to do a bunch of other things? I really don't want to. I don't need to roll black smoke all over people and I'm not racing the truck, I'm just we hop in it, we go to the mountains, we, you know, we just it's a recreational trucks might be my daily driver anymore.
Speaker 1:I yeah, yeah, there's a. I Don't. I don't want to complicate the conversation with stuff that doesn't matter, but Basically, unless, unless you need or want More power, then there is there is no reason to put bigger injectors in it Like there's nothing to be gained with the injectors and there's a lot to. There's a lot to lose and there's a lot that goes along with it.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so I guess that's why I kind of I leave it at the simplest answer, which is I wouldn't recommend it. You know, that's that's also part of the reason we, you know, try to record these conversations and publish them, at least some of them is there's always a new, a new perspective to bring into it of where we can say, like here's the things that go wrong or can go wrong and do go wrong when you go with bigger injectors, and it's, it's worth it if that's what you want. If you're trying to build a project truck, that's fine, but just you have to know that's what you're getting into. But if you're trying to make the truck do do the thing well, that it's always done, which is start every day and run down the road and haul what you needed to, then generally Bigger injectors are not, they're not the answer for that.
Speaker 2:So Okay, perfect, that's kind of confirms where I was leaning anyway. You know, standing on that fence I'm leaning that way anyway and that helps me out, somebody that you obviously know more about the diesel trucks than I do. I just have owned this one, so it's Just having some input from somebody like yourself helps a ton.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, good. So yeah, I mean and I've read, okay, what? Maybe you can help me at this one when do I need to know, when do I need to replace them? If I'm still, if my mileage is still about where it should be in the trucks, run the smooth. How do I know they're worn out?
Speaker 1:So if If the truck is running smooth, you're not seeing excessive smoke, especially like a colder mornings and stuff like that, if your mileage isn't dropping, then, you know, could you benefit from a new set like are they worn at all? I'm sure they're somewhat worn. Is it enough to matter if the truck runs perfect? Probably not, if you have no obvious signs of the injectors failing, whether that's, like said, starting issues or an ability issues, smoke issues, dropping mileage. If there's no signs at all, then Then I would say you probably don't need to replace them right now. It wouldn't be weird to start seeing problems by that mileage. I certainly don't think that they all fail by a hundred thousand. I mean that can happen, but that's if. Like you said, if you maintain the truck well, then it should last for longer than that. But okay, if there's, if there's nothing that's obviously different than it was, you know, 50 or a hundred thousand miles ago, then I wouldn't say it's a bad idea to replace them. But it doesn't sound like it's needed. It's some point they will need to.
Speaker 1:And I guess the the other side of it would be like outside of having problems like if we know it has that kind of mileage, and say like You're in good health, you're gonna do the good, do the work, and you've got the finances and time to do it now and you probably won't in you know 50 or a hundred thousand miles, maybe go ahead and do it now, but that's just up to you. It's. You know, if this is a comfortable time to do it, awesome. Is it a waste of money to do now? Probably not. I mean it's. It will need a set of injectors sometime in the next hundred, probably thousand miles like that wouldn't be weird at all. Okay, but you know when to do it. Generally would say wait until something fails before you replace it or has some sign of feeling before replacing it. But there are there are outside reasons why you might not wait.
Speaker 1:So yeah, part of the reason this came up is I have the, the typical, you know.
Speaker 2:Ford oil leak and I'm almost positive it's coming from the oil leak, so it's getting ready to fix that, not the wolf. I'm gonna have all that stuff pulled off anyway. Should I replace injectors? And that was what prompted the whole thought process to well, if I do, what should I put in? And you need to talk to an expert, and so that helps me a lot. So now I can make the decision if I want to replace them, because I have everything in part already anyway. Great. If not, I can put it back together and replace them later on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. Everything you've said so far doesn't make me think there's anything wrong with it. So yeah, the best answer I could give is doesn't sound like they need to be replaced. I don't think it's a waste of money to replace them If there's another reason. Like you said, if you're digging into the engine anyway and you don't want to have to do it again in a couple years it's not like you have a 20,000-mile truck that would be a waste of money to replace them. I guess is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:But if you have no, other reason to dig under the valve covers and the truck's running perfectly fine. Then there's no, doesn't sound like there's a technical reason to need to replace them at all.
Speaker 2:Right, it's just that little, those two or three drops of oil that it leaves on my driveway or in my parking site in a garage, but a couple of drops of oil have to clean up every week or so and just not anything. It's just irritating. Yeah Well and for. For it's not perfect, it can make a oil.
