Tips for TSB 14-0233 (broken injector hold down)

the_twig_187 · April 20, 2016

About to do my first broken injector hold down. #8 injector blew out and snapped the fuel return line, the injector hold down bolt head broke off leaving the body of the bolt still lodged in the valve cover.

I have never replaced the fuel return line with the vehicle in its fully operational state (nothing dissasembled yet)

I'm wondering if anyone has any tricks or advise for routing this rats nest of a return line through the engine with as little headachs as possible?

thanks for the help, always appreciated

Keith Browning · April 20, 2016

I have done it once. Remove the right front tire and splash shield and the intake tube to access. The tricky part is fishing it through the injector lines the right way and it's not exactly obvious. Your smart phone camera is your friend.

mchan68 · April 20, 2016

I have done one or two. Those stupid cheesy, easy-to-break plastic retaining clips along with the sound insulation fasteners were what annoyed me most about the job. Pretty much as Keith explained it is how it's done. Oh, now I remember those stupid return hose "pull up" connections to the injectors were pretty annoying as well.

8WA Sman · April 20, 2016

The trick that I use for routing brake line might work. Tie a string to the old line before you remove it, use the string to pull/route new line (think electrician)

Alex Bruene · April 20, 2016

Some may disagree with this... And, I don't want to take responsibility if anybody tries this and it fails, but I've done it several times with no issues. If you carefully twist the rubber hose and the tee on the new return line, you can separate the line from the plastic tees, then, install the line in pieces. I do have a spare return line in my possession in case I ever happen to screw up a new return line. I started doing this after I noticed some return lines I was receiving were not properly assembled, and came in pieces, and found it was pretty easy to push the rubber line over the burrs on the tee. I decided to try taking them apart, and it worked well with new line. It doesn't work on lines that have been used, as the plastic is pretty brittle from heat.

Brad Clayton · April 20, 2016

This is the same process we are using in class on a Duramax that was filled with gasoline. :evil:

the_twig_187 · April 23, 2016

Some may disagree with this... And, I don't want to take responsibility if anybody tries this and it fails, but I've done it several times with no issues. If you carefully twist the rubber hose and the tee on the new return line, you can separate the line from the plastic tees, then, install the line in pieces. I do have a spare return line in my possession in case I ever happen to screw up a new return line. I started doing this after I noticed some return lines I was receiving were not properly assembled, and came in pieces, and found it was pretty easy to push the rubber line over the burrs on the tee. I decided to try taking them apart, and it worked well with new line. It doesn't work on lines that have been used, as the plastic is pretty brittle from heat.

that seems like a good idea. I can see that the most difficult snaking of the line may be under the EGR cooler

lmorris · April 25, 2016

You can remove the right side battery tray instead of the EGR cooler. It doesn't save any time, you just don't have to deal with the possible mess of coolant that comes with removing it.

Keith Browning · April 25, 2016

I think removing the splash shield is MUCH quicker.

the_twig_187 · April 26, 2016

so I ended up removing both splash shields, draining the primary rad, removing the degas/left battery tray and the windshield washer/right side battery tray. I know this was way overkill of what needed to be removed to complete the job but as this was my first time I did not want to fight the return line and I wanted to make sure that i routed the line correctly. even with all the access i gained by removing everything it was still difficult to route the line properly as it kept getting snagged on everything. (like your drunk friend in high school who you are trying to get home and just keeps fighting you the entire way.) at the end of the day i got the job done and it took me about 6hrs and paid 3.6hrs. will deff do things differently next time, now that I know exactly what im doing.

Alex Bruene · April 26, 2016

I leave the EGR cooler and the battery trays in place. Once the splash shields and those stupid noise covers are out of the way, it isn't that bad.

the_twig_187 · April 26, 2016

I leave the EGR cooler and the battery trays in place. Once the splash shields and those stupid noise covers are out of the way, it isn't that bad.

yah next time I will probably do that. I went a little overkill. I tried to loosen the hoses at the "T" fittings but I got nervous and didn't want to break anything so I just routed them by snaking it through everything.