Replacing the Fuel Cutoff Solenoid?

[Pele]

1989 7.3L V8 Ford/International IDI Non-Turbo, ZF5 5 speed, 2wd, Ford/Sterling 10.25 Dually Rear... It was my tow rig for my track car.


Long story short, I parked the truck maybe 5 or 6 months (At the most) ago... I put fresh Motorcraft/Beru ZD9 glow plugs in it right before parking. Full tank of fuel in it too.

It was running fine at that point, although it did have a hard time firing up before the glow plugs and needed a shot of ether... When I pulled the old glow plugs, I think only one or two were good.

Now she won't fire up. Cranks though.
I had fresh Interstate batteries for the truck too. Cranking speed is great.
When I killed the Interstates, I hooked the jumper cables to my Dodge and ran through its batteries. It's got a pair of Group 31 commercial batteries in it.

Getting good, clean fuel to the schrader valve on the fuel filter head.
Enough pressure to shoot it clear over to the driver's side valve cover if I hold the button down as it's cranking.

No fuel out of the injector lines though. Just loosened them on 6 of the injectors... Do I need to take the nut completely off or just loosen it a couple turns?


I'm thinking it's the fuel cutoff solenoid.

There is 12 volts to the wire and there is continuity across the terminal. I hear it click, but I'm assuming the plunger is stuck.

Could it be anything else? Will a DB2 just fail from sitting there for 5-6 months? I figure a harvester or combine has gotta sit in the barn for some of the year until the crops are ready... This truck has sat before over the winter without failing to start in the spring.



I even tried giving it a shot of ether. (Waited for 15 minutes after the "Wait to Start" light went out so that the glow plugs were cool.) and it tried to fire a little...


I've got a fresh fuel filter in case it's clogged. Gonna put that in later and charge the batteries for another round.


What else should I look for?

 

[icanfixall]

Pull the return check vlave on top of the injection pump. See if its operating properly. Sounds like the lift pump is supplying the injection pump plenty of fuel. Now its just not getting thru the pump to the injectors. there is a filter screen in the injection pump inlet but... The pump has to be removed from the engine to clean it. Lots of small impeller parts and an alignment dowel in this area. If you have a spare pump use that for practice before you try this on a working pump on an engine... Some members are able to remove this screen while the pump is on the engine but they know the risks.... Most don't.... If all this fails try removing the fuel filter and refill it with diesel kleen or howes or stanadyne cleaner.... Or just plain oul atf fluid.... Maybe the pump has gummed up because of some questionable fuel contamination....

 

[Pele]

^

I always get my fuel from a major supplier... Sunoco or Shell or something.
I don't run waste oils or bioDiesel.
I should hope it's not contaminated.

 

[BioFarmer93]

Pele,
Charge the batt's back up, re-loosen those 6 lines, disable the glow plugs temporarily and have someone hold the pedal continuosly on the floor & crank while you watch the the lines... She'll eventually get fuel to the injectors, she's just pissed that you let her sit so long with no attention...

 

[Pele]

I'll try again.

If I need to pop a new Stanadyne DB2 injection pump on this truck, how hard is it to time one?

I put a new Bosch VP44 on my 24 valve Cummins in about 5 or 6 hours and the only timing it needed was to line the keyway on the pump shaft up with the slot in the pump drive gear. Didn't seem too hard.

 

[Agnem]

Before you do any of these things, do what Gary said. Verify you have fuel coming from the IP return fitting on the top of the pump. Then be SURE you don't have any fuel at the injectors. Assuming that is the case, use the fuel injection servicing article in our Tech section as a guide, and remove the top cover of your IP, and exercise the metering valve. Yes, it could be stuck closed. Put it back together and try again.

 

[Pele]

^

I assume Gary is under the name "icanfixall"...


That article has the pump off of the truck to remove the cover.
Can it be done with the pump on the truck?

I'm not trying to replace the pump now because it'll end up being one of those nickel and dime projects where I'll have to do all eight injectors, high pressure lines, return lines, in addition to the pump itself. I don't have the time or money for that at the moment and will get into being more than the truck is worth.

I see that installing the cover wrong can result in a runaway condition.

