Just spent 4 hours on a fuel injector that shouldve taken 45 minutes

Man I am still ticked off about this. I was working on a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia last Tuesday, swapping out a bad injector on cylinder 4. I figured easy money right, pull the valve cover, unbolt it, drop the new one in. But no, that stupid hold down bolt was seized up solid. I tried heat, penetrating oil, impact gun on low, nothing would break it loose. Ended up having to drill out the bolt and use an extractor, which snapped off inside and then I had to drill that out too. By the time I got the damn thing out and cleaned up the threads, I had lost a whole afternoon. Has anyone else run into seized injector bolts on these older Detroit series 60 engines? I'm wondering if I'm the only one or if this is a common thing.

2 comments

2 Comments

black.pat27d ago

Had a buddy go through almost the exact same thing on his 2012 Cascadia, he ended up helicoiling the thread and swore it was the last time he touched a Series 60. That hold down bolt is a nightmare, especially with the rust they get from road salt.

umamartin27d ago

Yeah that sounds about right for those trucks, but I think you might be mixing up the engine a bit. The 2012 Cascadia usually came with a Detroit DD15, not a Series 60. The Series 60 was more of a 90s and early 2000s engine, they stopped putting them in new trucks around 2010 or so. The hold down bolt setup on the DD15 is actually a different design too, it uses those big 18mm bolts with the internal hex drive instead of the external hex on the old Series 60. Still a pain to deal with rust-wise though, especially if you're in the salt belt. Helicoil is definitely the way to go if you strip one out though, I've seen guys do that and never have issues again.