86 f250 6.9 rebuild/refresh advice and questions

[stealth13777]

Alright. It's buttoned up, batteries connected, and I've cranked it for about 20sec. I understand it'll take awhile to prime the fuel system, so giving the starter (and batteries) a rest cause the rotations started to slow down.

Also concerning; I left the oil pressure gauge line loose in a clear pan inside the cab, expecting to see oil squirt out as a warm and fuzzy. That didn't happen. How long should it take to see oil/ is that a bad way to do this? Pressure comes from the same fitting where the turbo oil feed goes into the turbo, figured it would be a good spot.

I'm pretty nervous to keep cranking without seeing oil. Oil pan hit the crossmember on the way in, but not hard and not a ton of weight on it. I don't see a dent or anything... Any feedback welcome, and since I only have today to work on it, if you get back to me soon bonus points! Could use the help right now


Secondary stuff: of course it's the coldest day we've had in awhile, but the glow plug system is good and it is working. Plus 'cold' here is 50 degrees. I disconnected the engine temp light switch and put an actual gauge in that spot. I'm sure I can search and find how to make the light go out (I guess it defaults on?), but if you know an easy answer, throw it in here!

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[snicklas]

stealth,

Go look a few pages back on Greg50's Reasonable 2wd to 4ed and goodies build. He went through this same exact thing on his... and for it it was F-In cold...... like snow on the ground.........

 

[PwrSmoke]

Did you fill the oil filter with oil? That will greatly speed up the priming process.

 

[stealth13777]

Yes I did fill the filter. And the temperature here was above freezing the entire time; 59F in the afternoon while I was cranking.

I guess I'm unfamiliar with this process. So as you can tell above (deleted some of my posts; not needed) I'm kinda freaking out; first rebuild. What's normal? What will do damage? As mentioned I'm used to seeing pressure within 5-10 seconds. I've done 6 ~20sec cycles, so 2min of cranking with no oil.

I'll do lots of extra work in an effort to avoid damaging this engine. If this one goes I'd be in a bad spot. Probably no truck for me...

Based on greg50s thread, I'm wondering if there is nothing actually wrong here. Need y'all's guidance. If this is normal, I'll just keep going. If not, I need to start searching for the reason why; hopefully something as simple as the pressure regulator in the filter head/oil cooler.

Thanks for the quick responses guys, and thanks in advance, I'm gonna get this thing going. Taken too long already.

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[bullfisher]

Did you prime the turbo oil feed line?

 

[stealth13777]

Did you prime the turbo oil feed line?

Negative. I'll look that up, not sure what it entails.

Hoping my starting process is ok for the mechanical pump too; I've just left the lines alone, haven't tightened them down yet. But that's a secondary concern. As I understand the fuel system takes awhile to prime. Mostly concerned about the oil.

Props to the girl on Valentine's Day, she doesn't mind the time I've spent on this cause she wants me to get it going (well, and she had to work all day :/)


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[BrandonMag]

I wish I would have read this earlier. This would be the time to have a Facet lift pump.

 

[bullfisher]

Disconnect the turbo oil feed line and put the end in a container. Have someone crank it over until oil comes out and reconnect. I was able to do it by myself using an empty clear water bottle but its a little difficult.

 

[stealth13777]

Disconnect the turbo oil feed line and put the end in a container. Have someone crank it over until oil comes out and reconnect. I was able to do it by myself using an empty clear water bottle but its a little difficult.

That's easy enough. No oil through that line so far; I have my oil pressure gauge up there and had that line off to see oil. Thanks.

I am curious how that helps though?


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[PwrSmoke]

When bullfisher said prime the turbo line, I though he meant to take an oil gun and pump oil down it to backfill the the lube system. I have done that on other engines when I couldn't get the system to prime. One thing I learned to always do in an overhaul is to pack the oil pump with Vaseline. A dry oil pump sometimes has trouble pulling oil up from the pan. The Vaseline dissolved rapidly in the oil and leaves little residue. A really thick and tacky assembly lube does the same but don't use heavy grease, especially grease that wasn't meant to be inside an engine. Motor oil is "OK" if the engine doesn have too long to sit around and drain... I really prefer something tacky that has some staying power.

 

[stealth13777]

I like the idea of backfilling. All this turning with no oil bothers me. Will check the local parts stores for an oil gun. Is there any way to prime the system other than just cranking and hoping? (At the current point of assembly I've reached)

And yeah, electric lift pump would be nice, but I figured mechanical works fine too. Longer it takes trying to prime this, more I wish I'd gone electrical


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[PwrSmoke]

If you backfill, it should help the lube system to prime.

As to the fuel, remove the fuel cap on the fuel tank, loosen the line at the secondary filter or remove the schraeder valve. Get a rag and a blow gun, stick the blow gun in the tank, seal the hole with the rag, and slightly pressurize the fuel tank. Take care to not seal the filler neck too well with the rag as you put shop air in, you don't want to blow a line off or anything, 4-5 psi will do the job. When you see solid fuel coming from the schraeder, you can bleed from the filter to the injection pump by loosening the center line at the pump. When you get solid fuel there, wipe up the mess and try to start. When I started my truck after the overhaul, I did that and it started in about 10 seconds of cranking, died, restarted, died and then started and ran rough as it self-bled for about 10 seconds and smoothed out. I also pre filled the filters with fuel. Did the same thing after rebuilding my 6.2L. Worked just as well.

Does anyone know how to turn the website spell checker off? There are so many words it doesn't know and it's trying to change them into things it does know, often bizarreley.

 

[79jasper]

Jim, do it it the settings under user cp.

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[stealth13777]

New plan of attack; didn't realize oil system had to prime too - stupid me. I had everything lubed up with engine lube (except the oil pump; damn, woulda made this easier). So ill backfeed with the oil gun, pull glow plugs and put just a little in cylinders and turbo, do as recommended above with the fuel, and see if she won't light off. AND give me oil pressure haha.

Just a matter of getting the time now. If it gets going, I'll drive it home so I can work on it whenever. Can't wait to have the truck back, stupid work getting in the way haha. Still need to order the timing equipment from icanfixall once she fires b

Thanks again


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[PwrSmoke]

No oil in the cylinders. Not helpful, not necessary.

Are you saying there is no lube at all in the oil pump? Installed dry? If so, that could make it tougher. If you pump enough oil down the turbo hose, and since you said the oil filter was full of oil, if you pump enough oil down, it may get to the oil pump the back way. Try that first. If no go, then you may want to get what's called an engine pre-luber (google it). Basically, in the simplest form, it's an oil tank into which you put the engine oil. You then connect one of the hoses to the engine lube system (usually at the pressure sensor port, or you could use the turbo hose). You can pressurize the pre-luber with compressed air, open the outlet valve and basically fill the entire engine via the the lube system. That will definitely prime the pump. You'll have to drain the crankcase first, so as not to overfill the engine with oil.