Can I swap two injectors?

[sidneybeanz]

1996 F-350 7.3 4x4
I have a hard misfire at idle and under load and a hard start and lots of fuel smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I did a cylinder contribution test and it showed a fault on cylinder 1. When I pulled the injector I found the end is fouled and I couldn’t see any of the orifices. The oil return on that injector spits the same as all the others. When I unplugged that injector and let the engine idle, the smoke continued. I think that injector is not spraying properly.

Can I swap injectors 1 and 3 to see if the problem follows the injector? My brother said on his DS there is something specific to one of the injectors that won’t allow you to swap it but couldn’t remember which one and didn’t know if it’s the same for mine. Is #1 safe to swap?

 

[ncollins64]

You can swap those 2 injectors

 

[Patrick Feeley]

The different injector (long lead type) was a Super Duty specific thing to address the infamous "cackle" problem. It does not apply to your 96. You can swap the injectors. Don't forget to remove the fuel and oil that will drain into the cylinders before restarting! You don't want to hydrolock the motor. Cheers!

 

[ncollins64]

Piggy backing on what he said, I always remove the glow plugs and crank it over after the injectors are swapped to get the oil out of the cylinder. Reinstall the glow plugs and hook everything back up.