Speaker 1:Right, but for almost 300,000 miles, that's. That's the only problem it has. That's pretty good.
Speaker 2:And I should knock on wood my hard head or something. I try and find problems. I can't find anything that is wrong.
Speaker 1:You're anxious for something to be wrong with it.
Speaker 2:I'm not looking for it to be wrong. It's like like the injectors, I read things people say well gosh, you know how many times I've got a hundred thousand. They're worn out. They guaranteed they weren't out, only Moly. I got three times that amount on them, so I replaced them. Yeah, you know, there's not exhibiting anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it sounds like. Sounds to me like you've got a pretty good running truck. I mean, I guess another thing not to complicate the decision even more. But you're not outside of the like the intake tubes, which take about three minutes to take off. You're not really removing anything by replacing the pedestal that gets you any closer to replacing the injectors. So it's even if you did them later. It's not like you're doubling up the work, hardly at all.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I just look at all that stuff with the way I think, gosh, I'm going to be there. You know, fix what I'm going to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, now you know. That makes sense you know at least what we would recommend for injectors when the time comes, and you know wait and do it later. Do it now, it's up to you, but it doesn't sound like there's any media need to replace them.
Speaker 2:OK, well, my wife will like that, because I just saved her $1,500. There you go. Yeah, well, that plus you'll blow plugs and the gaskets, the whole. Awesome. You've been more than informative. I'm sorry if I waste your time.
Speaker 1:No, not at all.
Speaker 2:To me it wasn't a waste. It was excellent information stuff I needed.
Speaker 1:Good, Well, if you have any other questions on the truck as you go forward, just give us a call back. All right, Happy to talk.
Speaker 2:I certainly will Thank you very much, yep. Bye All right, bye.
Speaker 1:Ok, so there's something important, there's a theme here, and I promise you that every conversation we have is not with people that say, with stock injectors. That's not all of them. It does happen a lot, though, and that's why we're trying to push these conversations where more people, hopefully, can see them and at least glean some of our insight into how we make those choices, because the answer is going to be different for everybody, and even if the final answer is these are the injectors we'd recommend, based on this used case of the truck, it's pretty much always going to be the same. But what changes is? What is your perspective on it? What are you coming in assuming to be the truth? And then we can kind of try to navigate that, and oftentimes getting to hear the same result from a different path can be useful in the decision-making process.
Speaker 1:But yeah, truly, guys like this that we've talked to hundreds and hundreds of times, that you've owned your truck for 20 years. It's been super reliable, there's so many markers, there's that. There's high altitude, there's getting up an age per like yourself, if you're going to be the guy that works on it and you're not taking it to a shop, there's a lot of factors that go into saying don't put bigger injectors in your truck. Why do we push on that? We've said this a lot and you guys might be getting tired of hearing it. If you followed along for a long time, you've heard this a lot. Bigger injectors are the base of kind of everything. When you change the injector size, you completely change your truck. You have a new truck. Now it's totally different, and everything that was on the truck from the factory, or lots of things, have to change to match that. That's like the number one thing that gets messed up is injector size. I said that on a podcast. It was the diesel podcast, the diesel podcast. I said that he highlighted it, put it up as a clip on TikTok, whatever, and the comments were just full of people arguing that that wasn't the worst choice people could make. I totally think it is. Usually this is what happens.
Speaker 1:Guys buy bigger injectors. They put them in their truck Not fully understanding everything that would need to be done to go along with them being frustrated that their truck doesn't run because it runs hot, it smokes too much, whatever, and it's because of ICP issues. It's because of other pre-existing problems, because of fuel pressure issues, the turbo wasn't sufficient or the turbo was way too big, and I never make your problem worse than it needs to be Like. Another huge issue we see is people buy bigger injectors. Go oh man. They find out after they ran it for six months. Truck runs like crap. Now I need to buy all these other parts to make it work right.
Speaker 1:But right is not the way it used to run. Right is the new way it's going to run. Once you spent another $5,000 or $6,000. That's fine if that's what you want, just go into it, knowing what you want and what the expectation is, and knowing once you've deviated that far from stock, the rest is up to you. Man, it's not anyone else's problem to make your truck run right again. And if you don't know how and you're not really going to put the work into it, it's going to be a nightmare. It's going to be and no one's going to be able to fix it for you, which is fine.
