I cannot truthfully answer that, albeit I have read of people waiting until it fails to start. You should at least add a Baldwin Pf 7977 to the stock canister for now. They are not that expensive. But I highly recommend adding filtration when you can prior to or upon replacing the injectors.

 

Here's a general description of the procedure. Somewhere I saw an excellent youtube video, but I can't seem to find it.

INJECTOR RETURN FLOW TEST 1. Operate the engine until the engine is at operating temperature. 2. Remove the banjo connector from the fuel drain tube at the rear of the fuel filter housing. 3. Install fuel system test fitting 9012 in place of the banjo connector. 4. Remove the vehicle fuel return line from the engine fuel drain tube. Route this hose into a container to catch bled fuel. 5. Install a piece of fuel line onto the test fitting and into a fuel container or into the fuel tank. 6. Install one end of a test hose onto the fuel drain tube. Place the other end of the test hose into a graduated cylinder. 7. Start the engine and let it idle for one minute.8. Measure the amount of fuel in the graduated cylinder. 9. If the flow is less than 180-ml/minute, the test has successfully passed. 10. If the flow is greater than 180 ml/minute, shut off the engine and remove all of the fuel injector supply lines. Re torque all of the high-pressure connector nuts. Install all of the fuel injector supply lines. 11. Start the engine and idle for one minute. Measure the amount of fuel in the graduated cylinder. 12. If the flow is less than 180ml/minute, the condition has been fixed. 13. If the flow is greater than 180 ml/minute after step 12, shut off the engine and remove the #1 fuel injector supply line. Re torque the high-pressure connector nut. Cap the #1 fuel port using tool 9011 on the fuel rail and the #1 high pressure connector. 14. Start the engine. Measure the amount of fuel in the graduated cylinder. 15. If the amount of fuel is less than 180 ml/minute, shut off the engine and remove the #1 high pressure connector and the #1 fuel injector. Inspect for damage, repair/replace as necessary. 16. If the amount of fuel is not less than 180-ml/minute, repeat steps 14-16 for cylinders 2-6. 17. Install all high-pressure connectors, fuel injectors, and fuel injector supply lines. Repeat steps 1-8 to confirm repair. SPECIFICATION:Less than 180 ml/minute total fuel return flow

 

My pea brain is a little thrown off here. It seems as if our crd pushes a max load of fuel constantly down the rail and the injectors open based on what the demand/throttle opening is? I've never thought about that as I was thinking along the lines of a throttle body with fuel squirted into the air mixture and flowing to all cylinders. Is this check something somebody with only minor bolt on skills could do? It doesn't sound too difficult but I'm perfectly capable of making it so. What are the said torque specs also? Is there a danger of self injection/spray when removing these high pressure parts? Oh, and what the heck is a banjo connector? Do I need to paddle faster? Thanks.

 

Hey, Dr. Dizzle. I was thinking of water in the oil when we posted this back and forth. How can I tell if there is fuel in the oil? What will it look like on the stick?

 

Okay, I found something that told me I'd better leave replacing the injectors to someone qualified. Now I've just got to decide whether to go stock new, reman stock, how many , or increased hp set, provided this is the problem. This obviously will be a good time to get the overdue valve adjustment done as well. I'm making a new post for this. Thanks for the help

 

There is no throttle with the diesel. A full volume of air runs into the engine unrestricted. With common rail injection rail pressure is varied by the computer, and the injectors are fired electronically by the ECM depending upon accelerator position.

It would be good to have some wrenching skills to try this. Yes, pressures are high enough to inject diesel into flesh. You should never mess with fuel fittings on a running CR engine or attempt to bleed the fuel system.

As far as fuel in the oil, if the oil level is getting higher, that's a bad sign. When an injector cracks internally and leaks fuel onto the engine head it can overfill the oil pan to the point fuel/oil mixture gets blown out the breather tube.

 

I forgot we don't have a throttle. That one always throws me, but I don' know why I didn't think about no fuel air mixture until you are in the cylinder. I knew about the oil level being too high, but otherwise nothing is visual?

 

You could send an oil sample in to Blackstone Lab, but I suspect excess flow into the return to the tank is more likely to be your issue.

Is there a competent dealer or diesel shop in your area?

If so, maybe it would be worth it for them to do the diagnosis. They would probably confirm proper pressure and flow from the lift pump and through the filter before measuring return flow.

 

Just checked the oil and it was at a normal level and had no unusual smell or appearance that I could detect. I've always wondered how much they charge for those oil analysis?

 

Not all that bad. Tests / Price List

 

Thanks, Jeff.