Zion
Registered User
Although I haven't been on this site for very long, I've got to say that the amount of help I've received from members has been invaluable. In my first post I stated that I have no clue how to work on/maintain an IDI and a majority of my concerns have been mostly my misunderstandings of the nature of the beast. I am now once again in need of some IDI wisdom. For my next Hail Mary of a post, to make a long story short, my gauges are smoking crack.
I've got an auxiliary gauge for oil as my dash reads zilch. When the engine is cold, or (what I assume is) at temp/under load, I'm pushing approx. 45 lbs. of oil pressure. Anytime I run low RPMs or idle, the pressure will read between 30 lbs. and 17ish lbs. respectively. When idling at such a low readout, I have experienced no roughness or any other indicators of reduced engine functionality. This leads me to wonder if I'm in for trouble. My suspects are frothed oil, bad oil pump, or (what will be a common theme in this post) my gauge is inaccurate.
Coolant Temp
Once again, auxiliary gauge. I have never seen this truck run close to 180 degrees. It likes to sit right between 140 when tooling around and in the neighborhood of 160 on highway. Having read that most people see their engines running between 170 and 209, I'm not sure if I should worry.
Generator Volts
Pretty sure my batteries are trash. I replaced the alternator (being a 94 IDIT the alt. is already internally regulated) and I still read 10 volts or below. I always give my truck time to recharge after a start, but it always ends up dead after a week or two of operating.
Tach, Speed, and Everything Else
None of them work. On the odd occasion my speedometer needle will do a little dance. The tach sensor on the oil fill is not in good shape and I haven't looked at the state of the speed sensor. My truck is a gas to diesel swap and still has the gas dash cluster + gauges. I'm thinking I might have to tear into the dash and swap/replace some components but I don't have the guts or know-how to do that at the moment. A lot of electrical doesn't work, i.e. windshield wipers, heater, fans. Whenever I get the column into starting position, volts read 8-9, then the dash makes a bunch of random clicking noises and I'm up to my usual sub-par of 10 volts. This clicking continues when using my headlights, and they flicker in synch with the clicking.
I apologize for this being longwinded and quite expansive, but the only machines I know how to work on are either extremely old with little wiring or agricultural. I figure as long as the engine doesn't decide to have a chat with saint peter anytime soon I won't be in store for a money pit, but paying for college leaves very little war funds to properly repair this truck without a lot of planning, certainty, and budgeting.
Here's the rundown of Poltergeist: IDI Edition
Oil Pressure
I've got an auxiliary gauge for oil as my dash reads zilch. When the engine is cold, or (what I assume is) at temp/under load, I'm pushing approx. 45 lbs. of oil pressure. Anytime I run low RPMs or idle, the pressure will read between 30 lbs. and 17ish lbs. respectively. When idling at such a low readout, I have experienced no roughness or any other indicators of reduced engine functionality. This leads me to wonder if I'm in for trouble. My suspects are frothed oil, bad oil pump, or (what will be a common theme in this post) my gauge is inaccurate.
Coolant Temp
Once again, auxiliary gauge. I have never seen this truck run close to 180 degrees. It likes to sit right between 140 when tooling around and in the neighborhood of 160 on highway. Having read that most people see their engines running between 170 and 209, I'm not sure if I should worry.
Generator Volts
Pretty sure my batteries are trash. I replaced the alternator (being a 94 IDIT the alt. is already internally regulated) and I still read 10 volts or below. I always give my truck time to recharge after a start, but it always ends up dead after a week or two of operating.
Tach, Speed, and Everything Else
None of them work. On the odd occasion my speedometer needle will do a little dance. The tach sensor on the oil fill is not in good shape and I haven't looked at the state of the speed sensor. My truck is a gas to diesel swap and still has the gas dash cluster + gauges. I'm thinking I might have to tear into the dash and swap/replace some components but I don't have the guts or know-how to do that at the moment. A lot of electrical doesn't work, i.e. windshield wipers, heater, fans. Whenever I get the column into starting position, volts read 8-9, then the dash makes a bunch of random clicking noises and I'm up to my usual sub-par of 10 volts. This clicking continues when using my headlights, and they flicker in synch with the clicking.
I apologize for this being longwinded and quite expansive, but the only machines I know how to work on are either extremely old with little wiring or agricultural. I figure as long as the engine doesn't decide to have a chat with saint peter anytime soon I won't be in store for a money pit, but paying for college leaves very little war funds to properly repair this truck without a lot of planning, certainty, and budgeting.