No. 4 Fuel Injector Line

Greetings, this is my first post here!


Unfortunately, I'm not just here to say hello.


I just finished replacing the cylinder heads on my van, and took it for a spin.



I'm getting white smoke from the No. 4. cylinder. Loosening the fuel line to that cylinder nixes the smoke, so I know it is an issue causing the problem in that cylinder specifically. I suspect the line, as it did twist slightly when removing it from the engine. The injector was very loose in the head and wanted to turn with the line nut. I understand that the lines can "flake" internally when bent, so I suspect this is the cause of my smoke. I am getting diesel spray when I loosen the line. No issue besides the smoke, no abnormal crank times or rough running/skipping.



I'm planning on doing a compression test just to be sure, but I anticipate on replacing the line and either having the injector serviced or replaced as well.


This is an '88 Van. Most of the lines I see are 89 and up. According to accuratediesel.com, their kit can be used for the 82-88 engines with slight "tweaking" as the early style lines for those engines are no longer available. I am a bit hesitant about having to tweak stuff given the tight space in a van. They are in stock but I don't have the cash to drop for a complete set.



I found the individual line from hdiesel.com, but its on back order. That one is for an 88-93 and they do mention it can work on vans specifically with some tweaking, but nothing about early 88s. I believe 88 was a switchover year?


usdieselparts.com has the lines for an 89-96 in stock but they warn it won't fit on an 82-88, nor do they mention van applications which seem to be different.



If anyone on here has any advice on where I can find the number 4 line by itself for a 1988 van application I'd be much obliged. I would also appreciate guidance on if I should worry about truck vs van applications or 88 vs 88.5/89 applications.


In the mean time, I'll be sitting in the smoking section.



Thanks in advance.

Try moving the injector from the cylinder that is smoking to the other side and see if the smoke follows.
You could have a bad injector,thats where i would put my money on what you are describing.I haven't read/heard of many line issues with the old 6.2/6.5 lines.

Thanks for the reply.

I actually tested it by swapping the number 8 and 4 injectors, since 8 would be easier to get to. No smoke with the number 4 suspect injector in the number 8 cylinder. But it starts to smoke when I hook up the fuel line to the good number 8 injector in the number 4 cylinder.

It definitely stays with the number 4 cylinder, it's not following the injector. I may just have to take a chance and try one of the fuel lines I found above. One thing I didn't think about was mixing and matching the newer style lined with the 82-88 style line. I wonder if that could mess anything up...

I could go for broke and try to untwist the injector line... Buy I suspect that won't end well at all... And it would suck if I did that and it ended up being something to do with the IP or something else. Still, it is a coincidence it's on the only fuel line that got twisted...

I would like to add, I am seeing less smoke than before. Still visible out that side tailpipe at idle but not the big embarrassing ploom I had before. I would like to get it back to normal but I would probably be fine with this for now.

It doesn't smoke while driving now other than the usual bit of grey when going up hill, but I do a lot of curbside idling and I don't want to smoke out my clients or their customers/pedestrians. The smoke and diesel smell is very faint now so I am not as worried but it still isn't ideal. Maybe I didn't have the injector in tight enough? I did tighten it to 55 ft/lbs instead of just 50 like I did the others. Oh yeah, I did replace all the copper washers as well.