Speaker 1:If you want to go down that road, go for it. Just know what you're getting into. That's what we have to say here. That's why we do this. Avoid those things as much as possible. And for the guys that are enthusiasts, they're hobbyists, they want to play with it, they're happy to learn. Do it, it's a lot of fun. But the guys with work trucks, the guys with stuff that needs reliability all aspects of reliability are the most important thing, man. Bigger injectors are the best way to screw that up. Best way to screw that up. All right, let's get to caller number two here in a second, all right. So tell me about your truck. What do you have going on with it?
Speaker 3:So I got 2001 L450 Dooley and it's my primary work vehicle, so I'm pretty much every day I'm hauling 15,000, 20,000 pounds with it and I've recently rebuilt the transmission in it and I've upgraded clutches in it, and now I'm currently having to I'm fixing to have to put a new motor in my truck and so while I'm in there I'm just trying to figure out. Just got some questions on far as do I just go back stock with it and roll with it, or do I do some upgrades? And if I do do some upgrades, which upgrades should I do? And that's that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:OK, now you did. You mentioned earlier, you do have a PHP Hydra, correct, and that's the only performance modification you have. That's right. That's right. Yep, all right. When you were running that chip before, what tune did you typically run in?
Speaker 3:I think it was hoeing. No, it seems like there's got so many on there and, heck, my truck's been in the shop for six months, so it seems like it was the upgraded horsepower, like there may be around 60 horsepower, 65, somewhere around in there.
Speaker 1:OK, all right, what? What would you primarily want? So you're asking if there's other stuff that should be upgraded or changed. What? What are you looking to accomplish? Like? What would you? Would you hope the end result would change something?
Speaker 3:right, right. So I Mean and you know, with that throat, that truck, you know it's a really heavy truck. I think it may have a 454, rare end in it, okay. And so you know it's not, it's certainly not a, I mean it's it's. It's more like a. Sometimes it's like a slug, you know it's it. It might pull strong but it's real kind of slow out the gate and I think in my mind I'm thinking just more response to be more responsive. You know not, not on, you know, not not for top-end, but just from off to start. Just when I give it to gas and it's time to go, she goes to work.
Speaker 1:Okay, how many miles were on the truck as it sits right now?
Speaker 3:There's like Almost about 150.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what? What failed on the engine? What ended up causing it to to need to be replaced?
Speaker 3:Man, I think that it was. I Think it was throwing oil out the turbo, maybe.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:I can't. It's. Yeah, it's been a while, man, I could say I just now. I've been at my my mechanic shop for six months and he just now Got the engine took out this weekend okay all right, okay, so I guess I'll.
Speaker 1:I'll Try to answer the questions that I can't answer then, without obviously seeing the truck when you tear it apart, like, are there things that can be done to Make it a little bit more responsive? Yes, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it looks like probably what I'm gonna end up doing. I'm gonna be going with a remand motor with a place From out of Michigan. You know it's gonna come with a hundred thousand mile warranty or three years, and they're giving me an option upgrade the cam in that truck. And One of the questions, well, yes, so one of the questions is Should I upgrade that cam? And then the second question would be when I've asked them, you know, about what cam would go in at what they recommend, they put the ball back in my ball court and they say Typically, the customer tells us which cam they want to go in the truck and I have not a clue. Number one I've had a lot of people tell me that they wouldn't upgrade the cam and Then to even if I did upgrade the cam, I have no idea what cam I should go with from a torque standpoint and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I'll tell you this your 7 3 is nothing like any of the you know the hot rods your dad drove around. It is a cam is going to do very little For your truck. There are Far bigger things. It would make a difference in the way it runs than changing the cam profile would, and so, considering that it's a, it's a work truck, it needs to be reliable and you're not going to be doing a lot of other stuff that would aid in like benefiting from having a cam.
Speaker 1:I I probably would not change it. There's there's really right, there's really nothing all that beneficial about it. I can't change in the cam out. So if, if the cam has to be replaced because the one you have is damaged, like if you have to buy one anyway, then Like, put it this way if there's already an extra expense in replacing the cam, if that's part of your engine build, then Then gear heads I think they call it gear head stage. One cam would be a very mild but a like appropriate profile cam To go with a stock truck like. It would aid in responsiveness a little bit, a tiny bit, but it would not be worth buying one if you didn't already have to buy a cam. Does that make sense?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, right. So and yeah, and like I said, you know I'm basically you know it was, you know I run the numbers with my mechanic rebuilding, you know, parks and all that versus Me just getting this particular motor from Michigan and you know that definitely seems like the way to go and they're just simply giving me an option for a thousand more dollars to upgrade to a stage two cam.
