Hi from Indiana

[jayro88]

Hi guys,
Been on here for a month or two, but never introduced myself. I bought a 1988 E250 ClubWagon with a 7.3/c6. My first diesel. Love the van. It's in really good shape, but with any vehicle this age there are little issues. Gotta replace the fuel sender units and repair the pick-ups. It also takes a bit of cranking to get it to fire on sub-freezing mornings if it is not plugged in. It has a new GP relay and I replaced all the glowplugs with the recommended ZD9 ones. The WTS light stays on for about 10 sec. I don't have any Air Intrusion symptomes and it fires immediatly when plugged in. My IP/Injectors have 120K on them, so I am thinking that they are worn and the timing may be retarded (which I have read can cause a hard start when cold). Could be exagerated since I have my high idle/cold advance unplugged due to the temp switch causing them to be on all the time.
I will be using it as a daily driver as well as a tow vehicle when I take my car to the track for the weekend. Instead of having to bring a tent to camp at the track for the weekend, now I have a bed in the van!! Also thinking of getting a travel trailer for family vacations.
Anyway, here are a few pics of the new to me van.

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[Knuckledragger]

Welcome! You are one of the sturdy ones; working on the vans is not as much fun as you remember. Upside is that if you ever decide to put a turbo on it, there are fewer exhaust restrictions, hence more power available.

 

[Wyreth]

Welcome! That van is really nice!

Sounds like you're on the right track, although you may want to add a compression check to the list. It would also likely be worth your time to run a dose of autoRX through it.

Also, if you're planning on using it for a DD. I would look into an OD unit for that c6. Just to squeeze a few more mpg out of it, and quiet it down on the highway.

 

[icanfixall]

Welcome to the forum. Best forum to get information about these trucks, vans and engines. You got the last year 6.9 and concidered to be the best of the run. The Gear Vendors will really help out mileage and smooths the sound of the screaming engine on the freeways. The difficult starting sounds like something is not right in the glow plugs. Might want to locate the main engine wire harness pluf and check it for melting. The plug controller gets all the power from two yellow wires and they get corrosion on the pins in that harness connecter. Then they heat up and melt. Most here just run a 4 or 6 gauge wire from the solenoid directly to the controller bypassing the harness plug. Ce cautious because the 2 wires from the controller and solenoid are always electricaly hot. Nice looking van too. You got a great looking well taken care of van.

 

[jayro88]

Welcome! That van is really nice!

Sounds like you're on the right track, although you may want to add a compression check to the list. It would also likely be worth your time to run a dose of autoRX through it.

Also, if you're planning on using it for a DD. I would look into an OD unit for that c6. Just to squeeze a few more mpg out of it, and quiet it down on the highway.

Thanks. I have run quite a bit of DieselKleen through it. It has 3.54 gears, so the it isnt terrible on the highway. I do have plans for a GV overdrive in the future to help with the MPG along with an aftermarked torque converter to help with the slip of the non-locking converter.

 

[Wyreth]

Dieselkleen ish for the fuel system, ish good. However, I've had better luck with just strait ATF.

AutoRX however is a slow acting oil system flush. Gets alot of crud out of the engine without the risk of clogging an oil passage. Also good at unsticking rings.

 

[jayro88]

Thanks for the pointers. I will see what I can find on the harness. I need to get a good manual with wiring diagrams etc. I am not new to wrenching, but but brand new to diesel. The van only has 120K on it. The previous owner said it has always done it. He only used it in the summer to pull his trailer, so he wasn't to conserned with it. He did replace the controller and said it helped a little, but not alot. First thing I did way replace all the glowplugs, but it didnt help. The WTS light stays on for about 10-15 seconds.....from my reading I found that if there is a short the WTS light will not stay on. Do you happen to have a pick of the plug you are talking about, do you?

 

[icanfixall]

No pics of the main engine wire harness plug. On the trucks they are found on the passenger side of the engine kinda near the fender wel. All you need to do it locate the big covered wires running the the engine. Then look along that and its really easy to find the connecter. All the connecter does is allow you to unplug it and pull the engine easier. Your able to leave all the electrical items connected on the engine. I think the only wire thats not in this plug is the main cable from the alternater to the battery... BTW that heavy cable is always hot too so watch out when working around that... Any grounding will burn down the wires almost instantly because we have about 2000 amps looking for a place to jump to ground...

 

[91idi]

Welcome! Also in Indiana. Just south of Indy! My sisters runs up to ft. Wayne a lot so maybe I'll go up sometime and maybe meet up

 

[riotwarrior]

Welcome to Oil Burners

Best place for info on these old trucks vans and engines....

Damn fine looking rig you got there very nice indeed I'd like something like that myself.

Take a moment to fill in your signature too btw...and look into our tech section and FAQ's and unfortunately the Hall of Shame..thats a sad forum though needed one too...

Again

Welcome to OB sit back and have fun

Al

 

[jayro88]

Welcome! Also in Indiana. Just south of Indy! My sisters runs up to ft. Wayne a lot so maybe I'll go up sometime and maybe meet up

let me know when

 

[Devon Harley]

Welcome to OB thats a very clean van you got there!

 

[89greendiesel]

yeah, rockin van!

 

[Matrix37495]

Seems like there are a lot of Indiana guys around now....and all of them well over an hour from me...

Very clean van you got there.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Welcome. Your temp switch for the glow plugs isn't too hard to change in a truck, but kind of a PITA in a van. When I've done it, I took a shallow 7/8socket on an extension and tapped it down over the switch. The prongs will probably break, but it's no good anyway. You can use a wrench to install the new one. Be sure to drain the coolant before you remove the switch.