Almost ready to end it's suffering

[SparkandFire]

So, I am about at the end of my tolerance for these trucks. The first truck I got my hands on was so far down the food chain I couldn't justify keeping it and trying to make it road worthy. The second truck I got was better but still needed a lot of work done to make it what I wanted.

So after years of lying in wait I bought my current truck a year and a half ago and I thought I was in good shape. Well, of course, as are most things bought used, it was long overdue for the critical things, pump, injectors, etc...

Long story short I've put a great deal of time and money into this thing and I am about to the point where I say "screw it." It's become obvious that there is always going to be "just one more thing I need to buy" to make this truck driveable. At some point, I am sure most of us start questioning if we should cut bait and walk, admit defeat, and come up with another game plan. I am at that precipice right now...

So, i've got a u-haul pump that ran great. I had the original "G" injectors with the factory grey paint on them. Believe it or not it actually ran OK with them, I realize now. So, I got a new set of "BB" injectors and it idles like crap now. In order to get it to run halfway decent I've got to retard the timing almost as far as it will go. What's so obvious to me at this point is that my DMF has got one foot in the grave. So, here comes another $500 ding to the bank account.

I know we've all got to "pay to play" but I wonder if I would be better off investing all this money in a nice bicycle, or perhaps a trike that could get me from point A to B reliably. Hell, worst case scenario is that if the trike breaks down I 'walk' I am %100 dependent on this truck at this point, I have no secondary means of transportation and I am thinking I should not have made the decisions that lead up to that...

Sorry for the rant, but it's been a bad day...

 

[icanfixall]

Deep breath.... Clamming down feelings come over me in times like this. Things could be worse. I recall installing my engine and pulling it 5 times when it first went back in the truck. turned out the torque converter to spacer pilot fit was size on size. That means it was a crush fit. So I take off about 1 1/2 thousands from the spacer and it fall together... Then I try to turn down my pump but it seems like I did the complete opposite.. Several days later I walked myself thru the "how to turn down the fuel" in my head... You guessed it.. I turned it up instead of down. I remembered which way I pushed the allen wrench in the pump. Things happen. Its not because the trucks are so old.. Its because with age things happen sometimes. How would you feel if you had a new truck and it wasted a turbo on your first trip after the 500 miles of easy breakin... I read about that here once. The person left Vegas in tow and got about 1/4 up the long grade just inside Ca... CHP helped him get up to the overpass to head back to Vegas and the dealership. Thats sucks too. A ruined vacation in a new truck... So what that it didn't cost a thing to fix. Vacation time in lost and the trust in a truck is gone probably forever....
I'm not understanding why you need to have the timing so retarded to run smoothly. Something isn't right with that statement. A new set of Bb injectors should have made the engine run great compared to the G codes. Can you install the G codes again or did you junk them. Ask yourself what condition were the BB codes in. A new set of any injectors wont cause an engine to run or idle ruff. I'm thinking you need to get the engine timed....

 

[3/4 Ton-O-Fun]

I don't know where you got your injectors from, I guess it doesn't matter, but did you or your shop pop test them? Rebuilds are only as good as the shop/tech doing them.

Another fun thing of working on old stuff is that anytime you bump an assembly the ancient parts fail. So even if you didn't have air leaks before, you might want to check the fuel supply now.

These things aren't magic. If you are pushing something to the end of its adjustability, something else is possibly/probably wrong. Little things like skipping teeth, air leaks, faulty rebuild will drive you crazy.

Sherlock Holmes the thing. Eliminate all possibilities, then you have the answer.

I love my old truck. It is like a rubik's cube, except that I can solve it.

 

[SparkandFire]

I was never any good at the Rubik's cube...

 

[Diesel_brad]

Some times these old trucks are not for everyone. If you like to tinker, they are for you. If not, then you should not have one.

I dont like to tinker, that is why my IDI is parked and I drive my powerstroke

 

[towcat]

So, I am about at the end of my tolerance for these trucks. The first truck I got my hands on was so far down the food chain I couldn't justify keeping it and trying to make it road worthy. The second truck I got was better but still needed a lot of work done to make it what I wanted.