Speaker 1:Okay, if I were you, I would not spend it.
Speaker 3:Okay, all right, that's fair enough, and so then my my next, my next question is which, you know, I'm sure you probably have some thoughts run through your mind is I feel like, so, when I get that new motor, it doesn't come with injectors. So then I'm gonna have the choice of either taking my injectors out of my current one, putting them in that, or just going ahead and Just starting over with my injectors and going that route, and and that's I mean personally, that's kind of what I tend to lean to want to do, you know, for a couple different reasons. But then I guess, a follow-up question to that, you know, and I like to hear your input towards that, but then the follow-up to that would be Would you guys, you know, recommend stepping up to like the 1.5? Injectors that you guys offer?
Speaker 1:Sure Was there, so okay. So the first question is should you, should you buy new injectors at all or just reuse what you have? Second question is, or second part of that is should you upgrade them if you buy?
Speaker 3:new ones Is that they have that right, correct, okay, yep okay.
Speaker 1:Well, if you've got 150,000 miles on the injectors, it's not weird that by between like 150 and 250 that your injectors would start having problems, especially in like if the truck hasn't been perfectly maintained its whole life. But even if it was well maintained, it's not weird to see them fail in that range. And so, just like a cost over time, I would say it's probably would make sense to go ahead and replace them now, or at least I wouldn't consider it a bad idea, so that you're not paying for labor again. You know, in a year or two to have to replace them, that's right. So do I know? I mean, I don't know that they'll fail in a year or two, but it certainly wouldn't be weird if they did start to have problems. Yeah, so I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:If I were you, I probably wouldn't be opposed to that, just getting like starting over.
Speaker 1:If you're getting a new engine anyway, it's a lot of money to put into this truck, and if you're paying a mechanic to do all the work, that's a lot more money.
Speaker 1:It's very little more money to have the assurance of a new set of injectors and not have to pay to have that done again. So I would not be opposed to that. Yeah, as for for the like whether or not to use larger injectors, I highly recommend not using a larger injector on a truck that you need to make you money, like if downtime is a problem, bigger injectors are the base of a huge amount of problems. It opens a whole new door to a room of large problems, and that's fine if you wanna have, if you're a hobbyist or if you're okay with dealing with things that come up. But if you need a truck that's just gonna run, start every day and do its job, yes, it will do it somewhat slow these old trucks do but it's not going to do it at all when it's not working right. And it's very difficult to even diagnose trucks with larger injectors.
Speaker 3:Right, right. So I mean, all that's well taken. I guess the I mean so would you. Is there a particular brand stock or I mean we just go back with just a? I mean, if it was your truck and you was doing what you're recommending, starting back over with new injectors but not upgrading them to a larger injector. What would be your go-to?
Speaker 1:My go-to would be unlimited diesel and it would just be a new. I keep saying this new reman set. It's not new, they're a reman set of AD code, just stock replacements, stock, yep, stock replacements. Their unlimited diesel has great quality control. We've had, we used hundreds of sets of their injectors. I've been very happy with them. They do have a lifetime warranty also, which lifetime warranty doesn't mean much to me. I would. The most important thing is that they have a very low chance of failing and that they're good quality. But secondary to that, having a long warranty is beneficial.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:So yeah, ad stock replacements I mean. So there's, if you're digging into the truck anyway, you're replacing a lot of parts anyway. There are some things that can aid in longevity and in performance, and some of that can come in the form of like if it had exhaust leak issues or if the turbo wasn't up to spec, like it wasn't up to par and it maybe was failing anyway, like there's other stuff that could contribute to the truck not having made the power it should have anyway, and so that responsiveness you're looking for wasn't there because there was a problem, right.
Speaker 3:And obviously and I know I'm in a rush Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry. We got a phone delay here. What were you saying? You're in a rushed away.
Speaker 3:No, I was just gonna say to your point I did end up replacing the turbo and I pretty much did that about the same time I put the tuner on there, but the combination of the two it woke that truck up. I mean there's no you know the responsiveness and all that was almost night and day along that truck.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it doesn't take much Like when it comes to like making functional, usable power. If you're actually working your truck which most people don't work their truck that hard you know, another 20, 40 horsepower, another like 80, 100 pound feet of torque is a huge difference. It doesn't sound like a big number but it's a huge difference in, you know, building a functional truck. So Do you know what you replaced the turbo with? Was it just a stock replacement or was it upgraded at all?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it was just straight stock. Yeah, it seems like it was a Garrett, maybe.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Garrett turbo.