In my new truck's owner's manual, it actually has advice on a runaway condition caused by bad turbo oil seals or driving through an area with oil vapors such as the scene of a fuel spill. It recommends that a CO2 based fire extinguisher be carried in the truck and sprayed into the intake if the truck fails to stop when the key is turned off.

 

[gatorman21218]

Where in va are you?

As far as run away, a piece of plywood will suffice to cut off the air.

 

[Pele]

^

Manassas

 

[gatorman21218]

Well if you totally loose hope Im willing to give her a look.

As far as your problem, when I replaced my Injection pump, It took a while to bleed all the air out of the system. How I did it I wedged the throttle on the pump to wide open, and cranked for a 10 count, then loosened half the lines just enough that the air escaped, then closed them and cranked again for 10 seconds. It took about a minute of cranking to get white smoke out the exhaust. only then did i run the glowplugs and got her to turn over.

 

[icanfixall]

^

I assume Gary is under the name "icanfixall"...


That article has the pump off of the truck to remove the cover.
Can it be done with the pump on the truck?

I'm not trying to replace the pump now because it'll end up being one of those nickel and dime projects where I'll have to do all eight injectors, high pressure lines, return lines, in addition to the pump itself. I don't have the time or money for that at the moment and will get into being more than the truck is worth.

I see that installing the cover wrong can result in a runaway condition.

In my new truck's owner's manual, it actually has advice on a runaway condition caused by bad turbo oil seals or driving through an area with oil vapors such as the scene of a fuel spill. It recommends that a CO2 based fire extinguisher be carried in the truck and sprayed into the intake if the truck fails to stop when the key is turned off.

No high pressure lines needs to be replaced to make the truck run. Installing the cover thats on top of the pump wrong can cause a runaway. You can remove the top cover easily when the pump is on the engine... Its the screen in the inlet of the pump thats really tuff to do when its on the engine... Please try removing the fitting on top of the pump before you get any deeper into this. I like to be in front of my truck and jumper the fender solenoid to kick over the engine. Then holding the injection pump throttle wide open with my free hand I watch for fuel at the loose injectors to hard line connections. Don't continue to run the starter till the batteries are way down on power... That vauses the amps to go up and burn out the starter very quickly. You want a fully charged battery and crank for no more than around 15 seconds with a 2 minute cool down for the starter... Heat in the cylinders is what makes the diesel fuel ignite... a fast turning engine will create plenty of heat from the compression of air... diesel requires 942 degrees to ingite in the cylinders... A slow cranking engine can't build enough heat for the ignition... Glowplugs help but they are not the answer to a slow turning engine...

 

[Pele]

^

Yeah... I know how painful a slow turning engine can be.

I've owned this IDI for four years now. I had never changed the glow plugs because I was scared of breaking them off in the heads.

Four years of no glow plugs.
Four years of crappy second hand batteries out of scrapped cars. (Not trucks. Cars. Usually Group 35 or so.)

I put up with it because I just used the truck to haul my track car a couple weekends out of the summer and the occasional load of scrap metal to the scrap yard.

I think I put all of 4000 miles on it in that time.



With two fresh batteries, I'm surprised how fast it turns over.
New ground cables make a heck of a difference too. The ones that were on it before were rotted out.

 

[Pele]

First things first, changed the fuel filter. It was nasty.

The Filter that NAPA gave me for a 7.3 Liter was way too big to fit on the mount. I also had to go out and find a new water separator for the bottom of the filter. Find out that someone put a filter mount for an earlier 6.9 Liter engine on here. Ordered a new WIX filter for a 6.9L and filled it with fresh fuel.

Cranked it again a few times... Not getting a drop of fuel to the injectors.

I cranked it with most of the lines loosened on the injectors. Even ran it without the starter for almost a minute on ether, just giving it quick shots as it was spinning. Went through three cans of ether so that I wouldn't burn up the starter. Not a single drop of fuel at any injector line.

I removed the return line that goes on top of the injection pump. Fuel does come out of there just the same as it comes out of the schrader valve, a little less pressure though.

 

[jonathan]

is your fuel pump working?

 

[gatorman21218]

The filter was nasty.... Like how? Did it have a thick black goo in it? Black goo= algae, which is a real problem to get rid of.