Getting to Know Your Injectors. When it comes to injector cups, tips, sleeves, and tubes, there is some confusion in the industry about what these parts do and where they are. Injector cups are mounted on the injector – this is where the injector plunger compresses the fuel and injects it into the combustion chamber. The cup, often called the tip, is at the bottom of the injector and has the small holes, about .008 diameter, and atomizes the fuel and works in conjunction with the plunger. Years ago, when building the injectors for the Big Cam Cummins engines, we would lap the plunger into the cup so when the fuel was injected there would be no fuel bypassing the plunger and traveling back up into the body of the injector. The body of the injector holds the O-rings. Cups and tips are the same item. The injector tube or sleeve is made from steel or copper and seats into the head to hold the coolant back from the injector. The injector assembly seats onto the injector tube and has an O-ring on the outside diameter to aid in sealing off the coolant. Most injector tubes must be set to allow for the correct injector tip (cup) protrusion. If the protrusion is too high, the injected fuel will be above the bowl of the piston, and the result will be excessive smoke. If you had a new head or injector tubes (sleeves) installed and now have a smoke problem, please tell us everything you had done to the engine. When the head is on the engine, the only way to check the injector tip or cup protrusion is to remove the head. Injector cup (tip) protrusion is very important.
Is Your Boost Gauge Working Properly? If your boost gauge is reading anything other than zero when the truck is idling, then your boost gauge is broken, and you will need to replace it. Oftentimes, the spring can become damaged and give a false reading. As you may know, the boost gauge is a vital instrument for your truck – watching it will not only help you gain fuel mileage, but it can help diagnose other issues, as well. It’s much easier for us to quickly diagnose a truck when it’s equipped with a boost gauge. Here at Pittsburgh Power, we offer high quality Hewitt Industries gauges, which are some of the most accurate in the industry. We’ve been selling them for decades, and they have proven to be reliable. These gauges only cost $92.97 and are very easy to install. They come with the necessary line and adapters. Just run the line to your manifold and wire up the gauge for the backlight, that’s it!
Good News for Max Mileage Users. We wanted to find a way to lower the cost to you, the consumer, for our Max Mileage Fuel Borne Catalyst product, so we came up with a subscription program. Our solution not only saves you money, but is more convenient, as well. The subscription program allows you to have Max Mileage delivered to your door every 30, 45, 60, 75, or 90 days. You no longer need to remember to order, it just arrives, right on time. You can even go on our website to adjust the frequency or skip a month if needed. And the best part is you get free shipping! We benefit from being able to better project demand and that allows us to pass the savings on to you. Visit www.pittsburghpower.com to get signed up.
Emission Deletes. Deleting the emissions system on your truck is always a bad idea. Every day we get calls and messages from owner operators asking where they can find a delete kit, or if we can delete their trucks. Our answer will always be no, and that’s not just for our sake, but for yours, too. Deleting your truck probably will be worse for your business in the long run. Deleting a modern truck will often lead to other problems. The emissions systems are so integrated into the truck’s programming, they will often run worse than just leaving it stock. In addition, most delete tunes come from suspicious origins and can’t be trusted. We’ve seen deleted trucks burn up turbos, run poorly with low boost, get worse fuel economy, and have endless error codes. Another reason not to delete the emissions from your truck is the fact that the DOT is getting better every day at spotting deleted trucks. Ever since the VW “Dieselgate” scandal, the EPA has been much more vigilant. They’re also cracking down much more often than they used to, which could lead to massive fines for you (and they will probably go after your mechanic, as well). Many of our competitors have been caught violating the Clean Air Act with their deletes. So, it’s only a matter of time until deleting your truck won’t be an option. Lastly, regarding deletes, these new emissions systems are a hundred times better than when they were first introduced to the market. When maintained, they work well and have very little cost to the owner operator. Max Mileage FBC, combined with regular cleaning every 250,000 miles, is the best way to keep these systems working right. Some of you may say it’s expensive, but if it saves you just one trip to the shop in a year, then it’s paying for itself.
Here for the Long Haul. Pittsburgh Power is a shop you can trust. We will never put you in jeopardy of being fined or put out of service. Stop by our shop in Saxonburg, PA and check us out, call us at (724) 360-4080, or visit us online at www.pittsburghpower.com to see all the products and services we offer. And thank you for allowing us to serve you, the owner operators, along with the entire trucking industry, for well over 40 years now!