Newbie with '84 6.9 IDI with issues

[Grad-uated]

Hi all, I am new to the IDI world but diving in.

I just bought a Ford 1984 IDI with some issues that I am starting to learn about.

It runs fairly well but it's leaking oil and I smelled diesel. I pulled off the air cleaner and saw fuel pooling under the fuel lines.

I have a overhead picture of the engine for feedback.

I think there's a return line leak on the #7 cylinder as there seems to be more fuel pooling there. (pic)

I have included a pic of the right valve cover which clearly has a leak.

I also noted smoke coming from the back of the right valve cover- is this something I need to worry about?

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[franklin2]

Looks like you need valve cover gaskets, nothing unusual about that job except if you have A/C. If you do, that pass side valve cover is a bear to get off and back on.

For the fuel leaks I would go to the parts store and get a couple cans of cheap brake cleaner. Use that and some rags to clean the engine off, the brake cleaner will dry it right up. Then run it for a little bit and determine where the leaks are. If you have a leak around the injectors where the rubber lines jump from one injector to the other, then you have a o-ring leaking there. You can get a kit with the o-rings and rubber lines, or just get the o-rings and a roll of fuel hose, and pull the injector lines off and carefully bend them up a little bit and do all 8 caps, each one has two o-rings. I recommend you get the viton o-rings or you will be doing this job again in about 5 or 6 years.

If you find you have a leak on one of the lines right where it comes out of the injection pump, carefully clean that area and determine which line it is. You can try to tighten it to see if it stops leaking, but there is a good chance the steel line has cracked. If you find one that is cracked, you need to check and make sure you have all the factory line clamps in place.

 

[quickster]

You better find a cover for the glow plug controller. You bang into that the wrong way you're gonna be doing some welding. Good luck with the truck. You came to the right place for sure.

 

[gandalf]

I couldn't swear to it, but I think you may be missing a fuel line clamp. I see three, and I'm pretty sure there should be four. Each on the line clamps I see is holding three lines. Those clamps are pretty critical, eventually. Without them your fuel line will crack, eventually.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I'd guess that the smoke you're seeing by the valve cover is probably from oil that has leaked onto the exhaust manifold.

 

[dgr]

Looks like you need valve cover gaskets, nothing unusual about that job except if you have A/C. If you do, that pass side valve cover is a bear to get off and back on.

That'll be fun with the Phillips screws on there.... Passenger side can be tight. I glued the gasket into the valve cover to hold it in place while getting it back on.

You might try snugging up your valve cover screws. They only take 6 foot pounds of torque.

Somebody installed a later model GP controller and glow plugs on your engine. If you need a new controller or glow plugs, you'll need to ask at the parts store for them off an 87+

You can buy qty 16 -111 o rings instead of a kit. I use diesel rated hose from Napa. I think the cloth covered stuff that comes with the kits is crap. You'll need larger spring clamps which are cheap from Amazon.

The fuel lines feeding the injection pump and returning to the tank use 5/16 and 3/8 olives aka vibralok. You can get them from a tractor store or from McMaster, https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/125/207 Good idea to have some on hand before you pull either of those hard lines.

Once you get it clean, you can assess it.

 

[Grad-uated]

I started investigating some of the many growing spots from the driveway. It looks like I have a transmission cooler leak, a power steering leak, many oil leaks, and a transmission leak.

Transmission cooler

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[Grad-uated]

Also, more oil leaks, including leaking from around the starter, as well as transmission leaks.

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Also transmission leaks and the flywheel screech.

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It looks to me like it might be necessary to pull the motor as not only are these valves leaking it looks like the oil cooler and possibly front main seal (?) and rear main seal (?) are leaking.

Also the gaskets from the oil pan and the transmission.

Also, wouldn't that make fixing the power steering hose (and lots of play) and transmission cooler lines easier? Looking for feedback.

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[Selahdoor]

I couldn't swear to it, but I think you may be missing a fuel line clamp. I see three, and I'm pretty sure there should be four. Each on the line clamps I see is holding three lines. Those clamps are pretty critical, eventually. Without them your fuel line will crack, eventually.

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[IDIBRONCO]

That'll be fun with the Phillips screws on there.... Passenger side can be tight. I glued the gasket into the valve cover to hold it in place while getting it back on.

You might try snugging up your valve cover screws. They only take 6 foot pounds of torque.

If you don't want to reuse these screws, you can buy some regular hex headed bolts to use instead.

It looks to me like it might be necessary to pull the motor as not only are these valves leaking it looks like the oil cooler and possibly front main seal (?) and rear main seal (?) are leaking.

