Hey yall

[mac]

Hey guys, I'm new here. The PO of my new (to me) truck pointed me toward this place, said it was great for info. I'm big on another vehicle forum similar to this so its nice having one for my new truck too.
Just read through all the stickys and whatnot, got the basic info down.

I picked up a Franken250 yesterday, this is my first diesel and I don't really know a whole lot about em.
Franken250 = 80something frame, cab, and driveline, 6.9 4x4 + stock turbo added on, not original + 94 body/bed (-cab)
It burns and leaks oil, and spews a bit more smoke than it should, but it seems to run well (I've put maybe 100 miles on it since yesterday morning without any issues).

I'm thinkin that the oil is leakin out of where the turbo is seated, but that's just a guess and I could be wrong on that.
About the oil smoke, the PO mentioned something about some kind of return line from the valve cover to the intake... . There are currently no holes in the valve covers for any kind of line and the oil is smoking out of a filter cap on the front of the engine... again, I'm not familiar with this stuff.

Any thoughts/suggestions/comments/anything I should know/etc.?

Here's the truck:

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[FordGuy100]

First off welcome to OB! Its the best IDI website around. If you can fill out your signiture it will help a lot of people.

If you dont mind, the PO direceted you here, but does he have a screen name?

Others will help with your problems

 

[mac]

Thanks!

The PO probably does have a screen name, but I have no idea what it is. I'm sure he'll chime in if he sees this thread, I'll edit my first post with a pic of the truck. And I did a sig, just copied and pasted from the first post (that's as much as I know, lemme know if ya want more info in it).

 

[ameristar1]

Welcome aboard! There's a basic routine with IDI's that have lots of miles and that is to freshen the fuel injection system up completely and get it timed properly.

The other thing is to do a couple of clean and rinse cycles with some Auto Rx. Excellent stuff, helps deal with the seal leaks, cleans out the carbon and unsticks the rings so the blowby is reduced.

 

[motox tech]

Welcome, Im just over the mountain from you! Good to see some Rocky Mountain company! Oil leak could possibly be diesel from valley pan washing risidual oil off block, caused from leaky return lines, dont know just a sugg. Smoke sounds like its coming from cdr maybe routed atmospherically. Im no guru, just throwin these out there.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Mac said:
"I'm thinkin that the oil is leakin out of where the turbo is seated, but that's just a guess and I could be wrong on that."

The turbo oil drains back thru a hole with a grommet in the valley pan. Quite possible the grommet has hardened and letting oil flow back up thru it. If the deflector pan under the valley pan has not been modified by punching holes in it, the oil will fill it quickly and pressure will force it backup thru the grommet. That hole is where the CCV was before the turbo was added. You would have to remove the turbo to punch holes in it. If it's a Banks turbo, there should be a large hose running to the front of the engine where access is to the IP drive bolts.

Take a pic of the engine, that will help us.

 

[hesutton]

Welcome to OB. My truck also has the '92-'97 body on an '86 frame.

Heath

 

[mac]

Welcome aboard! There's a basic routine with IDI's that have lots of miles and that is to freshen the fuel injection system up completely and get it timed properly.

The other thing is to do a couple of clean and rinse cycles with some Auto Rx. Excellent stuff, helps deal with the seal leaks, cleans out the carbon and unsticks the rings so the blowby is reduced.

Yeah, after reading through threads and stickys and whatnot I'm starting to think the timing is off just slightly. I wouldn't mind redoing the injection/delivery system, but the way I look at it is if I'm gonna tear into something like that I don't just want to replace stuff, I want to upgrade it. So that'll probably wait a little until I find a good way to upgrade things.
Auto RX... is that kinda like a Seafoam type product?

Welcome, Im just over the mountain from you! Good to see some Rocky Mountain company! Oil leak could possibly be diesel from valley pan washing risidual oil off block, caused from leaky return lines, dont know just a sugg. Smoke sounds like its coming from cdr maybe routed atmospherically. Im no guru, just throwin these out there.

Thanks, glad to have some (somewhat) local people on the boards. On the other forum I'm on we have regional chapters, like the Colorado Chapter, and we hang out and help each other out with mods n stuff.
Hmm... the spots under the truck have the consistency of oil, but feel like they could possibly have some diesel in em too. I'll have to find these return lines and check em out.

Mac said:
"I'm thinkin that the oil is leakin out of where the turbo is seated, but that's just a guess and I could be wrong on that."

The turbo oil drains back thru a hole with a grommet in the valley pan. Quite possible the grommet has hardened and letting oil flow back up thru it. If the deflector pan under the valley pan has not been modified by punching holes in it, the oil will fill it quickly and pressure will force it backup thru the grommet. That hole is where the CCV was before the turbo was added. You would have to remove the turbo to punch holes in it. If it's a Banks turbo, there should be a large hose running to the front of the engine where access is to the IP drive bolts.

Take a pic of the engine, that will help us.

As far as I know its the stock turbo (not sure what the stock turbo is though). I'll get pics of it for you guys. On the ground, there are a few tiny oil spots near the front of the block, and a few larger ones towards the rear of the block. The ones under the rear of the block are what make me think its near the turbo. I guess I'll have to pop the turbo off and check out that pan... how long of a job is that on these 6.9s?
I'll go out in a bit and take some pics of the engine bay for ya.

Welcome to OB. My truck also has the '92-'97 body on an '86 frame.

Heath

Thanks .
What'd ya do for a front bumper? My understanding is that the 80s bumper fits the frame, but not the body lines, and the 90s bumper looks right but doesn't mount up. A front bumper is high up on the list for me right now because of how exposed the radiator is.

 

[FordGuy100]

Auto Rx is good stuff. I ran it through my motor and it helped a ton. Blow by is way, way down. I had a bad oil leak from the CDR across the top of the motor. Now its hardly even there. Its expensive but worth it. It requires two bottles per fill up, I did one oil interval with it, though its recomended you run two. Google AutoRx, you can only get it from there site.

Is it leaking at the turbo pedistal? Those bolts are a pain to get to but I suppose they could loosen up.

 

[mac]

I'll get some engine pics up in the am light, its 5 and I'm just gettin home, and now the truck ain't runnin

 

[hesutton]

What'd ya do for a front bumper? My understanding is that the 80s bumper fits the frame, but not the body lines, and the 90s bumper looks right but doesn't mount up. A front bumper is high up on the list for me right now because of how exposed the radiator is.

Fabbed up an adapter to mount the '95 bumper to the '86 frame.

Heath