Speaker 1:Okay, do you have a parameter in that truck?
Speaker 3:For how much boost it's making.
Speaker 1:It'd be an EGT gauge for monitoring the exhaust temperatures.
Speaker 3:Right? No, I do not.
Speaker 1:Okay, if you're gonna have tuning in the truck, gonna do anything that adds more power, I highly recommend it. You don't need a whole bunch of gauges, but like the one thing that's really important, especially with the new engine and running tuning is keeping an EGT gauge in it, cause the number one killer of these things is heat. So Absolutely would put an egt gauge in it. I can send you over when we're done talking. I could send you over a link to the one we'd recommend. Yeah, um.
Speaker 3:But uh, yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, single egt gauge would be a great idea. Um, matter of fact, what I'll probably do is, um, most of it doesn't matter, like, like, realistically, I know you're looking for more power and it would be nice to have, and there's some things you can do to improve it a little bit. Uh, usually that's going to come in the form of just making sure that everything is Working as it should be, in conjunction with tuning. Yeah, um, but right, when it like. Truthfully, man, when it comes to work trucks, like, the best thing you can do is leave it as close to stock as possible.
Speaker 3:Um, and almost every way and and that's good, and that's good to hear, because you know, I, you know, when I, you know, feel that this thing is gonna have this conversation, I mean I didn't know what kind of conversation to expect. But you know, I didn't know if I'm gonna get a sales pitch or I'm gonna get whatever, whatever. But I mean, I mean, what you're saying to me is kind of what Some of my trusted local guys have been telling me as well, and you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and that's Performance, like performance stuff has been. It's uh, it's become so common and popular that it's uh, it's also become very common and popular that people don't totally know what they're getting into and uh, and that's driven a lot of things like you know that shouldn't be like work trucks and stuff that really shouldn't be getting modified significantly into, uh, into non-functional trucks, and want to avoid that as as much as we possibly can.
Speaker 3:So right, right, right right. So, if you're in my shoes, is there anything else you're looking to do to this truck, to, I don't know, make it more functional, functional with maybe a little bit of, a little bit more boost in it, or you just kind of living with the results of? I mean, what do you, what do you say to that?
Speaker 1:So typically, typically, if you're gonna run tuning, you still want to stay fairly close to stock. But you, you can't really take advantage of the additional power gained with tuning if the truck gets too hot and generally, uh, the truck getting too hot is going to be from, it's going to be from From a turbo that's insufficient for the job and uh, yeah. So typically what we do is we would combine, um, something like your php Hydra, which is great with uh, with a like slightly upgraded turbo. It's not going to be laggier, but it would have a more efficient compressor wheel and a turbine wheel and then like a 360 thrust bearing that keeps the turbo a little bit more reliable under load. Yeah, but you, if you've already bought a turbo, it would kind of suck to buy another one. That would be a bit of a waste of money.
Speaker 3:So you, send me your record which, because I, because I might, could uh Like my mechanics probably fixing to buy my old motor. He might just you know, I mean that turbo is not even that turbo is not even that turbo, probably don't have 2500 miles on it he might, he might buy that for me too. If he does that, give me an option to maybe upgrade.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, the, the things that that would go. So I'll throw out some things that that are common problems and also lead to Not being able to make the power it already should be making. And that's that's leaks from the uppipes to go to the turbo. That's the turbo being insufficient for the power you're trying to make, which is anything more than stock pretty much. Um, if the high pressure oil pump is not able to keep up, you're not able to maintain injection pressure to the injectors. Um, that will lead to excessive heat, low responsiveness and and smoke, and I'd say those are like the three main things. And then having, you know, boost leaks. So, um, you know, when your mechanic gets a whole truck back together, I'm sure he's gonna like pressurize the charger system and make sure it doesn't have any big boost leaks. Um, but leaks leaks anywhere exhausts or on the charge side, uh, and then the high pressure oil pump, the, the two main things that that lead to low performance or lower than expected performance. Um, right, so what I will do is and you don't have to follow it exactly, but it gives you at least to get outlined I can send you a List of, like if we were starting with a stock work truck that had quite a few miles on it, putting a new engine in it.