Although you'll have yo drop the transmission to replace the rear seal, you wouldn't have to pull the engine in order to fix the rest. It would bee easier replacing all of them if the engine's out. Now the oil pan on the other hand. By the time that you have the engine raised high enough to drop it, you may just as well pull the engine out. Again, it will be easier plus you won't have to reach your hand inside the small gap between the pan and block to drop the oil pump pick up. With all that you're wanting to replace, my advice is to pull the engine. Just remember, despite the fact that complete gasket kits come with an oil pan gasket, you don't want to use it. Only use a bead of RTV. No gasket was used there from the factory and using one will cause a leak sooner or later.

including leaking from around the starter,

The starter doesn't go to any place that has oil in it. The drips on your starter could be from the valve cover leaking or from a leak in the intake valley. The design of these engines is such that any leaks from above will drain out the back of the intake gasket and run down the passenger's side of the back of the engine, leaking onto or around the starter.

 

[franklin2]

This is not good. That is the exact clamp I left off, and a few months later #1 injector line cracked right at the pump fitting.

 

[dgr]

I'd clean it up and assess. Hard to believe all of those things are leaking. Starter is the drain point for the hold down on the valley pan up top. Anything coming from on top of the engine is going to run down the rear passenger side of the engine/transmission. Spray down the valley pan with carb or brake cleaner and see where it comes out underneath.

Transmission lines have been spliced with soft hose. Replace that with new hose.

Oil cooler can be disassembled in frame or the motor mount can be removed and engine jacked up to pull it.

Someone cared about that truck enough to put in a newer gp controller and it looks like they put a block drain at the oil cooler, have had the valve covers off and rebuilt the transmission.

These engines shouldn't have an oil pan gasket installed on them although you can buy one. That's the only thing you'd need to pull the engine to reseal.

If you've got the time, pull the motor. But you won't know exactly what is leaking so you'll need to reseal everything whether or not it's leaking. Good time to massage the body seam for the turbo you're going to install

If it was mine and I pulled the engine, it would get studs, new head gaskets and valve seals at a minimum. You may want to check the rockers and update them if they're original when you pull the valve covers. It sure is easy to spend someone else's money.

What do you mean by the flywheel screeching? Are there some chewed up teeth on the ring gear?

 

[Grad-uated]

Looks like you need valve cover gaskets, nothing unusual about that job except if you have A/C. If you do, that pass side valve cover is a bear to get off and back on.

For the fuel leaks I would go to the parts store and get a couple cans of cheap brake cleaner. Use that and some rags to clean the engine off, the brake cleaner will dry it right up. Then run it for a little bit and determine where the leaks are. If you have a leak around the injectors where the rubber lines jump from one injector to the other, then you have a o-ring leaking there. You can get a kit with the o-rings and rubber lines, or just get the o-rings and a roll of fuel hose, and pull the injector lines off and carefully bend them up a little bit and do all 8 caps, each one has two o-rings. I recommend you get the viton o-rings or you will be doing this job again in about 5 or 6 years.

If you find you have a leak on one of the lines right where it comes out of the injection pump, carefully clean that area and determine which line it is. You can try to tighten it to see if it stops leaking, but there is a good chance the steel line has cracked. If you find one that is cracked, you need to check and make sure you have all the factory line clamps in place.

Did it, thanks for the tip. Did the brake cleaner.

I think I have two leaks. Leak one is the #7 injector or the return lines from that injector. And I think there is a second leak, out of where the soft fuel line meets the hard line over the engine. The line is damp and it looks like fuel is dripping down the hard line and pooling in the recess around one of the blow plugs (Cylinder #4).

Question #1: Should the fuel line coming from the tank to the hard line be soft to the touch? It's really soft and I am not sure if I should put a new clamp on it or if I have to replace it.

Question #2: Where do you recommend I order viton o-rings and what gauge/where do you recommend I order my roll of fuel hose?

 

[Grad-uated]

You better find a cover for the glow plug controller. You bang into that the wrong way you're gonna be doing some welding. Good luck with the truck. You came to the right place for sure.

Thank you. I'll look for that.

 

[Grad-uated]

I couldn't swear to it, but I think you may be missing a fuel line clamp. I see three, and I'm pretty sure there should be four. Each on the line clamps I see is holding three lines. Those clamps are pretty critical, eventually. Without them your fuel line will crack, eventually.

Gandalf, some others commented on this and I appreciate the feedback. It's the type of thing I would never know and it sounds like a setup for problems.

Reassuringly there is another clamp there, the previous picture angle just perfectly blocked it from view.

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