7.3 IDI injection pump Now it works

[frank-id]

I had a difficult time making my injection pump....pump. I had all the injector pipes disconnected. So after 15 trys to show diesel, the pipes and and hoses on bipass were connected. After about 10 engine turns, and a line cracked open, fuel began to spit out. The lines all were slowly opened and then closed. The engine now runs great. Why no fuel with injector pipes off??? Thanks for the previous advise. Frank

 

[Diesel JD]

Might have been coincidence, you just had to get all the air from sitting up all those years bled out. I'm glad it's running for you now.

 

[DOE-SST]

I don't think the injector lines were a factor, probably something else.

I had a pump working fine, then stopped pumping out fuel completely.

After a loooong, expensive ordeal, I found the problem, and eventually got the pump working again.


Pump was fine at first, but vehicle had sat unused for at least a year, and fuel in the tank became contaminated with algae.

On first try starting it, after that year of sitting, the pump/engine ran fine, soI shut it down and let it sit for a few days.

What I didn't realize, was that short period of running, allowed contaminated fuel to travel from the tank to the IP and injectors. The algae was a reddish/brown sludge that would stick your fingers tightly together. When it sat in the IP and injectors for a few days, it glued them shut.

Had a heck of a time diagnosing this problem. Not a lot of people have experienced 8 simultaneous locked up injectors. The only product I found that would free up the IP and injectors, was Power Service Diesel Kleen. Although, by the time I had solved the algae problems, I had already bought a new IP and injectors.

This algae was weird, an impressive adhesive, that even M.E.K. wouldn't dissolve. Kind of like decayed human flesh, that has been outside in the sun for a week.

 

[homelessduck]

Kind of like decayed human flesh, that has been outside in the sun for a week.

And you know this... why? :***:

 

[OLDBULL8]

This algae was weird, an impressive adhesive, that even M.E.K. wouldn't dissolve. Kind of like decayed human flesh, that has been outside in the sun for a week.

 

[DOE-SST]

And you know this... why? :***:

Civil Air Patrol when I was 17, found an aircraft splattered against a mountain top. Bodies were shredded and human remains (people I knew) covered everything. Found a shoe, with a foot still in it. I hope the CAP isn't still letting kids do SAR work.


Also, when I was a cop, I went to numerous suicides, including one with a shotgun to the mouth, head blown off, at a camping area, that had been half eaten by animals.

 

[Worstenemy453]

You dont sugar coat anything do you.

lol.

 

[94turboidi]

That algae is nasty. We had a rough terrain forklift that must have been sitting for along time before we got it. They make some kind of biocide or something like that to put in the tank. We had the injector pump rebuilt and the guy said that water in the fuel is what creates the algae and its actually alive. I didn't notice it sticky though, it kept plugging up our fuel filter and we could take the filter off and blow it out and put it back on and then it would run again. We kept going through fuel pumps and filters and finally the injector pump before we found out that algae was the problem.

 

[gandalf]

...The algae was a reddish/brown sludge that would stick your fingers tightly together. ...

Yes, a reddish brown sludge. Pictures are worth their weight in gold.

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This is some nasty stuff.

 

[DOE-SST]

Hey, I got pics...


Here is my fuel tank, the black stuff is approximately 2 gallons of algae...

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fuel sender/pickup, before cleaning...

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and after cleaning...

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I'll bet there are a variety of different strains of algae. I worked aviation fuel farms years ago, and the bacteria I found was always little black globs that disintegrated into dust between your fingers, not sticky at all.

I've got 100 gallons of contaminated fuel, and wondering what to do with it?

 

[Diesel JD]

Bonfire or your local Hazmat collection center is all I can suggest. As you know that stuff is no good for anything. It's a shame, 100 gallons of diesel is worth about $300 if it were any good.

 

[rhkcommander]

1/2 micron filter with biocides wont do a thing?

Might be able to sell it cheap to a person with a waste oil heater, they might burn that crap

 

[94turboidi]

Do you live anywhere close to Iowa? I'd take it off your hands.

 

[DOE-SST]

About a 1000 miles away.


What would you do with it?

Can it be polished back to usable fuel?

 

[94turboidi]

burn it in my home made oil burner.....not sure if it can be cleaned up to use or not. If I had all the algae out of my fuel system I wouldn't try it. You might call a local shop that does injector pumps and ask them if they sell the biocide treatment and if that could be added to the fuel to possibly after filtering it?