Leaking Line To IP

[BrianX128]

Hello all, new guy here. Done plenty of reading on this site as a guest, I just recently bought a 1990 F350 7.3 IDI Non Turbo, 5 Speed, Quad Cab Long Bed, RWD.

I was able to find it on craigslist for a very reasonably cheap price given it only has 100k miles, and had always wanted a diesel truck. I'm also a bit of a ford nut, I now have 3 of them. I also have a 1990 F150 with only 42k miles (was my grandfathers, T18 4 Speed, 4WD, 300 straight six short box single cab), and a 1989 F250 (Titled as 150, its kinda a mash up, previous owner did a lot to the suspension, 300 straight six, 5 speed, long bed single cab).

But anyways, I had take some time off from work and done a lot to the diesel, changed the return caps and lines as a couple were wet and changed all the o-rings. Changed the fuel filter, changed the oil, changed the transmission fluid, flushed the anti-freeze after reading all of the cav articles that scared me half to death, fought with tractor supply trying to get the correct fleet antifreeze and not the wrong type they tried to give me when I went to pick mine up. Everything was going very smoothly even with the minor repairs that I felt I needed to make after trying to do my homework. I'm far from a mechanic but I can follow directions and have tools and generally can do some things. Grandfather owned a mechanic shop for 40 years and I spent a lot of time watching as a kid.

Now I'm driving home the other night with my girlfriend from the mall, and all the sudden at idle it feels like I'm in a washing machine on a spin cycle. Real bad shaking, felt like my old case farm tractor running on 3/4 cylinders at warm up. At speed it went away, at first I wondered if it's just some leftover bad fuel as the truck had more or less sat for 3 years from previous owner but we get home and its starting to shake pretty much non stop with the motor rotation. All I was thinking is they have a dual mass flywheel and I don't want to get involved in that whatsoever. Well today I went outside to try and figure out if I could notice anything else as a friend had said it sounded way more like a fuel issue to him and the shaking wouldn't be that severe from a flywheel issue and the truck still be driving normally / clutch and transmission operating totally fine, and sure enough there is the problem right in front of me.

The line from the fuel filter system going into the IP is leaking like a sob. I'm surprised the guy drove me home and started today in below freezing temps quite honestly, because the injectors can't be getting anything close to an even distribution of fuel.

My issue is, from a quick search I can't seem to find anywhere online that has this line. The others all "seem" fine and I wouldn't mind replacing all of them either, but I wouldn't mind starting with just this one and going from there as I have my car and other two fords to drive should another line bite the dust shortly after repairing this one. Anyone know where a good place to purchase one would be? I honestly didn't even stop at advanced auto parts / autozone yet to see if they have it, but I don't have much faith in my local stores after I went to get a kit for my return lines and caps and the guy brought me out injectors. Haha.

Also, I don't suppose I can give this whole story without at least giving you guys one picture. I need to take another one on my phone of just the new diesel truck however, but you can get the idea. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm gonna keep looking around online and possibly stop at advanced on my way to work today anyways.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[icanfixall]

Welcome to the forum. The line from the filter outlet to the back of the injection pump has a seal in both ends of it. That seal is called an olive and looks very much like a simple piece of rubber hose. That line is a 5/16 diameter line. Any good fuel injection repair shop will have those olive seals. When you remove the line you will see the seals crushed into the brass nuts. Use some brake fluid over night to soften them and next day pry out with a dental pick. You might be able to tighten the nuts too. When they are new the nuts are not tightened all the way down like any other line nut. But over time they harden and require tightening some. When you install the new olives just force them over the line flair and push the line deep into the female brass fittings. Then snug up the olives with the nuts keeping the line deep in the fitting. Takes about it.

 

[TahoeTom]

Nice fleet. I doubt you will find that line anywhere but a junk yard. Can you tell where it is leaking? The bottom fitting is just a flare and the top uses an "olive" on the line to seal. The olive is like a short section of hose on the line inside the fitting. An injection shop should have them. They dry out and no longer seal. 3/8 is the size on that line. If the line is cracked you may have to cut the ends off and splice in some fuel line.
Edit: I was thinking this was the line from the fuel pump to the filter head.

 

[BrianX128]

It looked like it was leaking from where the smaller steel portion was going into the nut, but I was parked on a hill so gravity could have been taking the fuel towards the back side and it could have been leaking towards the threads more towards the actual IP. I wish it was just a line going to an injector instead, as my girlfriends father has a friend who is a diesel mechanic for pendot and said he would gladly look at it and take care of it, but I don't really want to drive the thing knowing it might just decide it's not getting enough fuel.

I'm sure if I find the parts it's something I could easily do as well, but sadly work is controlling my life for the next week or two and sourcing the parts is going to take way longer then unscrewing and rescrewing two nuts with seals. When I get a chance tomorrow though I'll see if I can tighten it and get it to stop, or take it off and try to re-seat it.