Speaker 1:This is what we would do, and it's all parts that work well together. You don't have to do all of it, but there's a lot of stuff in there that that will be as good as it can be, yeah, while still staying reliable, and and that might kind of help. But uh like, basically it's a recommendation for a turbo that would go well with stock injectors and tuning, and an h-pop that would work well if it needs to be replaced, and then other things that go with it. So like, and your mechanic would know this, but if you have to replace your high pressure oil pump, we'd also replace the ipr, which is the regulator on the pump. There's little things like that, yeah, right, but uh, yeah, I'll send that over to you. That might help you out a little bit. But but yeah.
Speaker 1:For the most part there isn't anything big that you can do. That's going to be. It's not going to turn the truck into a new six, seven, you know. Nor do we probably want that like. We're not going to spend $90,000 to go a little bit faster. And if, if that's not what you're looking for, then then Reliability and keeping the cost down, especially after a big hit like needing an engine, comes in as important.
Speaker 3:So Yep, that's right. No, all that's helpful good stuff, man. Okay well, I will send over this list to you.
Speaker 1:If you have any questions on it, or if your mechanic does or anything, feel free to reach out. They can give us a call. I'll leave our number on there and, yeah, anything that comes up on the truck, happy to have it. A try to answer it for you the best we can.
Speaker 3:Man, I appreciate that very much. Do you have a? Are you going to email me that list and stuff? Yeah, yeah, I'll shoot you an email.
Speaker 1:Yep, okay, all right, that'll be a good one.
Speaker 3:Okay, all right, that'll be good man. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not a problem. Do you have any other questions for me?
Speaker 3:Oh, I don't think I do.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I'll send this over to you here in a bit. Appreciate you calling.
Speaker 3:All right, thank you, man, appreciate it. Bye, bye, bye.
Speaker 1:Promise I did not plan these calls that they're all going to be similar. Um, you guys schedule them, we just take them when it's time. So the the the consistent theme is that if, if, what you're after, if what you're after is you want to truck that's reliable. There's three points to that and we've touched on these before, but I'm going to keep saying it. At least there's three points that that we would say are important and what people kind of bundle up and call reliability. And that is you want to truck this that has the the lowest chance possible of some kind of failure. You want to be as easy as possible to diagnose and repair if there's a failure, and then you want it to be as easy as possible to source good parts if there's a failure. All three of those are important, and that's when, especially when it comes to work trucks. So we can add that to the tally. You know, if you've had the truck for a long time, it does work, it makes you money, it's used by a lot of people on a fleet or something like that, then Then those are all more points where you would want to stay fairly close to stock.
Speaker 1:I am going to go ahead and link it down below. There's I'm going to link to a list of a like high mileage, powerless, like if you're not happy with the way the truck performs. You want to identify some of the problems that are Common and and like I mentioned in the call here, it's not always a matter of what. Should I upgrade to make the truck perform better? If you've got a lot of miles on the truck, it may be. What do you need to fix so that it performs the way it should be? Which is different? That be considered a repair at that point, and things like a high pressure well pump commonly will be a. There might be a better replacement than the stock, one that will also perform better than stock. So then that's needed if you're going to tune the truck. Stuff like that's pretty common, but I'll put a list down below. That's a what things work for you, what things work well together. If you're going to do these repairs, you're going to upgrade the truck. You've got problems with your injectors. You want a little bit more power but want to maintain reliability or even improve it and stay with stock injectors. That list will be down below and I'll include Uh three of them early 99, late 99 to 2003 trucks, uh, and then for the OBS also. So I appreciate you guys listening.
Speaker 1:This was episode I don't know what. Someday it'll go up and We'll keep putting these calls out there. If you want to join the show, there's a build link down below. You can schedule a build call. We don't have to record it and publish it. You'll have the option to just have a conversation. That's fine too, but the more of these we can get out there, I think the more that we can help people that are in a position like you, are Looking to build your 73 and don't totally know what to do. We enjoy having them. I enjoy publishing them.
Speaker 1:I'm your host. My name is Dustin, I work for 10 23 diesel, and we sell diesel parts. We sell them. We also try to be very honest with what we recommend and why. We never will upsell you on something you you don't need or you don't believe, or and we don't believe that you need and uh, we love the opportunity to talk before you purchase parts too. You don't have to schedule a build call, though. You can just call us at 1-833-773-1023, and we'd be happy to have a conversation with you outside of any scheduling of calls. I probably haven't made that clear. Have a good week.