So after years of lying in wait I bought my current truck a year and a half ago and I thought I was in good shape. Well, of course, as are most things bought used, it was long overdue for the critical things, pump, injectors, etc...

Long story short I've put a great deal of time and money into this thing and I am about to the point where I say "screw it." It's become obvious that there is always going to be "just one more thing I need to buy" to make this truck driveable. At some point, I am sure most of us start questioning if we should cut bait and walk, admit defeat, and come up with another game plan. I am at that precipice right now...

So, i've got a u-haul pump that ran great. I had the original "G" injectors with the factory grey paint on them. Believe it or not it actually ran OK with them, I realize now. So, I got a new set of "BB" injectors and it idles like crap now. In order to get it to run halfway decent I've got to retard the timing almost as far as it will go. What's so obvious to me at this point is that my DMF has got one foot in the grave. So, here comes another $500 ding to the bank account.

I know we've all got to "pay to play" but I wonder if I would be better off investing all this money in a nice bicycle, or perhaps a trike that could get me from point A to B reliably. Hell, worst case scenario is that if the trike breaks down I 'walk' I am %100 dependent on this truck at this point, I have no secondary means of transportation and I am thinking I should not have made the decisions that lead up to that...

Sorry for the rant, but it's been a bad day...

tell ya what.....
drop by the shop.
I'll give you a ride home and I'll take the title when I drop you off.

 

[SparkandFire]

I might have taken you up on the offer.... this morning when I got to work and thought the whole damn thing was about to blow...



I'm going to drive it till it dies and throw a clutch at it I suppose...

 

[typ4]

HE got the injectors from me, popped and set to 1800, I am guessing the g,s were way low, or way high.

 

[mabc926]

Some times these old trucks are not for everyone. If you like to tinker, they are for you. If not, then you should not have one.

I dont like to tinker, that is why my IDI is parked and I drive my powerstroke

I liked to tinker when I first got my truck, but after a while it just felt like work!

 

[SparkandFire]

I really don't think the injectors are the problem, I am going to set the timing up and go from there...

I had a feeling the DMF was getting a little noisy, but the "G" codes were masking the problem.

Now it sounds as if i've got a half ton of gravel stuffed inside the bellhousing.

 

[SparkandFire]

I liked to tinker when I first got my truck, but after a while it just felt like work!

This is my dilemma, I enjoy working on the truck, but I just need it to get me down the road for a while without draining the bank account every month.

 

[typ4]

Well Hell!!! thats the problem, its only a 1/4 ton bellhousing. sorry, couldnt help it.

 

[SparkandFire]

I would like to build myself a pop tester and see what the old "G" codes were doing... Seven out of eight were leakers, so I have no doubt they needed to go.

 

[SparkandFire]

Well Hell!!! thats the problem, its only a 1/4 ton bellhousing. sorry, couldnt help it.

EXACTLY!!!

 

[ryanecvbrown]

So, I am about at the end of my tolerance for these trucks. The first truck I got my hands on was so far down the food chain I couldn't justify keeping it and trying to make it road worthy. The second truck I got was better but still needed a lot of work done to make it what I wanted......

Hey bud...if it makes you fell any better, here's my tale of misery. They say it loves company. I bought mine awhile back wanting something more reliable than the poop butt gasser vehicles in my oh-so-high $1500 vehicle purchase price range. I test drive it, shifts like a dragster. I say, "oh, just vacuum issues like my old 500hp 429/460 mash-up motor gave me in my old '68 w/a C6. No biggie" Fix the vacuum issue to the C6, properly clock the VRV, shifts great for two weeks. Engine still feels weak. Straight pipe it. Original muffler has 3000 lbs of soot caked in it. Loving the new found power and acceleration. Then, tranny craps out 2 weeks later after a "working interview" in Elk Grove and I'm offered a job at an awesome shop! Wife karate chops me in the throat (I made that part up, but I'm sure she wanted to). Borrow my brother's truck, head to Grass Valley for rebuilt ZF5 you all helped me with last week. Slam dunk install. Now, awaiting next component faliure, IP starts leaking on the way home from Cameron Park today. I don't think I could give mine up, however. I just love these old smoke belching mechanical oil burners waaaay too much!