I'd assume I'm right in saying an issue like this would likely be the cause of my severe engine wobble, I also noticed that I'm idling slower then it normally idles. I'm probably at 550 RPM and it usually idled at 600-650 when not on fast idle, which I'd imagine being robbed of fuel and everything all adds up to. It's honestly just a relief to have found this, because I think I would have thrown up if my other transmission related thought came to fruition not even a month into owning the thing.

 

[IDIoit]

you can delete those POS olives with this...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-IH-6-9...ash=item419f7e1bd8:g:DfsAAOSw7aBVEtGh&vxp=mtr

 

[BrianX128]

That's not a bad idea. I'm still trying to look online right now to see if anyone on ebay or just in general sells the original line. I can find plenty of kits with all 8 lines for the actual injectors, anyone know what this piece is actually called to try and search for just it instead?

 

[TahoeTom]

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought it was the line from the fuel pump to the filter head. Pretty easy fix, remove line, replace olives (5/16 both ends), replace line. You will have air in the lines afterward, so some cranking will be necessary to get it to fire.

 

[BrianX128]

Gotcha. Assuming the line is not cracked or anything weird near the injection pump, could I just buy hose that is 5/16 and cut it and put it in there? I tried calling two of the local diesel repairs shops in my area just now, the one said he didn't have the line or anything to replace it with, and the other flat out said they don't work on the older idi's whatsoever. Good start there.

E3TZ9K260A is the part number for what I'm looking for if I were to buy the exact thing, I think?

 

[OLDBULL8]

^^^^^^ That's the fix.
But if your short on cash, any hydraulic shop would have the steel line if in fact the line is cracked. Never seen one that was. A quick fix is to dig the old Olives out, and get about four O'rings, 5/16" ID x 3/8" OD, stack two in each end. or you can order the sleeves (olives) from here. The 3/8" ID sleeve is for the steel line from lift pump to filter.

http://www.dieselorings.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=1990+7.3+fuel+line+sleeve+set

 

[TahoeTom]

Give Mel at Conestoga a call. I don't know how far away Willow Street is from you, but he can mail you some olives. He is the vendor selling the stainless line in the ebay ad.
http://conestogadiesel.com/products.html

 

[gandalf]

Replacing the olives is really pretty easy. Once you have the two olives the job can be done in half an hour, maybe with a beer break thrown in. Since you're waiting to work on it, I'll offer the best source in the East for you to buy those Olives. Call Mel (He is 'agnem' here on this site, at Conestoga Diesel. You'll have you're proper olives in no time. You can always cut 5/16 fuel line to use, but I would consider that a temporary fix until you get the correct olives.

Time to break out one of my pictures once again. This is the same hard line you're talking about. It shows an old olive, and a new one.

 

[sjwelds]

But Mel's custom line is so much cooler

 

[BrianX128]

#7-005 Parker 60VLV-5 Viton Sleeve 5/16 Inch
http://www.dieselorings.com/parker-60vlv-5-viton-sleeve-5-16-inch.html

This is also the same thing correct? Really anything that is that size of a viton item would be right then I'd assume. I'm just trying to get them asap as I'm off the beginning of next week and would just rather fix it right the first time I mess with it. Finding quick shipping now becomes important.

 

[snicklas]

#7-005 Parker 60VLV-5 Viton Sleeve 5/16 Inch
http://www.dieselorings.com/parker-60vlv-5-viton-sleeve-5-16-inch.html

This is also the same thing correct? Really anything that is that size of a viton item would be right then I'd assume. I'm just trying to get them asap as I'm off the beginning of next week and would just rather fix it right the first time I mess with it. Finding quick shipping now becomes important.

As suggested, I would call Mel at http://www.conestogadiesel.com/ Conestoga Diesel and order the olives. He should have them on the shelf and is across the state by Lancaster, I would think even with "Snail Mail" they should be there by Saturday or Monday.

Or, since you are in the Pittsburgh area if you want a place you can "walk in" to local, Search for Diesel Injection Pump service and rebuilding for Pittsburgh and see if there is something there. If they are a Stanadyne authorized shop, they should have the olives also........

 

[BrianX128]

Ok, I'll see what I can do. I'm also curious, the two o ring idea, I have a bunch of new o rings from doing my return lines and caps that are 5/16. I read on another site of a guy supposedly using two of them as well for 4 years now in place of the olive. It just looks so much bigger in the picture. Is it two o rings on top of each other? Or side by side? I don't know if it's worth seeing if that stops the leaking for now until I get the olives so I could at least drive it once and confirm my engine wobble was just said fuel issue. The peace of mind would be worth the headache of doing the same thing twice honestly.